Arlington Troop 111’s from Chain Bridge District edged Potomac District Troop 439 in Kensington at the 47th Annual Md. Scout Orienteering Day on Oct. 28, 2023 at Patuxent River Park near Upper Marlboro. Over 50 units took part, 26 from NCAC, with attendance up this year to over 450 scouts.
Girls had a best-ever 22% of the attendance and also a best-ever 22% of the top (50) places, including the winning pair in the 198-scout older category, Emma T/Emma Th. from Troop 191 in King George, VA. They edged out Christian R./Brendan K. from Troop 111 and Eliot D./AJ S. from overall 3rd place Troop 647, Arlington.
Mike C. of Troop 111 nosed out troop-mates Hayden B. and Potter H. and Connor L. of DC Troop 1946 on the “super-advanced” 4.4 km course. Arlington Troop 164 was fourth overall, just ahead of Beltsville T. 1033.
SPL Ben P. led Troop 439 and, with Jonah C., topped 439’s total team-effort in the fun “free-for-all” Score Orienteering. That event also had nearly 100 adults “racing” around the forest, seeking some of the 53 different markers over 3 square miles.
College Park Troop 740’s Lazarus K./Horatio G./Nathanael J. won the 241-scout younger category, edging out Troop 111’s Will Kennedy/Jack M. and Sam B./Ravi K. Each scout and participating adult received three special, new color maps in addition to answer keys, instructional tips, and patches.
Jim Chaplin’s big 19th Annual NCAC Scout Orienteering Day (scoutingevent.com/082-2024ScoutOrienteering) will be on May 4 at N. VA’s Prince Wm. Forest Park . The next MD Scout Orienteering Day will be at Broad Creek Mem. Scout Res. in Harford Co. on Nov. 2, 2024: see BaltimoreBSA.org/orienteering for more details (and full 2023 results) and qocweb.org for good DC-area orienteering events suitable for scouts.
Photos by Stan Turk. Pictured, 1) 1st & 2nd place finishers in all three categories, all but 2 from NCAC. 2) Older category winners: Emma Tolley, Emma Thomas, T. 191, King George, VA. 3) Girls from T. 422, Annapolis (backs to camera.)
This past summer, Scouts from the National Capital Area Council attended the 25nd World Scout Jamboree in Seoul, South Korea. For two weeks, the Scouts bonded, shared stories, laughed, and explored Korea with thousands of Scouts from around the world. As they
were buddying up with new friends and exploring the different cities and towns we stopped at. I loved discovering more about modern Korea through these outings. Even coming to find one of my new favorite desserts, Korean shaved ice. We looked everywhere for the shop that our tour guide, Jake suggested but eventually we had to ask for help in which we met a very kind owner who apparently had a daughter that was going to the World Scout Jamboree later that week.” Abbey talks about the the wonderful culture of Korea and how much she enjoyed the 
experience, “On the days between the 6th and the Closing Ceremony, we went to a South Korean Water Park, a traditional Tai Kwon Do and Folk Festival, went to the Samsung Plant, and a South Korean baseball game at which they had cheerleaders! Baseball is huge in South Korea.” She mentions that though it was not what she expected, she was excited to have gone and become a better leader for it. The Scouts from Troop 612 in Virginia allows us to see how beautiful the experience of learning new cultures and sharing a love of Scouting: “Throughout our stay at the camp, we often visited the Scouts from Vietnam, sharing our own scouting experiences with Vietnamese Scouting, despite our country’s differences. The camp was incredibly massive, 
designed to accommodate over 40,000 people…Trading was a significant part of the World Scout Jamboree, a universal activity that transcended language barriers. Given our Troop 612’s involvement in lion dancing, we worked to obtain patches and neckerchiefs from Hong Kong, which featured designs related to lion dance—a meaningful aspect of our culture.” The Scouts had an incredible experience that turned out to be full of fun, joy, and an appreciation for the many cultures. As they departed camp, they looked forward to seeing their friends in Poland in four years at the next World Scout Jamboree!
I started my scouting career in either 2011 or 2012, went all through cub scouts (pack 956) then I joined troop 956 where I became an Eagle Scout. I met my friend (Kent when I was in second grade. He is a year younger than me, so he started a year later than I did. We did not interact much, as people in different grades did not interact with each other much (I also don’t think I would’ve had time, my den at its climax had 22 people). In our brief interactions together, we did become friends around 2013. We developed a basic friendship during the pinewood derbys, then when he came to my troop my patrol was very small (4 people) so we merged patrols. We were hanging out as patrol mates for quite a while, but then that time increased, due to the addition of a girl troop joining us. His mom was, and is, the scoutmaster of the girls troop. With my dad being the ASM who was about to be the scoutmaster for the boys troop we ended up hanging out a lot. 
We really got a tighter friendship when we went to Pamlico Sea Base, a council high adventure. During this time, we were all sleeping in close quarters, riding jet skis, driving boats, and fishing. It was really nice to just be able to hangout with my friends but specifically Kent as we both have similar interests in aquatic activities. Earlier this year my troop merged with another troop (Troop 950) in which we had to create new patrols. My patrol was the same group of people, but we wanted to change our name a little. We went from the Underdog Patrol to the Kent Patrol, when we were naming the patrol the entire Barbenheimer craze was sweeping the country, and we were inspired when our SPL said “If you have extra time you can have a patrol song.” We all were thinking about how we could have our song be 
