Congratulations to the NCAC 9 new Cub Scout Leaders for completing their Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation (BALOO) & 20 Scout leaders who completed their Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills (IOLS) training last weekend with Seneca, White Oak, and Potomac District at the National Izaak Walton League, 707 Conservation Lane, Gaithersburg, MD.
It was fun teaching ropes and Knots, cooking, and working with the cook crew to feed 40+ people dinner, cracker barrel and breakfast!
In the fifth installment of the Summer Camp Planning for Bear and Webelos Den Leaders webinar series, we review spring steps to a successful summer. The team discusses the pre-camp planning timeline from late April until your week of camp, reviews adult leader requirements, lists documents to bring to camp, and shares some resources available on the camp website at www.gotogoshen.org/ross
Let us walk you through the process so you are completely prepared for the best Cub Scout summer camp adventure possible!
Miss the webinar? Watch the recording:
You can also download the slides from the webinar here: Pre-Camp Planning [PDF]
Want to catch up? Check out our previous posts with earlier webinars in the series and the Summer Camp Planning Tool Kit:
Save the dates for the final webinar in the series! 7pm Eastern Time.
For current Bears and Webelos (rising Webelos and AOLs)
May 20, 2025: Your First Day – Arrival Overview
https://ncacbsa-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_P4iNXGFlSj-FFmMVhDnJgA
Congratulations to the new Potomac District Eagle Scouts and their proud families!
Thank you to everyone who assisted these Life Scouts along their journey to reach the Eagle rank.
Special thanks to Larry McNiece, Advisor for the Eagle Scout Board, and Robert Owen for sharing the photo.
Thomas L., a member of Troop 162 in Arlington, Virginia, received recognition for his Eagle Scout Project on Arlington Now.
His project was designed to help his school’s outdoor track-and-field program by upgrading the W-L shot-put sector.
Read the full article here: Arlington Now
The National Eagle Scout Association (NESA) awarded 11 Eagle Scouts with the Outstanding Eagle Scout Award to recognize their professional accomplishments, three of whom currently work in business through financial services or economic development and connect their achievements back to Scouting.
The NOESA was established in 2010 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Scouting America. The award recognizes Eagle Scouts who have demonstrated achievements beyond their Scouting experiences. On April 22, 2025, the NOESA will be presented to the Eagle Scouts at an awards dinner in Arlington, Virginia.
James Mendelsohn, one of the NOESA recipients involved in financial services, is honored to receive the award and earning his Eagle still holds a special place in his heart.
“If I were to list out the things I have done that I am the most proud of, Eagle has always been one of them, and it was the first significant thing that I did,” Mendelsohn said.
Mendelsohn is the founder and managing director of Proximo Capital, which is an investment banking advisory firm dedicated to providing growth capital for middle market companies. He leads his team of six professionals with a focus on client acquisition and investor relationships.
Up until 2010, Mendelsohn also worked at Capital One as the vice president. In his role, he was part of the team who built Capital One into the largest independent card issuer in the United States. He also launched the “What’s in Your Wallet” marketing campaign, which won many awards such as an AMA Gold Effie and the ARF David Ogilvy Award.
As a Scout, Mendelsohn was part of the National Capital Area Council in Troop 240 in Bethesda, Maryland. He appreciates the lifelong impact that Scouting has had on him.
“The guys I was in Scouts with, we’re all still friends 40 years later,” Mendelsohn said. “Those friendship that have been lifelong are just a hugely important part of my life and that came in Scouting.”
Mendelsohn reflected on the skills and values he learned as a Scout, including helping others and the community. These values have stuck with him throughout his life and are reflected in his company.
“It sort of really struck that Eagle is about who you are, and that early definition of character just carries through and is how I run my company, how I am with people, and it has really defined me as an adult.”
Jason Wright will be receiving the NOESA in recognition of his athletic and business career. Wright currently is employed as the managing partner and head of investments at Ariel Investments’ Project Level, a private investment fund dedicated to leveling the playing field in women’s sports. From 2013-2020, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company before becoming president of the Washington Commanders.
During his time at the Washington Commanders, Wright made history by being the first Black president in NFL and the fourth former NFL player to become president of a team. He played in the NFL for seven years as a running back and was team captain and NFLPA player representative for the Arizona Cardinals in 2011.
Wright was in Troop 777 in the Greater Los Angeles Area Council. He recalls the determination he had to get his Eagle Scout Project approved and completed, which has now facilitated his ability to accomplish his goals.
“The process of earning the Eagle Scout rank, especially the pull from Life to Eagle, was a case study in perseverance,” Wright said.
When Wright was president of the Commanders, he worked to get a bill passed through Congress so that the land of the RFK stadium was given to D.C. for proper development. He cites parallels between this experience and getting his Eagle Scout Project approved, as both allowed him to develop powerful negotiation skills.
“I had no idea that at age 14, I would learn how to broker a public private partnership and execute a project that ushered in public good,” Wright said.
Buddy Rizer is a NOESA honoree with experience in economics, currently working as the executive director for the Loudoun County, Virginia Economic Development. In this role, he leads the agencies responsible for encouraging growth and developing relationship’s with Loudoun’s business community through both commercial and agricultural-based business sectors.
With his expertise, Rizer helped built the Data Center Alley, which is one of the world’s largest concentration of data centers and also has experience with international business development in China, France, Germany, Russia, Ireland, United Kingdom, Finland, Taiwan, Japan, India, Korea, Ghana, Uruguay and the United Arab Emirates. He has been named Tech Titan by the Washingtonian Magazine seven times and has been named one of the most 50 most influential Virginians six times by Virginia Business Magazine.
As a Scout, Rizer was part of Troop T123 from the Mason Dixon Council in Funktown, Maryland. He said he feels prideful to be an Eagle Scout and even continues to include it as an accomplishment on his resume.
“I think it taught me everything that I know today about leadership, working with people, goal setting, being prepared and all the things that Scouting brings you,” Rizer said.
Rizer has found that Scouting allowed him to develop a commitment to service, appreciation for leadership and giving back to the community. He also said it instilled confidence in himself because he learned he could be successful.
“I would say it was foundational for everything that I’ve accomplished in my life and it’s where I learned how to lead a team and overcome challenges,” Rizer said. “The values of Scouting have guided me through every chapter of my journey in life and I think Scouting has been incredibly important to where I’ve ended up today.”
All three men feel honored to be recognized for their achievements and believe that any group of Eagle Scouts would be filled with accomplished individuals.
The National Eagle Scout Association (NESA) awarded 11 Eagle Scouts with the Outstanding Eagle Scout Award to recognize their professional accomplishments, one of whom is a successful rowing Olympian who connected many of his accomplishments back to the skills of being a Scout.
The NOESA was established in 2010 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Scouting America. The award recognizes Eagle Scouts who have demonstrated achievements beyond their Scouting experiences. On April 22, 2025, the NOESA will be presented to the Eagle Scouts at an awards dinner in Arlington, Virginia.
Christian Tabash is a rowing athlete from Vienna, Virginia and an Eagle Scout from Troop 976 in National Capital Area Council. Tabash feels humbled to be recognized for his accomplishments with the NOESA.
“It’s humbling but it’s also a testament to the community that I’ve had that has paved the way for me to do the things that I’ve done,” Tabash said. “My life is just a culmination of others and especially my parents and a lot of the sacrifices that they’ve laid as a foundation for my life.”
In 2017, Tabash won the World Rowing Junior Championship in the men’s eight and in 2021, won bronze in the four with coxswain at the World Rowing Championships. After much dedication and training, he participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris as a member of the United States men’s eight boat winning the bronze medal.
In high school, he was hoping to get recruited for college with soccer but changed his mind and decided that rowing would be a better fit for him.
“My sophomore year, I ditched soccer,” Tabash said. “It was hard to let go. I never looked back and got recruited to row in college.”
Tabash rowed in college at Harvard University and then became a graduate student at the University of California where he qualified for the United States Olympic Team. When he finished college, he moved to Sarasota, Florida to start his training in October of 2023.
Tabash described his time on the Olympics as a full-time job due to the commitment of 3 to 4 hours of training every day. As a newcomer, he had to persevere and displace someone who was already on the team since he was entering during the Olympic year.
“I fully immersed myself in what was required for that endeavor and at the time, it wasn’t guaranteed or even likely that I’d make the team,” Tabash said.
In his senior year of high school, Tabash earned his Eagle after completing a project of building larger than average picnic tables at a park area with a baseball field. The priests on the property needed updated benches, so he worked with his neighbor, who was a carpenter, to provide for the community.
Tabash describes himself as a goal-oriented person, which he believes was integrated within Scouting and helped him within his professional career.
“There were always clear-cut goals, whether it was for merit badges or to rise ranks,” Tabash said. “In rowing there’s clear goals, technical goals, physiological goals and that same mentality translated. It’s like wanting to achieve something and then knowing what I had to do.”
He describes his coach from 2023 in Sarasota as methodical and scientific and believed his training process for rowing as “very reminiscent of moving through the Scouting experience.”
Throughout his experience as a Scout, Tabash said he learned so much through exposure and being able to try, make mistakes and learn lessons from it. He remembered the Scout motto about being prepared for life and how the experience continues to affect him today.
“[Eagle Scout] was a byproduct of being committed to a goal and the path to Eagle Scout is laid out for us,” Tabash said.
