Kyle Hogan, the senior patrol leader of Troop 1547 in the Sully District, recently wrote an article for a new publication, SIGNAL Kids. He interviewed a cybersecurity expert for the magazine, which focuses on STEM topics for kids ages 8-12.
Kyle, who is a sophomore at Westfield High School and started his Scouting journey as a Tiger in first grade, spoke with Dr. Gil Duvall, president and CEO, Data Security Strategies, about his decision—at age 14—to work for NASA and how he made that dream into a reality.
“Writing an article about kids going into STEM careers was very enlightening. I learned a lot about the past of the STEM field, as well as indicators of the future and the state of the present,” Kyle said. “He talked about how following his dream of working for NASA led him to where he was today, and he serves as a very positive example of someone being dedicated to their craft in STEM and achieving wonders through it.”
Duvall also offered Kyle, who is interested in a career in cybersecurity and computer science, some career advice.
“Talking with Dr. Duvall was incredibly helpful. He gave advice for students going into STEM careers in terms of academic classes and extracurricular activities that were extraordinarily in-depth, which was helpful for the article and as well as for myself personally, as I plan on going into a STEM career,” Kyle said.
In the interest of full disclosure, Kyle’s mom works for AFCEA and SIGNAL Magazine, which published SIGNAL Kids. His mom’s colleagues were impressed with Kyle’s writing ability and expressed sadness that they had to cut out several words and make changes to the article to make it more readable for younger kids.
In SIGNAL Kids, a robot named Link and his sidekick Obo, which stands for “off by one,” guide readers through the publication. Topics of articles include the Internet of everyday things and how to stay safe online. One story refers to Star Wars lightsabers and lightning to explain how researchers found a way to help protect systems from hackers.
Check out Dr. Duvall’s and Kyle conversation below.
Go to url.afcea.org/SIGNALforKids to read the digital version of SIGNAL Kids.
Five Wolf Cub Scouts in Pack 1967 and one Webelos Scout worked all year to earn the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Cub Scout Supernova Award and the Dr. Charles H. Townes Webelos Supernova Award.
In August, they learned about the scientific method by testing which soda and configuration of Mentos would result in the tallest soda geyser using 2-liter bottles. The Wolves conducted a little research before the meeting and learned that diet sodas produced the tallest geysers. The Wolves designed their experiment to control as many variables as possible and tested 12 different diet sodas using six Mentos for each trial. The Wolves’ measuring stick was 10 feet tall, but for many of the geysers, that was not nearly enough. Both Diet Ginger Ale and Diet Tonic water had geysers estimated at 20 to 25 feet tall!
Throughout the year, these six Scouts worked on their normal rank adventures and somehow also found time to research the award namesakes although with other scientists and inventors who impacted our lives by studying dinosaurs, inventing the printing press, studying chimpanzees, inventing the alternating current motor, inventing a robot, and inventing Coca-Cola.
Finn H., a Bear with Pack 278, spent the year working towards earning the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award. The Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award is an achievement for Wolf and Bear Scouts in the Cub Scouts, BSA. Over the course of a year, Finn worked with his Supernova Mentor, Clare Davis, to complete nine different requirements in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Pack 278 is located in Braddock Heights, Maryland and has been chartered with the Braddock Heights Volunteer Fire Department for over 60 years. Finn H. is the first Scout in the history of the Pack to earn this award.
The crew also ran a drive-thru drop off station in the parking lot of their charter organization with one Venturer and adult family member at a time rotating to supervise the drop offs there. The sum of everyone’s individually coordinated effort was 721 pounds of food and $45 cash donation were collected to help our local food pantry respond to the increased demand resulting from our current public health situation.
On May 26th, Pack 242 of Aquia Harbour in Stafford, VA conducted its annual crossing over/ranking up. Traditionally, this event is held at the last Pack meeting of the school year in order to advance Scouts’ Dens prior to the start of Day and Summer Camps. As part of the ceremony in previous years, Scouts come forward as a Den, have their neckerchiefs removed, and the neckerchief of their new rank is placed around their neck by the Scouts from the next higher level Den.
Dens were given time slots to line up in cars. They would be sent forward, the Scout, or sibling Scouts, would exit the vehicle, greet Cubmaster Jim Isajewicz, salute and give the Scout sign and Oath before some words of wisdom or a short discussion about their Scouting year, often with a little humor, such as the social distancing measuring tape (pictured). The Scout(s) would proceed through the streamers to a table to pick up their new rank’s neckerchief, then triumphantly return through the streamers and to their families. The entire event was live-streamed in the same way as conducting our virtual Pack meetings. Scouts and families not ready to venture out, as well as distant family members, were all able to participate through the live virtual event.
A photo station was set up further past the ceremony location using our traditional bridge for Arrow of Light crossovers and our Pack and US flags, where parents could take additional photos of their Scouts.