We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

The Scouter Digest Staff

Troop 98 Eagle Scout Service Project Says “Farewell” to Invasive Species and “Hello” to Healthy Trees

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Back in February and March of 2020 when the weather was cool and crisp, and just before COVID-19 impacted and limited our larger in-person scouting activities, Brendan Martin Firvida, a Life Scout with Scouts BSA Troop 98 chartered by St. Anthony of Padua Church in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, DC, saw his Eagle Scout Service Project come to fruition on the grounds of the The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land, also located in Brookland.

Months of planning with the Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild (FMGG) came together over two weekends of work by Scouts and volunteers as they removed invasive species from the tree perimeter of the rear grounds of the Monastery.

“Brendan’s project was essential to keep the perimeter trees healthy,” noted Lou Maroulis, FMGG CEO. “By completing this project during the late winter months, the amount of debris removal was significantly reduced due to the normal winter “die-back” of invasive plants. Congratulations and thanks to Brendan and Troop 98 for the successful completion of this project of manually removing invasive plants which complements the Franciscan Monastery’s ecosystem of urban farm, orchard, apiary, and meadow.”

Major benefits of the removal of the invasive vines and surrounding weed-tree saplings allows the mature trees within the tree perimeter to grow without competition by the invasive plants and vines. This work also improved the air flow and facilitated ongoing maintenance which are extremely beneficial for these trees, benefits that were enjoyed by the trees this entire summer without having to battle invasive species.

The Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild is staffed entirely by volunteers, and the gardens provide between 10,000 to 11,000 pounds of produce a year for those in need. Since 2014, over 24 tons of vegetable produce that is grown and harvested has been donated to food pantries of neighborhood parishes and food banks in the District of Columbia.

Congratulations to Brendan on your hard work, and completing this very difficult step on your trek to Eagle, and a special thank you to all of the volunteers, scouts and scouters of Troop 98, and the Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild!

Troop 1577 Holds Socially-Distanced Court of Honor Outside

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Troop 1577 held its first socially distanced Court of Honor this week – outside in our parking lot. Four Eagles had their Eagle Court of Honor as well.

The event took place in the evening as it got dark, so we had a campfire in a Solo Stove along with many lanterns and head lamps. A Scout broadcasted the ceremony over Zoom for families who preferred to attend virtually. A presentation showing the awards was projected onto the brick wall of Trinity Presbyterian.

Families were assigned a parking spot where they would sit together on blankets or in chairs they brought. As Scouts were recognized, they stood up in their parking spot.

During the Eagle Court of Honor, the Scouts spread out across the space. Their parents were invited up to receive their parent pins. Mentors received their pins on a piece of card stock. The Scouts received their Eagle staffs handmade and customized for them. A family brought enough packages of cupcakes for every family to take one home.

We introduced a new type of award called the Firestarter Award. This is to recognize the many innovations that people have contributed during social distancing. We hope this will encourage even more Troop members to get creative when things get complicated. The description of this award is “The Firestarter Award is for Scouts and adults to see something that can be improved about how we run our troop, and they create a special project to test ideas for how to make it better. They create a team of people to help. They invent something new. Their invention reduces work for Scouts in the future, makes Scouting more fun, or helps us learn something new. We call it the firestarter award because we view the Scouting program as the firewood – it has all the fuel we need to create a great experience for Scouts. But without a spark and a firestarter to get the fire going, the fire will go out.”

Recipients of the Firestarter Awards did projects such as completely cleaning out the equipment shed, reaching out to mulch customers when our mulch fundraiser was cancelled due to the pandemic, facilitating our first ever virtual First Year Scout program, redesigning our website, running swim tests for more than 40 Scouts and adults at a local outdoor pool in a socially distanced way and more. Of course the award took the form of – a bag of firestarters.

We are proud of our Scouts and adults who are finding ways to reinvent our processes can still enjoy Scouting together both in-person and virtually. We know it is making a big difference in the health of our Scouts so they stay “physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”

Photos by Ed Medvid and Carla Brown

NCAC Scout Earns National Eagle Scout of the Year Runner Up!

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The American Legion offers a number of scholarships and other resources to assist young people in their pursuit of higher education. To be eligible for the American Legion Eagle Scout of the Year award, some of the requirements include: being an Eagle Scout; having received the appropriate Boy Scout religious emblem; having demonstrated practical citizenship in church, school, Scouting and community; and reached the age of 15 and enrolled in high school at time of selection.

Noah Ventura of Mt. Vernon, VA is the 2020 American Legion’s National Eagle Scout of the Year Runner-Up.

Ventura, is a high school Senior at Gonzaga College High School. He is the Veterans Foreign Wars (VFW) Virginia Eagle Scout of the Year and American Legion Virginia Eagle Scout of the Year. He attained the rank of Eagle Scout in January 2017 and was inducted in the NCAC Youth Leadership Society in 2019. Noah Ventura is also an Eagle Scout with Crew 1022/Troop 1509. Other achievements for Ventura include Order of the Arrow (OA) Virginia Central Area Section Chief, OA Golden Tooth Recipient, Vigil Honor Member, National Youth Leadership Training Senior Patrol Leader, and Congressional Bronze Award. He has a strong interest in STEM and has earned the BSA Supernova Awards; Thomas Edison (2017), Dr. Bernard Harris Award (2015) and William H. Townes Award (2013).

The American Legion Eagle Scout of the Year will receive a $10,000 scholarship. As the American Legion, Eagle Scout of the Year Runner Up Noah will receive a $2,500 scholarship.

Architecture Merit Badge

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The American Institute of Architectural Students from Catholic University is holding two panels this week for scouts to learn about architecture!

This is a great entree to the Architecture merit badge as well – they will touch on requirements 2, 3a & 5 too!

The sessions are free to join – please feel free to invite your friends to learn about architecture and interact with the CUA students! During the Q&A they will welcome your questions about CUA too!

 

Below are the links:
When: Sep 23, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: STEM Speaker Series – AIAS-CUA panel I

Register in advance for this webinar:
https://ncacbsa-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dmGXLaqJSFyVPMUdJb_p_w

 

When: Sep 24, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: STEM Speaker Series – AIAS -CUA architecture panel II

Register in advance for this webinar:
https://ncacbsa-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VICX6vflTPS513Eza6TGJQ

Star Scout Completes Bernard Harris SUPERNOVA Award!

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My name is Titus Er from Troop 20, in Oak Hill Virginia. From the NCAC BSA council, I am a Star Scout, currently working to achieve Life rank, and a 7th grader at Rachel Carson Middle School. I completed the SUPERNOVA Bernard Harris Award on July 2nd, 2020. In order to receive this award, I completed NOVA Whoosh, Shoot, Splash, and watched a total of 9 hours of STEM related videos (which was quite difficult!).

I have to admit that I am not a huge STEM fan, so these requirements were especially difficult for me. Each NOVA award takes roughly around 4-6 hours including the 3 hours of videos. I had to glean information from the videos, watch very carefully, analyze the information and take notes on it. This requires 100% concentration which was challenging for me, because I wasn’t necessarily always interested in the topic, although many videos were interesting.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I have a huge advantage because of the amount of time I have to watch videos and complete the requirements for the NOVA. During a school week, I don’t have the time to complete as many requirements, because I am busy with school, sports, practicing instruments, and homework. Since there is a pandemic and school’s out, and most activities shut down, I was able to work with my mentor virtually to discuss the requirements.

My first NOVA award was Shoot. I completed it on April 23rd, 2020. It was a challenging NOVA, because space was a topic I rarely researched before. One of the requirements stated to research a satellite in your area and take a look at it in space. My Dad and I stood outside when it was freezing for 15-30 minutes! We saw two lights in the sky, and were determining which one was the right satellite. When we finally truly saw the satellite, it was very small from afar. It was truly a great experience doing this NOVA.

My second NOVA was Whoosh completed on June 1st, and at first I thought that the NOVA was about wind! I found out that it wasn’t, but I learned so much from it. During Elementary School, I learned a lot about simple machines, but doing this NOVA award took it to a whole new level. I discovered energy and how energy works in different simple machines, and I looked at ordinary places such as playgrounds and saw how simple machines were involved. It was a fascinating topic, because I realized now that energy is moving everywhere! I will never regret doing this NOVA.

My third NOVA, and last required NOVA was Splash completed on June 9th. This was a NOVA award I was certainly looking forward to. After doing this NOVA award, I was very aware of the long and relaxed showers I was taking and made sure to cut them by half. I learned that water is essential in everyday life. We simply cannot live without it, and I became aware that drinking water is not the only thing vital to our survival. After looking at the crazy amount of water that my family was using, I decided we had to change. I am very glad that this NOVA award has changed my mindset about water, and forever will.
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In addition to completing NOVA awards, the scout has to complete the requirements in the SUPERNOVA itself. One of the requirements is earning the Scholarship Merit Badge. At first, I thought that this merit badge was going to get me into a college for free, although that is not true. I did certainly learn from it though. One of the big challenges for me was contacting my Principal and asking for a letter about my good behavior, leadership, and service. I was nervous about this because I seldom talked to my Principal, and I was afraid of what she would say. In the end I got a great response.

Another challenging requirement was conducting an experiment for a Cub Scout Den. This was difficult for me, because I did not know a lot of experiments and did not participate in many experiments. I was quite good at magic, so I decided to incorporate magic into my experiment. I had to do some research about my specific magic trick, and I figured out that every magic trick has scientific reasoning. In addition, because of COVID I had to do it virtually. I honed my communication skills, because I had to look at the camera and not my experiment. In the end, I was very satisfied with my experiment, because I figured out how to incorporate science into my life in a very fun way for me.

I also learned about the Scientific Method, and as I researched a topic, I had to figure out the two competing theories about the topic. I also had to figure out which theory I thought was more accurate and had more facts. On top of that, I had to make a slideshow for my mentor and analyze the controversies and competing theories of each topic. I have never really researched a single topic, and analyzed two theories so this was a new challenge to me. I enjoy researching, so this was a great experience for me. I am sure this activity will help me do better in my studies and I hope that I will use the Scientific Method my whole life.

Overall I enjoyed this Bernard Harris SUPERNOVA award, and I think that it will help me in my studies throughout my life. It will help me get a much better understanding of STEM, and will allow me to better appreciate science. After accomplishing this SUPERNOVA award, I feel like I have grown in my understanding of STEM.

For all scouts out there, I highly recommend doing NOVA and SUPERNOVA awards, because it really enhances your knowledge, from Science, Technology, Engineering, to Mathematics, and helps you get a much better understanding of the world and how it functions. It may be a challenging journey, but it is definitely worth your time. After completing the Bernard Harris SUPERNOVA, you will feel a deep sense of satisfaction inside your mind. Whenever you see the medal, you will know that you worked hard for the award. These are STEM topics that will help you in different aspects of life.