We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

Articles

The Duke Edinburgh’s International Award

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The Duke of Edinburgh Award is an internationally recognized award initially started and sponsored by the late Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. The Award was first launched in The UK in 1956 to motivate young people to become involved in a balanced program of voluntary self-development activities. The award is still active and has four components including voluntary service, skill, physical recreation, and an adventurous journey. These components have different requirements under three award levels: gold, silver, and bronze. The age range for the award is 14-25, and can be worked on concurrently with Scouting, however, there is no grandfathering. The time commitment depending on the award level varies from 6 months to 12-15 months. Cost is $100-150 per Scout per award level selected. Financial aid is available to those who qualify.

Example: This is just an example, not “the” solution. A Life Scout who is 16 years old can use their Eagle Scout project to count toward their voluntary service or toward their Gold award project (in this case, they would need additional volunteer hours/project for voluntary service). If they plan to attend high adventure (Philmont, Northern Tier, Sea Base, etc.), this will count toward their Adventurous Journey. The Scout is active on the high school track team (physical recreation) and is working on earning their private pilot’s license (skill). Based on this broad outline, and after the Scout meets all the requirements and time commitment for the components and award level, they would earn the award.

Previous awardees in the Washington, DC, area were honored at a ceremony with the British Ambassador to the US!

 

More information about the program can be found here:

Award Center Presentation_2023

About-Award-USA-Outside-the-Classroom-2023 (1)

https://usaward.org/

NCAC Duke of Edinburgh Award Interest Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JW7QN5V

Twitter: @TheAwardUSA

 

Scout Restores Ravine in Potomac Overlook Park

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My name is Carter Kunz, and I am a Life Scout in Troop 111 in Arlington, VA. For my Eagle and Distinguished Conservation Service Award projects, I decided to do a ravine restoration project in Potomac Overlook Park in Arlington, Virginia. The purpose of the project was to slow the erosion in the ravine in order to reduce runoff into the nearby creek and to protect the large hardwood trees bordering the ravine as well as the hiking trail at the bottom of the ravine.

For my project, scouts from my troop and community members placed 22 weirs/water dams in the ravine using lumber and logs. We then placed gravel on either side of the weirs. These weirs, along with the gravel, will slow the flow of water through the ravine, causing better water absorption into the ground, and reducing erosion that is now making the ravine bigger and endangering the trees alongside it. Over time, dirt will build up behind each weir (on the uphill side), which will further slow the flow of water down the ravine and reduce erosion. Also, leaves and small sticks will also build up on the uphill side of the weirs, trapping more soil and aiding in water percolation. The slowed flow of the water will also help maintain the stability trail below the ravine, compared to if the water came shooting out of the ravine. Finally, we covered the weirs with branches to ensure park visitors do not try to hike in the ravine and to help slow the flow of water and catch leaves and debris which will help fill in the ravine over time.

My project is designed to address soil and water conservation. The water rushing down the ravine causes the soil to erode and become unstable, which leads to exposed roots of trees and trees falling over. There are a number of large, beautiful trees along the ravine that are worth trying to save. The soil also washes into a stream that goes straight to the Potomac River. The sediment being washed into the river can impact the health of aquatic organisms such as fish and turtles by destroying spawning grounds and can smother aquatic plants used as food sources and habitats.

NCAC Scouts Help Alleviate Food Insecurity with Annual Food Drive

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NCAC Scouts Help Alleviate Food Insecurity with Annual Food Drive

Scouts Add New Way of Donating Food through a Virtual Collection Drive 

OCTOBER 12, 2023, WASHINGTON, DC— Local Scouts will be kicking off the 37th annual Scouting for Food in the greater Washington, DC region. Scouts will post notes, distribute flyers, and advertise virtually to homes throughout the DC metro area from October 28th through November 5th with instructions on when they will return to collect non-perishable food items in each neighborhood. Community members are asked to provide bags or boxes with their donations to aid in the collection process.

This year, community members also have the option of donating through a new virtual Scouting for Food campaign. Partnering with You Give Goods, National Capital Area Council, (NCAC) has created 15 virtual food drives that will benefit specific nonprofit food pantries throughout the Council territory. The virtual food drives can be found at: https://yougivegoods.com/ncac-scoutingforfood2023

Scouting for Food is one of the largest annual food drives in the metropolitan area. Scouts of all ages, from 6 to 21 years old, will participate in Scouting for Food throughout the District of Columbia, as well as 16 counties in Maryland and Virginia. The yearly campaign meets the mission of the Boy Scouts of America, “…to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law” and specifically the part of the Scout Oath that states, “…to help other people at all times.”

“In 2022 nearly 10,000 youth and 6,500 adults participated in the drive and collected over 642,000 pounds of food for needy families across our council territory,” said Mario A. Pérez, CEO and Scout Executive of the National Capital Area Council, BSA. “Through our Scouting for Food effort we provide the opportunity for Scouts, Scouters, and youth volunteers to serve their community and learn that they can positively impact the lives of their neighbors.”

“I have had the opportunity to participate in various community service projects through Scouting, such as collecting food for the Scouting for Food program and helping in multiple Eagle Scout projects,” explained Life Scout Owen B. “These experiences have taught me the importance of giving back to my community, and the value of helping those in need.”

According to the Capital Area Food Bank’s 2023 Hunger Report, “One in three residents – 32% – did not know where their next meal was coming from at some point between May 2022 and April 2023. That’s essentially unchanged from the 33% of respondents who reported experiencing food insecurity in the 2022 survey.”

Scouting for Food is held every fall prior to Thanksgiving. Local food banks rely on the efforts of the Scouts to stock their shelves for the upcoming holiday months when food demands are the highest. Healthy items needed include canned protein (tuna, salmon, chicken); peanut butter; grains (pasta, whole grain pasta, brown & white rice, corn & flour tortillas); whole grain hot & cold cereals (multi-grain, low sugar cereals, oatmeal); canned vegetables; and canned fruits.

Scouting for Food is co-sponsored by the Safeway Foundation.

                                                                            

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About BSA and the National Capital Area Council

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) provides the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, which helps young people be “Prepared. For Life.®” The Scouting organization is composed of more than 1 million youth members between the ages of 5 and 21 and more than 628,000 volunteers in local councils throughout the United States and its territories. Since its inception in 1910, more than 130 million young men and women have participated in the BSA’s youth programs. More than 35 million adult volunteers have helped carry out the BSA’s mission. For more, please visit www.Scouting.org.

 

National Capital Area Council (NCAC) was organized in 1911 and today stands as one of the oldest and largest councils in America. Scouts from the NCAC do over 400,000 hours of community service each year. The Council territory includes the District of Columbia; Frederick, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties in Maryland; and in Virginia the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun, Fauquier, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George, Stafford and Culpeper as well as the independent cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, Manassas Park and Fredericksburg in Virginia; and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information, please visit www.NCACBSA.org.

NCAC’s Colonial District Receives Proclamation from Alexandria City Council in Support of Scouting for Food

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Scouting for Food (SFF) is NCAC’s largest annual community service project to help feed families in need by collecting non-perishable food and distributing it to local food pantries and food banks.

Last year our NCAC Scouts collected over 641,512 pounds of food through door-to-door and virtual donations. We are gearing up for this year’s collection efforts and aim to collect 1 million pounds of food. Please be on the lookout for instructions from Scouts collecting door-to-door in your area between October 28 and November 5. Also if you wish to donate virtually the giving link will be live October 1- December 16.

Elected Stafford County Community Leader Talks about Leadership with Cub Scouts!

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On the evening of September 26, 2023, Cub Scout Pack 197 welcomed a special guest speaker, Mr. Tom Coen, an elected leader from the Stafford County Board of Supervisors. 10 Cub Scouts from Pack 197 sat down with Mr. Coen to discuss his leadership journey, as part of their development as future leaders in our community and nation – one of the core goals for all youth in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) program. This event was held at the Ferry Farm Baptist Church and was coordinated, by the adult Scout leaders of the Pack, to help fulfill the Scouts’ advancement requirements for their Wolf Adventure Council Fire “Duty to Country” and Arrow of Light Adventure “Building a Better World.” Also attending this event were 5 Adult Scouter leaders and 4 Scout Parents.

Pack 197 Scout leaders combined the Wolf, Bear, and Webelos Dens to talk with Mr. Coen about why he chose to run for public office and about his leadership role as a member of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors. Mr. Coen discussed with the Scouts how members of the Board of Supervisors work together to make decisions about improving the roads, schools, businesses and utilities in Stafford County and how they develop a budget every year to responsibly use taxpayers’ money to pay for all these projects. In addition to his service on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, Mr. Coen is also a professional educator.

The Scouts were given an opportunity to ask Mr. Coen questions – Tommy, a member of the Wolf Den, asked if there was a plan to fix the levels of lead and bacteria in the water of Hartwood Elementary School (where he is a 2nd grade student). Mr. Coen let Tommy and the other Scouts know that the Board is exploring different ideas and diligently working on finding a solution to fix the problems with the water at Hartwood Elementary School.

Other questions the Scouts had for Mr. Coen included subjects like: What is your most important responsibility? Why did you want to be on the Board of Supervisors? What are our biggest problems in Stafford County? 

Time for your family to explore such challenges and have fun adventures too? To join BSA, please go to www.beascout.org to find a BSA Scout unit near you – Cub Scouting serves families with children in Kindergarten through 5th Grade; Scouts BSA serves families with children ages 11-18. There are BSA programs for families with older Youths, ages 14 – 20, including Venturing, Exploring or Sea Scouting.

The mission of the BSA is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling the values of the Scout Oath and Law. Aquia District includes Stafford County and Marine Corps Base Quantico. For more information on Scouting in Stafford/Fredericksburg area, including how to donate, join or volunteer, contact Kristy Freeman, Aquia District Executive, at Kristy.Freeman@Scouting.org or (540)287-3866.

Michael’s Woodshop Sails into New Waters!

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On September 19-20, Michael’s Woodshop supported its first Quartermaster Leadership Service Project. Similar to earning the rank of Eagle Scout, Sea Scouts must carry out a service project to earn the rank of Quartermaster. Able Sea Scout William Kennedy, in pursuing the rank of Quartermaster, organized volunteers in constructing a picnic table for Gateway Baptist Church. William planned his project and organized volunteers for two evening work sessions in Michael’s Woodshop. The first evening was focused on cutting and sanding and the second was dedicated to assembly. It was a successful and productive couple of days and the end result was outstanding!

In addition to many other Scouting activities, William has volunteered in Michael’s Woodshop, starting as a Youth Assistant and recently becoming an adult volunteer. During this time, he has always eyed the Eagle and Summit Award plaques hanging on the wall to commemorate projects carried out in the shop. In addition to earning the rank of Eagle Scout and now being a Sea Scout Quartermaster Candidate, he will also enjoy the privilege of having his own plaque on the Michael’s Woodshop “Wall of Fame”.

Michael’s Woodshop can be reserved by Scouts to work on Eagle Scout, Summit Award and Quartermaster Projects. The shop is staffed by experienced volunteers who can assist with project planning and will be on hand to instruct, guide and supervise tool use. We are always looking for additional Shop Volunteers. Roles are available for adults and youth, from novices to experienced woodworkers. Please go to “Join the Woodshop Team” to learn more.

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.