We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

Articles

Potomac District Welcomes Ten New Eagles

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The September 2023 NCAC Potomac District Monthly Eagle Board of Review for 10 Scouts was held last night.

Congratulations to all the new 🦅 Eagles Scouts and their proud families! Special thanks to all the Scouters, the EBOR Chairs and those who assisted theses 10 Scouts on their journey to reach the 🦅 Eagles rank!

Last but not least Potomac District cannot put this monthly event without the leadership and time devoted by Larry McNiece, Potomac District Eagle Chair!

The new Eagle Scouts and his/her proud family might find the following websites useful.

http://usscouts.org/eagle/eaglecongrats.asp

https://oa-bsa.org/resources/ucl-support/eagle-scout-congratulatory-letter

The Association of Top Achiever Scouts (ATAS) is a worldwide Scouting fellowship group, of Scouts and Scouters who have achieved the highest rank as a youth in their Scout associations such as King’s Scout, Queen’s Scout, President’s Scout, Fuji Scout, Tiger Scout, Eagle Scout, Summit, Quartermaster.

https://www.atasapr.org

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Innovation Academy: welding, 3d printing, coding, robotics

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We are excited to offer this workshop series for girls and boys ages 14+ to learn about welding, 3d printing, coding and robotics! This program is called Exploring with Innovation Academy, and takes place in Alexandria, VA at Building Momentum, a problem-solving organization with expertise in training people of all ages in fabrication and building technologies.  Learn more and register at: https://scoutingevent.com/082-innovation

 

Whom is this program for?

This is for individuals ages 14 – 21, with an interest in learning! You do not have to have experience in any of the fabrication technologies – Building Momentum’s educators are experts at teaching individuals at all skill levels. Do you like tactile activities? This is for you!

When?

  • This program will run every other Monday, 5pm – 8pm, beginning 10/23
  • The educational workshops are: 10/23, 11/6, 11/20, 12/4, optional 12/18
  • Additonally should plan to attend any 5 community days to serve as volunteers and get the required experience with hands-on shop times. There are many weekend and no-school days to attend community days:
    2023: 11/3, 11/7, 11/11, 11/22, 11/24, 12/18, 12/19, 12/20
    2024: 1/15, 1/22, 2/11, 2/19, 3/18, 3/22, 3/25, 3/26, 3/27, 3/28, 3/29, 4/1, 4/2, 4/10, 5/3, 5/27, 6/7

Where?

Building Momentum | 5380 Eisenhower Ave Suite C, Alexandria, VA 22304

What will you learn?

Each of the 5 sessions will be focused on a specific area. Roughly speaking, the focus of October is welding, November is 3D printing and CAD, December is robotics/coding.

Exploring with Innovation Academy is a fun and hands-on program to learn many skills and explore future careers! This is our second semester of offering the program – please check out the experiences of our first cohort from this spring: Innovation Academy: building 3D printers in 3 hours – We Own Adventure

We hope to see you in the fall series!

Please reach out to stem@ncacbsa.org with questions or sign up for the program here.

NCAC Eagle Scout Earns First Place in National Paralympic Rifle Championships

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Patriot District Scout Earns Paralympic Gold!

Eagle Scout Ben H. of Troop 1525 in Annandale recently took first place in two national paralympic rifle championships. He earned gold in 10-meter precision air rifle and 50-meter smallbore rifle in the paralympic division of the U.S. Junior Olympics in Colorado Springs, CO in April, and repeated the feat in the same events at the USA Shooting National Championship at Fort Moore, GA in June.
Ben is a senior at Woodson H.S. in Fairfax, where he is co-captain of the rifle team. He’s also a leader in his Troop, where he has served as Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader and Junior Assistant Scoutmaster. For his Eagle project, he improved the path between the parking lot and indoor air rifle range at the Izaak Walton League in Centreville, allowing wounded warriors and other wheelchair users easy access the range.
Ben credits Scouting for his success in competitive rifle. He had never fired a rifle of any sort until attending a weekend Troop shoot as a new Scout. Ben decided he liked rifle shooting so much that he signed up for the merit badge the following year at summer camp. However, he was unable to finish the merit badge at camp. An Assistant Scoutmaster in Troop 1525 who was also an assistant rifle team coach at Woodson introduced Ben to an experienced paralympic rifle coach who knew how to adapt the sport to Ben’s disability. Ben not only quickly completed the merit badge, but learned how to be an effective competitor. Five years later, Ben won two national championships!
When asked the secret of his success, Ben said “don’t look back and don’t let mistakes wear you down – move on and find new solutions that will let you succeed. And most of all, ‘Be Prepared.’”

STEM took off with Troops 1778, 403, and 214 on Friday Night!!

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12 Scouts from three local Troops took flight with some help from 1400 horsepower fans and some nifty aerodynamic engineering. iFly Baltimore hosted an Up and Away NOVA field trip for these Scouts. They started with Randy, a retired missile flight engineer, explaining the history, design, and build process that produced the 5th generation vertical wind tunnel. After that talk, the group was split in two – Half went to their Preflight, and the others worked on building parachute delivery systems to deliver paperclips back to earth safely.

The flights are just one minute at a time, but it is the “longest minute ever,” according to several Scouts. Flying in winds nearing hurricane force and assisted by a certified coach, Scouts (and some parents) learned how to stabilize in the air, turned left and right, and went on a “high-flight” approximately 30 feet above the floor.

Did you know that rain falls at approximately 21 miles per hour? Our Scouts tested it! They gave the instructor a pitcher full of water, and he could suspend it in the air column with help from the tunnel operator. They also tested how much wind it would take to pick up several objects off the net floor of the tunnel. A giant stuffed Pikachu was the first to float away, and a Nerf Football stayed grounded until 94 miles per hour.

These daredevils will spend time on their own watching or reading material about fluid dynamics and earning a STEM-focused merit badge. Once those activities are completed – They’ll be some of NCAC’s newest NOVA Award recipients.

Please feel free to contact STEM@ncacbsa.org if you have questions about the NOVA Award program. You can also reach out to iFly directly to schedule a similar event for your unit.

Michael’s Woodshop is Expanding!

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Since opening in 2018, Michael’s Woodshop has become one of the most popular activity venues at Camp William B. Snyder, offering fun, hands-on activities for all NCAC Scouting youth. Activities in Michael’s Woodshop attracted over 1,800 youth participants in 2022 and is expected to exceed that number in 2023. In order to accommodate the increasing demand, Michael’s Woodshop has begun the renovation and outfitting of additional space in the STEM Shack. In August, Michael’s Woodshop Volunteers teamed up with volunteers supporting Camp Snyder’s monthly Sawdust Saturdays to remove a large volume of unneeded “clutter” and removed a partition to ready the space for renovations. Track our progress: Watch Slideshow

 

The success of Michael’s Woodshop is attributable to the incredible support from the NCAC Scouting community in the form of shop volunteers, tool donations and of course, the time and effort of all the leaders who coordinate shop events for their units. We are excited about the expansion and ongoing support will be critical to our continued success.

Become a Volunteer: Since its inception, Michael’s Woodshop has been operated and maintained by a team of dedicated volunteers. We will need additional Shop Volunteers to support the expanded level of activity. Roles are available for adults and youth, from novices to experienced woodworkers. Adult volunteers must be BSA registered with current YPT. Youth volunteers need to be at least 14 years old and must have earned the First Aid and Woodwork merit badges. Please go to “Join the Woodshop Team” to learn more.

Donate Tools: If you are not able to volunteer, but wish to support the expansion, please consider donating tools or equipment to Michael’s Woodshop. To view our current tool needs as well as recent donations, please visit Support Michael’s Woodshop.

To learn more about the woodshop, please visit the Michael’s Woodshop Webpage or email questions to the volunteer team at MichaelsWoodshop.CWBS@gmail.com.