We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

The Scouter Digest Staff

You’re Invited: NESA Networking Luncheon

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Submitted by: Brett Coffee and Conor Russo.

Did you know that NESA-DC hosts free networking luncheons for local Eagle Scouts on the second Thursday of most months? NESA-DC started these lunches to meet and connect with other Eagle Scouts, and hear from fellow Eagles who are doing something interesting, noteworthy, or even extraordinary.

NESA DC Eagle Scout Lunch with Astronaut Tom Jones

We’ve had astronauts, high ranking government officials, adventurers, people with careers you never knew existed, and people you never thought you’d meet.  The series was started by Merritt Green and for many years was hosted in Tysons Corner, VA.


Eagle Scout luncheons on Zoom have brought our speaker series showcasing the continuing contributions of Eagle Scouts to a broader community who can attend from across the country and globe.

When the pandemic hit, we decided to move our luncheons to Zoom.  We got a wider audience, and people didn’t have to suffer through DC traffic.  More importantly, it became much easier to get really interesting speakers.

While it might look easy, there’s a lot of preparation behind the scenes to pull off each lunch, which occurs monthly except for July, August, and December.

There’s no cost to join us for lunch, but you provide the lunch itself.  There’s the ability to network and interact with most speakers, but we do remind you that Scouts are courteous.

NESA DC Eagle Scout Lunch with Eagle Scout Tara Presnall

The lunches begin at 12:00 pm, and you can sign up here.  Conor Russo is our luncheon coordinator, and he does a great job lining up interesting speakers, moderating the discussion, and connecting the audience.

NESA DC Eagle Scout Lunch with Morgan Sullivan, Executive Managing Director, JLL

Although the lunches are free, please consider making a donation to Scouting at www.ncacbsa.org/give  to help support our luncheons as well as the great Scouting experience.  Who knows—you might be helping a future luncheon speaker write their story!

And if you or someone you know are interested in being a guest speaker at one of our lunches, or you have a suggestion or idea, please contact us at NESADC@NCACBSA.org.

For updates and registration on upcoming networking luncheons, follow us on Facebook, add us on LinkedIn, or check out our schedule on the National Capital Area Council’s Calendar of Events.

Explorer Post 1010 Wins Top STEM Competitions!

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Submitted by: Bob Ekman

Explorer Post 1010 is engaged in four national engineering programs – The American Rocketry Challenge, FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics, Botball Educational Robotics, and the UAS4STEM Drone Competition. In 2021, we worked through the pandemic and did very well in all four programs. Our robotics teams scored among the top teams, but our rocketry and drone teams were at the at the top nationally. The tenacity of the teams through many long months of the pandemic has proved to be their strength. Add to that the dedication of several adult leaders in providing the logistics so the teams could meet and succeed in their challenge.

Bob Ekman is the over-all advisor for Post 1010. Tom May, aided by his wife Beth May, are the mentors for the drone team. Vince Camobreco is a mentor for the rocketry team. Neal Perkins is a mentor for the FIRST robotics team. Bob is also the mentor for the Botball team.

Post 1010 has been active since 1997, with hundreds of teen passing through the program. We currently have about 34 registered members. They do well every year, but this year has been extraordinary.

The American Rocketry Challenge

Explorer Post 1010 registered three teams in the 2020 The American Rocketry Challenge (TARC). The main web site is https://rocketcontest.org/. The challenge is to fly to a specific altitude and then descend to the ground in a specific total flight time. We also had to carry a large raw egg and not receive any cracks. We started with experiments focused on the challenge in the fall of 2019. We recruited several new members for 2020 and designed and built our competition rockets. We started testing our rockets during the winter of 2020.

Then the pandemic hit and we suspended the program until September 2020. We used the same 2020 challenge for 2021, but dropped one of our teams because we lost several seniors. By May 17, 2021, both teams completed three qualification flights with scores low enough to be invited to the national fly-off in June. The finals are for the top 100 teams from the 615 registered teams across the US.

Our teams traveled to the Great Meadow field in The Plains, VA, on June 13. They both successfully completed two flights. The first one to 775 feet and descent time between 39 and 42 seconds. The second one to 825 feet and descent time between 41 and 44 seconds. Our first team had two flights that were almost perfect, getting a score of 3 and 5 for a combined score of 8. The second team had good altitude scores, but descended a little too fast. At an on-line ceremony on June 28, the first team was ranked 2nd place nationally and awarded $17,000. They lost to a team in Oregon that scored 7.7. Our second team was ranked 42nd.

UAS4STEM Drone Competition

Explorer Post 1010 registered a teams in the 2020 UAS4STEM drone competition. While we started preparing for the spring and summer competition, the pandemic caused us to delay until 2021. In the challenge, the team must fly their drone both autonomously and remote controlled. They needed to find several targets which are out of site from the team, and then drop water balloons filled with paint on the target.

In April, our team made an on-line presentation which was rated highly and gave them an invitation to the national competition. The national competition was held in conjunction with the AirVenture Fly-In festival at Oshkosh WI in August 2021. Our team competed with a dozen other teams from across the nation. They gave another impressive presentation and successfully performed their flight operations, hitting the targets several times. At the festival in August, they were awarded first place nationally and $2,500.

Test Your Orienteering Skills Oct. 23!

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All Troops & Venturing crews are challenged to test (and hone!) their map skills at the 45th Annual Maryland Scout Orienteering Day on Oct. 23 at Patuxent River Park near Upper Marlboro. NCAC troops from Virginia and Maryland always do well, winning 15 of the top 22 awards the last time here; in 2019 over 500 youth, 160 adults orienteered. Troop 540 from Howard County won the troop award in 2020.

Units register online here. Our self-guided map activities in the morning are designed for beginners. About half of the attendees camp one or two nights. No Cubs, no Webelos.

Meet the “Even Newer Newest” Volunteers in Michael’s Woodshop

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Michael’s Woodshop is pleased to introduce the six newest members of the Team. Michael’s Woodshop is run entirely through the time, effort and talents of volunteers and we welcome these latest additions!

Adult Volunteers

Shannon Klee is an active Scouter; ASM, Troop 1941, NCAC Equity Committee, Camp Master at Camp Snyder and Director of Goose Creek Day & Twilight Camp. She is excited to join the team and looks forward to “learning and playing” in the woodshop.

 

Soup Fick serves as Scoutmaster for Troop 1182-G and is the proud mother of an Eagle Scout and a Life Scout. She has a broad range of woodworking skills and interests and is currently focused on miniatures and crafting.

 

Charleen Kennedy is a Lone Scout Leader and Sea Scout Leader. Active since 2011, she enjoyed working with Scouts building pinewood derby cars. She is a Certified Professional Photographer a Master Photographer and a Photography merit badge counselor.

 

Shannon DiGiacomo has four children in Scouting and serves as Cubmaster for Pack 1355. Her entre to woodworking was through laser engraving but her interest quickly expanded to larger projects. She has come to enjoy to art and craftsmanship of woodworking.

Youth Volunteers

Braeden is a Star Scout with Troop  682 and enjoys back country hiking. He is currently working on a Purple Martin House (the “bird mansion”) for Camp Snyder. In addition to his Scouting interests, he is also the assistant captain for his ice hockey team, a competitive epee fencer and an avid reader.

William is a Life Scout, a Sea Scout Apprentice and is the first AuxScout with USCG Auxiliary, Flotilla 25-06. He joined Michael’s Woodshop after attending Merit Badge Week at Camp Snyder. He enjoys guitar (and he built his own!), scuba diving, film photography and clay target shooting.

 

If you are interested in volunteering, please see “Join the Michael’s Woodshop Team” on our webpage, or email any questions to MichaelsWoodshop.CWBS@gmail.com.

8/28 Scout Invention Showcase & Facebook Live with TIME Kid of the Year, a STEM Scout Inventor!

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Join us on Saturday, August 28th at 5 pm EST for another STEM Speaker Series with the TIME Kid of the Year and STEM Scout Gitanjali Rao. Gitanjali was honored for her work using STEM skills to address issues like bullying, opioid addiction and contaminated drinking water. You can catch this special edition of the STEM Speaker Series on the NCAC STEM Facebook page!

Photo from Time: from: https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2020/12/09/first-ever-time-kid-of-the-year-is-a-stem-scout-from-colorado/

Want to join the conversation?

If your Scout would like to submit a question for the chance to see it answered live, you can submit it via this form.

Have you invented something? Want to share in the Inventing Showcase?

Send us a photo or video clip and we will include it in the August 28th Scouts’ Inventing Showcase!

Share in this Google Drive or email to 082stem@gmail.com

Be sure to include: your name, city, state, grade, and a brief statement of what problem your invention aims to solve.

This is an especially excellent opportunity for Scouts BSA youth working on their Inventing Merit Badge. Or if you’ve already created an invention, please share with us as we want to feature it!

 

 

What is STEM Scouts?

STEM Scouts is a BSA program for girls and boys in grades 3-8 to explore science, technology, engineering and math. STEM Scouts meet in groups called Labs and explore hands-on experiments through 20 activities designed by educators at National each year. You can read more about this here.

 

 

 

Troop 544 Holds Eagle Scout Court of Honor

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On a sunny Saturday morning, nine Boy Scouts belonging to Troop 544 of Peoples Congregational UCC of the NCAC Council, in Washington DC, received the rank of Eagle Scout. This event took place at Northeastern Presbyterian Church, and it was truly wonderful as each Scout gave speeches about their journey in scouting, and were given awards in the presence of parents, family and friends.

The nine Scouts that achieved this rank were Brandon Hall, Xavier Scott, Joshua Simpson, Jamir Grier, James Marcus Hall, Charles Brown II, Benjamin Evans, Spencer Fridie, and Greyson Thrower. Under the direction of Scoutmaster Robert Simpson and other Parent Leaders, these young men have worked hard, over many years, to learn life skills and mature as young adults as they progressed through the ranks of Scouting.

Troop 544 is a historically African American troop that was started 90 years ago. Despite the underrepresentation of African American males who have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the US, Troop 544 has the distinction of having 58 Boy Scouts who have earned the Eagle Scout designation. What is even more remarkable is that this class of nine Scouts achieved the rank of Eagle Scout during the pandemic.

Here’s a list of the new Eagles and their service projects:

  • Brandon H. – Buddy Weekend: Went to senior citizen nursing homes to play games with and provided lunches and prizes too them on multiple weekends.
  • Xavier S. – Helping Hands: Assembled volunteers to do yard cleanup and various household chores for seniors in his neighborhood.
  • Jamir G. – Technology for Seniors: Held two weekends of sessions that provided technology training (i.e. cellphones, tablets, etc.) to seniors at different churches.
  • Marcus H. – Dog Poop Stations: Constructed a “Dog Poop Station” in front of his church.
  • Charles B. – Beautification Project for South Manor in DC: Led a group of volunteers to install various plantings in a neighborhood area in need of cleaning.
  • Joshua S. – Supplies for Seniors: Created activity bags for residents of senior nursing homes which included a variety of items too keep them entertained during the pandemic which limited their visitors.
  • Benjamin E. – Washington Yu Ying Rain Garden: Eco friendly project that had him plant plants to stop erosion at the hill of his former elementary school.
  • Spencer F. – SEGL Sick Room: Built a wellness and recovery center at his high school which included installing cabinetry, bed, etc.
  • Greyson T. – Little Libraries: Built little libraries at various multi family housing developments.

Congratulations, gentlemen! We are very proud of you all. If you would like information about joining Troop 544, please feel free to contact Scoutmaster Robert Simpson at rob@robsgroup.com or Jonathan Simpson, at jonathansimpson786@gmail.com.

Submitted by: Jonathan Simpson