We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

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Summer Camp Planning for Bear and Webelos Den Leaders

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Bear and Webelos Den Leaders! Now that you are in your role of Den Leader to incredible Bear and Webelos Scouts, you and your Den are invited to attend Summer Camp at Camp Ross at Goshen Scout Reservation this coming summer!

Camp Ross is home to a week-long summer camp experience just for rising (incoming) Webelos and rising Arrow of Light Scouts. Here, they’ll take part in some amazing outdoor adventures, including swimming, boating, fishing, archery, BB shooting, hiking, and outdoor skills development (to name a few)!

You are invited to start planning your Summer 2025 Adventures on Monday, October 14, 2024 at 7:00 pm. We’ll review “A Day in the Life” at Camp Ross, walk through the registration process, and answer any questions you may have.

As you are learning, the Cub Scout Program provides Scouts with the opportunity to learn about being a member of their family, how to take an active role in serving their neighborhood, and living by the ideals of the Scouting Program. At Camp Ross, our Scouts become members of a Camp Community with Scouts from across the Council. They meet new friends, make lasting memories, and take critical steps in learning about the next part of their Scouting journey: Scouts BSA.

To attend this Zoom Meeting, please register at:
Camp Ross: A Summer Camp Adventure for Rising Webelos and Arrow of Light Scouts
https://ncacbsa-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gj5BxZxkSHSthMnV3QXQrw#/registration

In the meantime, explore what NCAC Cub Scout Parents and Leaders are saying about their own Camp Ross experience on our YouTube Channel:

Enhance Your Pack Summer! What Leaders are Saying About Camp Ross

“I look forward to seeing your Den at Camp Ross this summer!” – Elisabeth Warren, Goshen Scout Reservation Director, National Capital Area Council, BSA

Aspiring Scientists Excel as STEM Scouts

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STEM Scouts Lab 239 in Fredericksburg, VA, is a beacon of innovation and scientific exploration for young minds. With a mission to inspire and nurture the next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators, this lab actively cultivates a passion for STEM among elementary and middle school students.

Last year, the elementary school lab at Rocky Run Elementary mentored 18 aspiring scientists. The curriculum included Chemistry, Archaeology, Robotics/Coding, and Inventing modules that aligned with students’ interests, challenged their understanding of the world around them, and fostered critical thinking skills. Students engaged in a hands-on learning environment, conducting experiments and projects that brought abstract concepts to life. Dedicated adult mentors enriched the experience by providing personalized support and encouragement to each student.

A truly standout achievement was the completion of “Supernova Awards” by six Cub Scouts – the most awards earned in Aquia District since the inception of the NOVA program! The Supernova is a prestigious award requiring Cub Scouts to demonstrate exceptional proficiency in STEM subjects. It is a testament to the quality of education and mentorship that these young students successfully met the rigorous standards to earn this award.

Last year, Lab 239 also launched a middle school program, successfully mentoring eight students in the fields of Microbiology and Astronomy. These subjects ignited Scouts’ curiosity and provided a deeper understanding of the biological sciences and the universe. Activities ranged from studying microorganisms under a microscope to exploring the stars and planets. The focus on hands-on learning and real-world applications is helping prepare students for future academic and career pursuits in STEM fields.

STEM Scouts Lab 239 continues its mission of inspiring young minds by introducing all new modules at Rocky Run Elementary in September. The elementary school lab meets two Tuesdays a month; the middle school lab meets two Thursdays a month. Regular meetings offer students opportunities to explore new concepts, engage in collaborative projects, and build skills.

STEM Scouts Lab 239 remains dedicated to empowering the next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators, ensuring they will Be Prepared to tackle future 21st-century challenges and opportunities.

You can follow the lab on Facebook: STEM Scouts Lab 239, Fredericksburg, VA

 

Blending Scouting Skills with Legos: Troop 1920’s FLL Journey

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This Article was Written by Team Over Coded

Team Over Coded (left to right): Ahna S., Arianna J., Mavya M., Nirali S.

FLL, or First Lego League, is a competition in which teams of students ages 9-14 engage in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering. Each team perfects building and programming a robot that navigates the missions of a Robot Game. After months of practice, teams participate in a competition against other teams.

Our FLL team #57964, Team Over Coded, is made up of four girls: Nirali, Mavya, Ahna, and Arianna. We are also members of Scouts BSA all-girls Troop: Troop 1920. 

Our journey this FLL Season of 2023-2024 lasted about nine months. From our qualifier, where 24 teams competed, we advanced to the State competition after winning 2nd place. Out of 60 teams at States, we were among the top seven teams chosen to advance to nationals. Our Nationals competition was in New Jersey, where over 80 teams from around the country competed among each other, and the competition lasted two days.

FLL has multiple aspects, including Robot Games, Robot Presentations, Core Values, and Innovation Projects.

Robot Games allow teams to compete against each other with the robots they built and programmed to complete as many missions as possible in under 2 minutes and 30 seconds, gaining points for each mission completed.

Robot Presentations are where judges take a closer look at your code and robot, interviewing the team about the key factors of the robot they have built and the techniques used in both building and coding.

Core Values are judged based on how well the team demonstrates the six core values: Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork, and Fun.

Innovation Projects allows teams to research a problem that addresses the season’s annual theme. This year’s prompt was choosing a hobby your team has and solving a problem associated with the hobby. Our Innovation Project was “How to Make Scouts BSA More Approachable to Girls.”

Because of these aspects, teams create presentations and scripts to present to a group of judges.

We interviewed multiple people, both kids and adults, and asked about their hobbies, their kid’s hobbies, and why they chose those hobbies. People responded with various answers, but almost everybody mentioned they wanted to gain essential life skills from their activities. We found that kids and parents experiment with different hobbies before finding one that truly offers benefits. This process demands significant time, effort, and money. We found scouting to be a great platform.

Scouting was historically gender-segregated, and despite changes allowing girls to join, awareness of this inclusivity remains limited. Many people don’t know that Scouts BSA is also available to girls. When we say we are in Boy Scouts, many try to correct us, thinking we meant Girl Scouts. Our approach was to develop a strategy to effectively promote scouting for girls, aiming to raise awareness and empower them through diverse opportunities.

As a sample solution, we developed a multimedia campaign including TikTok videos, Instagram posts, and more to showcase scouting activities to multiple audiences, including kids our age and adults! Our troop Scoutmaster, Mrs. Carolyn Hurt, and District Commissioner of Scouts BSA, Mr. Alex Pranger, provided great guidance for us! 

 

DCSA Forest Restoration for Tomorrow – Zane J

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My name is Zane J, and I am an Eagle Scout from Troop 345 in the Wolf Trap District. I started the Distinguished Conservation Service Award (DCSA) to help the environment and the community. 

I led a forestation and range management project in Glyndon Park in Vienna, VA. I noticed that as the park was developed over time, many trees and plant life were removed as a consequence. I also noticed the park has a significant number of older trees nearing their life span, and there were not many younger trees. Over time, the loss of trees harms the plants, animals, and overall ecosystem, and the park could benefit from having the next generation of plants installed. The first step I took was to plant native 136 native plants in Glyndon Park to bring younger native plants to the park. Planting new native species is crucial as they are better adapted to local conditions and can create a more diverse and resilient ecosystem. By increasing native plants in the area, I hope to bring more native birds, bees, butterflies, and overall more wildlife, which in turn will have a major benefit to the park’s health. 

However, planting native species was only the first step in park restoration, and the second part involved removing invasive species.  It is a necessary part of this project to help the native plants thrive. Invasive species are known to outcompete native plants for resources, which can disrupt the balance of ecosystems and pose a serious threat to all wildlife within them. Removing invasive species at Glyndon Park will help ensure the park’s newly planted native species thrive in the future. Some of the invasive species removed that threatened native wildlife included English ivy, periwinkle, leatherleaf mahonia, wineberry, creeping euonymus, autumn olive, Japanese holly, Japanese honeysuckle,  and barberry. I partnered with the local community, including schools, Scouts BSA, Girl Scouts, Nature Specialist Club, and the Town of Vienna. I worked with over 50 volunteers and this project had over 200 volunteer hours. Additionally, I educated over 140 people on the importance of forestation and range management.  

The Scouting America’s DCSA program honors Scouts who carry out significant conservation projects with more rigorous requirements than a Scout BSA Eagle Scout project.  To earn the award, Scouts must complete two supersize Scout environmentally-related projects.  It requires the Scout to conduct in-depth research of a conservation issue; determine a solution; write a report; plan, execute, and lead a project; educate the community outreach; write final project reports; present their projects and findings before a conservation committee, and finally, earn seven conservation type merit badges.

My first conservation project focused on recycling tennis balls, and it was a success. Over 10,000 tennis balls were recycled, and the program I set up at Fairfax Racket Club continues to this day. I hope to inspire others to make a difference in their communities and positively impact the world.

Troop 55 Team Placed 2nd at National Drone Competition

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Congratulations to the five Scouts from BSA Troop 55B and 55G (Great Falls, VA), who worked along with Civil Air Patrol Cadets from William P. Knight composite squadron (Herndon, VA), won the 2024 AMA UAS4STEM Drone Engineering Competition’s National Second Place Award at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh on July 24th. Among 17  teams competing, the joint team “55 Knights” is the only Virginia team, the only Scouts BSA Troop sponsored team at the competition, and the only winning CAP team for the 2024 season.

 

These Scouts and Cadets completed robust ground school coursework and went on to design, build, and operate advanced drones to complete specific missions for the beginner division of the competition. Through teamwork, competition, and STEM skills, teams constructed and programmed their uncrewed aircraft to meet a mission-based challenge.

 

“Seeing Civil Air Patrol and Scouts BSA come together in one team for the UAS4STEM Drone Engineering Challenge has been wonderful to witness! These students and their mentors showcase the quality of both organizations as they work to achieve great things.“ said Kyle Jaracz, Education Director at the Academy of Model Aeronautics.
Congratulations to Team 55 Knights for earning second place! For more information about 2024 UAS4STEM competition, visit here: http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/uas4stem/2024/07/31/uas4stem-finals-held-at-eaa-airventure-oshkosh/

Distinguished Conservation Service Award Projects – Jason W.

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My name is Jason W, and I am an Eagle Scout in Troop 1094 in Darnestown, Maryland. I really enjoy being outside and I really enjoy watching and learning about wildlife. I look forward to becoming a wildlife biologist one day. Back in 2022, I learned about the BSA Distinguished Conservation Service Award (DCSA). The DCSA award is the former Hornaday Award and it encourages Scouts to design, lead, and carry out a conservation project. The project must be designed to address a conservation issue or need in the local area, and it must benefit the environment and the creatures that live there. There are nine conservation project categories to choose from, and you must complete two projects in two different categories. One project may count as your Eagle project. I decided I wanted to earn this award, and my first project, which was also my Eagle project, would be in the category of pollinator habitat conservation. I created a ½ acre pollinator habitat in Poolesville, Maryland, and wrote an article about it last April. After I wrote that article, I was honored to earn the Daughters of the American Revolution National Conservation Service Award and the 2023 Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award for the National Capital Area Council. If you are interested in seeing photos, here is my video link.

For my 2nd Distinguished Conservation Service Award Project, I began a three-stage project to improve the fish and wildlife in my hometown of Poolesville, Maryland. The first stage was to hopefully attract a new breed of ducks to Poolesville. More specifically, wood ducks. I installed four nesting boxes at a quiet pond in Poolesville last fall. While I haven’t seen any wood ducks yet, this spring, I was able to witness hooded mergansers (cavity nesters) at this pond and watch tree swallows build nests in the boxes.

My second stage was to build 10 monofilament fishing line recycle bins. I built these bins with three members of my Troop back in December 2023. My purpose was to place nine of them around the ponds of Poolesville. The last one we built was for me to share with the Poolesville Sustainability Committee so they could have one on display at community festivals to promote the recycling of fishing lines. Fishing line takes 600 years to decompose and it is very dangerous to wildlife who get caught up in the discarded fishing line in the water. Just last year, we had a Canadian goose have a bunch of fishing lines tied around its foot that required four people to help him get loose. This fishing line will be collected and sent to a recycling facility in Iowa. Then, it will be melted down into little pellets, which will, in turn, be made into fishing tackle boxes. In February, I installed the nine recycle bins. I waited until May to go around and collect the fishing line. I am happy to report that eight recycling bins were filled with fishing lines. It was a huge collection that is currently on its way to Iowa to be recycled.

My third stage of the project was a lot of fun. I asked my community to promise to let me collect their Christmas trees after the holiday season. A fellow troop Scout and I drove around town and picked up 30 Christmas trees in January. We learned as we drove around that local farmers also collect Christmas trees to feed their goats. After we collected the trees, I recruited three of my ice hockey teammates to help me wire cinderblocks to these trees. We had to drill holes through the trees, insert the wire through the tree, and then to the cinderblock. Otherwise, the tree will float and not sink. At the end of January, a few scouts, along with my distinguished service conservation advisor, Ms. Sara Holtz, my project conservation advisor, Mr. King, and a few members of his work crew, helped me drop 30 Christmas trees into the deepest pond in Poolesville (Here is my video link of that day if you are interested). This pond is mainly silt at the bottom and lacks a structure for the fish to hide in after spawning. The trees will give cover to the small fish and help them grow larger and survive, hence improving the ecosystem. It has been a lot of fun observing the wildlife at this pond. One day, while holding catch-and-release fishing day with my Troop at the pond, we observed a female bufflehead swimming up and down the line where I dropped the Christmas trees in the water. She was diving under and would then pop up several yards later. This type of duck likes to feed on small minnows. She was finding those minnows in the trees. On another day, I saw this beautiful blue heron that had just caught a small minnow in its beak.

I can proudly say that I’ve fully completed the DCSA! Working on it has been a very hard but very rewarding process. It takes a lot of time and a lot of volunteers to help you succeed. My first project took me about 187 hours to complete, with 69 volunteers for a total of 349 project hours. My second project has taken me about 188 hours to complete with 22 volunteers for a total of 341 project hours. Combined that is a total of 690 volunteer hours of making my local ecosystem a better place for everyone to enjoy. I’m very proud of what my volunteers and I have accomplished. I’m only 16 years old and finishing up my sophomore year of high school. What I have learned the most so far in Scouting is how incredible it is to be a part of something bigger than yourself.