The Scouter Digest Staff

Earth Day is Every Day for Scouts

May 3, 2021 by Jeannie Lee

In honor of Earth Day 2021 and every day for Scouts, members of Scouts BSA Troop 1191G and 1191B, Mount Airy rendered community service by clearing trails of invasive plants and removing trash from the waterway on the trails at Gillis Falls, Salt Box area. Scouts focus on conservation projects throughout the year, often completing service for town and county governments as well as civic organizations. For the month of April, Troop 1191G is furthering their knowledge of the environment by focusing on requirements for the Sustainability Merit Badge, one of the two choices for the environmental focused required merit badge that Scouts must earn for the rank of Eagle. Conservation and environmental studies have been a long standing focus for the Boy Scouts of America since 1910. Among the interesting artifacts recovered during their conservation work were a turntable, computer, pool ball, and half of a metal drum. The most significant recoveries of the morning were 31 tires and 3 bicycles.

Scouts BSA Troop 1191G and 1191B are both chartered by the American Legion Goldstar Post 191, Mount Airy Maryland. Both meet on Monday evenings. If you have an interested youth between the ages of 11-17, please contact us at Troop1191info@gmail.com to come visit us at our Troop meetings or join us for one of our many adventures.

Meet 2021 Silver Beaver Recipient Mary Carson

April 29, 2021 by The Scouter Digest Staff

Mary has always enjoyed working with youth. As a teenager, she volunteered for vacation bible school, worked with summer youth programs and taught Sunday school.

In 1989, Mary became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya, East Africa as a secondary school teacher in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro. She later moved to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and worked at the local University and then moved to Senegal, West Africa.

In 2004, Mary returned to the United States and settled in Silver Spring, Maryland. She gave birth to a third son and became active again in her local church. When her oldest son could join Cub Scouts, she quickly found her passion of working with youth in an admired and respected character building organization. She served as den leader for all three of her sons and soon became the Cubmaster for Pack 96 of The Peoples Community Baptist Church.

For several years, she served as popcorn kernel and volunteered for district day camp. She also served as an assistant roundtable commissioner. Mary stayed with her first love, the Cub Scout pack, even though her youngest had bridged over to Boy Scouts. She has received many awards for working with her pack, her church, and the school. She eventually joined her sons in Troop 96. She enjoys working with youth and helping to develop their character through their faith and strong organizations.

You can watch Mary receive her Silver Beaver Award on Saturday, May 15th at 7:30pm by reserving your seat at the virtual Court of Honor !

Pack 1280 Townes Supernova Ceremony

April 28, 2021 by The Scouter Digest Staff

Pack 1280 Supernova and Arrow of Light Scouts (L.-to-R.): Matthew B., Victor T., Ethan N., Leo P., Landon E., John L., Dr. Jim Boyce (Mentor), Ethan M., Matthew Z. and in the foreground Dr. Stanley Fricke of the NCAC STEM Committee who came in person to present the Charles Townes Supernova Awards.

Submitted by: Jim Boyce, Ph.D.

The National Capital Area Council (NCAC) has just recognized eight Webelos Scouts from Potomac District Pack 1280 for earning the Dr. Charles H. Townes Supernova Award. These scouts, have been working together within the Webelos Program on the award requirements for 18 months (Summer 2019 to Spring 2021). Their Mentor, Dr. Jim P. Boyce, who has been serving as a NOVA Mentor and Counselor for almost a decade in the NCAC, says that this was his largest group of scouts to earn this award yet.

Each scout developed their own science or engineering project to fulfill one of the nine requirements of this award and then presented their projects throughout the hypothesis, testing and results stages to each other and their Mentor.

All the scouts participated regularly in NCAC STEM programs including the 2020 Labor Day weekend STEM-a-Thon, the 2020-2021 STEM at Home speaker series and the 2020 William D. Boyce Potomac District Scout Chess Tournament. Scouts met with scientists and engineers from NASA, NIH and Astra Zeneca to learn about careers and also shared their STEM projects at local school and independent Regional Science Fairs. One scout entered their Townes project in the 2020 Rockville Regional Science fair and earned 1st place for age and 2nd place overall. Collectively this Cadre of scouts has previously earned 28 NOVA Awards from 2016 to 2021 with several different Counselors and one previously earned the Louise Alvarez Supernova Award in a Cadre in 2017.

The projects were exceptional in their creativity and spanned the fields of chemistry, environmental biology, microbiology, and physics. For example, Webelos Matthew B. used local soil bacteria that he aerosol- sprayed over agar Petri dishes and that were protected with different types of face masks to quantitate the effect of mask material on prevention of transmission of germs. Webelos Matthew Z. demonstrated the principal of radioactive decay. Webelos John L. and Leo P. studied different properties of liquids under different conditions. Webelos Ethan M. studied the ability of soil microorganisms to decompose different types of materials. Webelos Ethan N. studied solar energy and the effect of different wavelengths and intensities of light at charging a battery connected to a solar panel. Webelos Landon E. made a study out of measuring the elasticity of polymers made from different combinations of monomers. And Webelos Victor T. studied the Ideal Gas Law by taking balloons with him on an elevation gain hike in the Rocky Mountains to measure their volume under different atmospheric conditions.

The ceremony was conducted April 17, 2021 at a masked, small group, outdoor campfire ceremony at Locust Grove Nature Center in Bethesda MD. All of these scouts also earned their Arrow of Light Rank at about the same time as finishing their Supernova requirements and are continuing together in their journey in scouting by crossing into Scouts BSA, after two more planned campouts together this Spring as Webelos.

Meet 2021 Silver Beaver Recipient Forrest Horton

April 27, 2021 by The Scouter Digest Staff

Forrest and his twin brother Horace grew up on their parents’ Millbrook Farm in Blue Hill, Maine, and earned their God and Country, Eagle Scout, and Order of the Arrow Vigil together. Following graduation from George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, Forrest earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Naval Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and a Brevet Technique from the French Naval War College in Paris, France.

Upon commissioning in 1965, Forrest served in a broad range of operational and staff assignments in the Naval Surface Warfare command. After joining the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, he served as Navy planner for international negotiations, arms control, and combating terrorism. Forrest retired as a Navy Captain in 1991 with a Legion of Merit.

His subsequent efforts as a Director of ANSER, Incorporated and The Tauri Group helped shape corporate growth, particularly in homeland security.

Forrest joined the National Capital Area Council Executive Board in 2014 as Endowment Committee Chair, and subsequently joined Amangamek-Wipit Lodge Order of the Arrow and the Interfaith Working Group. He was awarded the National Eagle Scout Association’s Outstanding Eagle Scout in 2020.

Forrest and Janet, his wife of 52 years, live in McLean, Virginia. His community work with youth programs included McLean Youth Athletics and Saint Luke Catholic Church. They have two married daughters, Sarah and husband Brian Halweil, Emily and husband Brian Baran, Eagle Scout son Matthew, and three grandchildren, Clio, Cyrus, and Cub Scout Matthew who are the lights of their lives.

You can watch Forrest receive his Silver Beaver Award on Saturday, May 15th at 7:30pm by reserving your seat at the virtual Court of Honor.

Culpeper Scouts Soar to the Rank of Eagle

April 27, 2021 by The Scouter Digest Staff

Scoutmaster Donald Demory of Troop 196 discussed in an interview with Emily Jennings of The Free Lance-Star shares how three Eagle Scouts were able to complete their projects despite the challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic may have presented.

Andrew Flack made custom-built free community library boxes for Culpeper area parks. When asked about the program, he stated, “It teaches great skills, good ethics and morals, and a lot of life lessons to carry with you your whole life.” For Aiden Durica‘s Eagle project, he constructed an awards platform for the Soap Box Derby and installed micro-libraries. Eddie Fleming organized a group of volunteers to helped him install 150 feet of fencing at Cedar Mountain battlefield. His group also installed a new sign that was laser-engraved by a local business.

We are proud of our newest Eagles Scouts and their contributions to the Culpeper community!

Camp Snyder Merit Badge Week Class Registration is Open

April 19, 2021 by Craig Weston

Hey Scouts and Scouters! You can now pick your classes for the 48 Merit Badges to be offered at Camp Snyder during the Scouts BSA Week from July 18th to 24th. You can participate as an overnight camper or as a day camper to earn your merit badges!

Plus, there are fun activities like swimming, boating, fishing, crafts, shooting sports and a lot of staff-lead evening activities, to include campfire programs!

Also, Early Bird Pricing has been extended to May 1st. Classes for some Merit Badges are filling quickly, so hurry to register at https://www.gotosnyder.org/summer-camp/specialty-week/