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
journeyed far from home to experience a once in a lifetime event, they came back as better and brighter leaders of tomorrow. Several of the Scouts detailed their adventures, from arriving at the airport to saying goodbye for the last time. Arriving at camp, Dillon stated “I found solace in the diversity of Scouts gathered in one spot from around the world who shared my passion and love for Scouting…Walking to the concert area was the most unique experience I’ve had. Scouts from all types of countries were marching with us, waving flags, singing songs, and talking in so many different languages. The opening ceremony had many speakers: from the event organizers to even the president of South Korea. The ceremony ended with a drone and firework show that drew out the logos of all the past Jamborees in the sky and ended with an image of the founder of the Scouting movement, Lord Baden Powell.” Scouts got to tour parts of Korea, and Phalha describes their time outside of the Jamboree, “One of my favorite parts of the tours 
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 
Please join us for a fun evening of basketball as the Washington Wizards take on the Toronto Raptors.
Last night, Colonial District represented NCAC at the Alexandria City Council meeting. The City of Alexandria’s Mayor and council members presented a proclamation supporting Scouting for Food and our partnership with ALIVE!, a local resource bank that provides free food, personal items, etc. to the community.
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.