We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

Articles

NCAC Service Areas Will Realign Jan. 1, 2021

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NCAC is committed to providing a quality Scouting experience for all of our youth members and adult volunteers.  Due to a recent vacancy on our management team and recent promotion of one of our Field Directors, the National Capital Area Council volunteer and staff leadership discussed an opportunity to streamline our professional organizational chart.  The leadership of National Capital Area Council strongly believed in maintaining the size of our professional staff during COVID-19 to ensure our member families continue to receive excellent support in Scouting activities. To this end, we will be realigning our service areas over the next several weeks effective Jan 1, 2021. This change will not impact program at the unit or district levels, so most of our volunteers will not see any disruption, but it will allow the professional staff to align around naturally occurring groupings in our community.  This is will also help support both volunteer and staff development with the creation of a natural pipeline of leaders that can assume larger roles in our Council in the years to come.

Effective January 1, 2021, NCAC’s districts will be arranged into the following Service Areas:

Maryland Service Area:

  • Francis Scott Key
  • Potomac
  • Seneca
  • Patuxent
  • Western Shore
  • White Oak
  • USVI/Direct Service

Virginia Central:

  • Chain Bridge
  • Colonial
  • George Mason
  • Old Dominion
  • Patriot
  • Washington DC
  • Scouting CARES

Virginia South:

  • Goose Creek
  • Powhatan
  • Sully
  • Piedmont
  • Prince William
  • Aquia
  • Mattaponi

To find your District Executive please go to http://ncacbsa.org/staff. Our cheerful, friendly team of professionals are always happy to be of service!

 

 

Maryland Teen Joins First Female Inaugural Class of Eagles

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On October 28th 2020, BSA Troop 1268 of New Market, MD celebrated its first female Eagle Scout. Ashlyn Cooper of New Market, MD became one of the first class of female Eagle Scouts in the country after successfully completing her Eagle Scout board of review. She joined BSA the very first day that BSA opened up their Scouting program to female youth in February 2019 and completed her Eagle rank work in Sept 2020. She has embraced the program with 100% passion, having logged 48 camping nights, 160 miles of hiking, 200 service hours, 39 merit badges, 5 summer camps, serving as the troop’s first Senior Patrol Leader, attending and then joining staff for the BSA’s National Youth Leadership Training, and being inducted into the Order of the Arrow. Through all of this, Ashlyn’s excitement about sScouting only continues to grow and become infectious to others in the troop. This journey for Ashlyn is not over at Eagle. She plans to continue to earn Eagle Palms, having already earned 3 and has a goal of 60 merit badges by the time she turns 18. She will also now be taking on a bigger role within the Troop as a Junior Assistant Scoutmaster, and will be encouraged to become an even stronger leader.

Ashlyn comes from a long lineage of Scouting. Her grandmother was the first female leader for her uncle’s BSA Troop many years ago when he was in Scouts, her grandfather was a Sea Scout leader, her father is Scout Master of the Scouts BSA troop 268 linked to her Scouts BSA Troop 1268G and her older brother is also an Eagle Scout.

We congratulate Ashlyn on all she has achieved and will continue to help her to achieve more.

For more information on our program, please visit www.troop1268.org.

 

Eli Glickman’s Eagle Project for the Library of Congress

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Eli Glickman’s Eagle Project is so innovative and interesting that I wanted to submit it to Scouter Digest so others could hear about it. Here is Eli’s own description of his project:

“Personal stories are a treasure trove of information, they offer perspective, reflection, and first-person experience. That’s ultimately why I selected oral history as the background for my Eagle project. I had heard about another project done in my Troop by a Scout who has since graduated, Scott Burns, where he interviewed World War II veterans about their experiences in the War. I wanted to focus less on actual wartime and more on the process of returning home that veterans undergo. I felt that this was part of most veterans’ stories that is seldom discussed in society and that it deserved attention. I then got in touch with the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress which was the ultimate beneficiary for my project. After that a group of Scouts and I reached out to several veterans whose contact info we received through Troop connections; I later reached out to the American Legion to get a complete 10 veterans to interview, their help in coordinating and establishing these contacts was tremendously beneficial to the success of my project. After that the Scouts and I coordinated a plan to conduct the interviews, focusing on hearing as much of each veteran’s story as possible and learning about their reflections on their experiences. The result of the project was incredibly rewarding, the Scouts and I learned not only stories from these veterans but how to better empathize and interact with veterans we see on a daily basis.”

DES Pride

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For Jack R. of Troop 1094, Darnestown Elementary school brings up many fond memories for him as he attended it from kindergarten to fifth grade. Now being a bit older, Jack wanted to help out his former elementary school. He decided for his Eagle Scout Project that he could provide the school with a more beautiful front.

Unfortunately, after getting his project approved, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Yet being a good Scout, Jack adjusted his plans to fit safety guidelines, and he began his work in July. Jack and his volunteers started by getting rid of any stumps, weeds, and dead plants near the mulch beds in front of the school. He then trimmed the bushes and trees before planting some more bushes and grass. Jack then created a “DES” sign (Darnestown Elementary school), which was then placed at the front.

After completing this project, Jack felt satisfied with the results. He was also incredibly proud of how hard the work he and the volunteers put into helping Darnestown Elementary School.

A Home For Our Feline Friends

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I have been volunteering with Operation Hood for the past few years. Operation Hood helps feral cats; I was initially drawn to them because of my love for cats. So when looking for ideas for my Eagle Scout Project, I decided to help Operation Hood by making cat houses.
I originally had the idea in March, but due to COVID-19, I couldn’t begin until mid-July. During that time, I decided to reuse some old cat houses my grandfather had in storage rather than start from scratch. We also converted old dog boxes that needed to be cleaned, sanitized, and painted. After about three days of hard work transferring the cat houses to my house and then to Operation Hood, I finally could start the project. The hardest part of the project was working around the weather. Everything was planned out, but unfortunately, it began to rain a lot, like every weekend. We had to work around it. Eventually, we had to bring out canopies so we could start working on putting the fronts on the houses, staining the houses, and building the cat tree. Then we had to postpone painting the wooden ramps until the following weekend due to the rain.

This project was harder than I thought it would be. I had to figure out how to relay the ideas that I had on paper and in my head to my Scout volunteers. The project helped me with my leadership, planning, and communication skills. I also learned to plan for anything, especially the weather. During this project, some of our wood was cut wrong as well, so we had to adjust our plans slightly.

I found my favorite aspect of the project was giving back to an organization that I truly believe in. They are doing such great work and care so much for the cats. It was a wonderful feeling seeing (within 5 minutes of completing the project) cats utilizing what we just built. It made the project worth it.