We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

Leaders

SEEKING COUNSELORS – October 2021 NCAC MB@Home

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We’re starting another MeritBadges@Home campaign and need your help!

The National Capitol Area Council (NCAC), Scouts BSA is looking for Merit Badge Counselors for the October 2021 session of the NCAC MeritBadges@Home program. Counselors will conduct remote instruction for Scouts through Zoom and collaborate through the Basecamp platform between a period of October 11-30, 2021. (Last three weeks of October). Use of both of these resources will be provided by the Council.

If you are interested in serving as a counselor, please follow the link below to view a registration form with additional information about the commitment. The counselor registration deadline is Friday, September 24, 2021. A suggested date and time format is included on the Google form, however, our format is flexible enough to match our counselor’s availability for date and time.

October 2021 MB@Home Counselor Registration Form (https://forms.gle/eq6uzpGXiRsETctp7)

Take a live look of counselors who have signed up (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ewHN5sOqgapXKU8lBuA8nkjBZEAdu_vTyKSVBUu25KU/edit?usp=sharing)

We will happily accept multiple counselors offering the same badge. Feel free to share these links with your Scouting and professional colleagues.

Here is the projected timeline of the event:

Counselor Registration Closes: Friday, September 24
Participation Registration Opens: Week of September 27
Week 1 & 2 Sessions Start: Monday, October 11
Week 2 & 3 Sessions Start: Monday, October 18
Closing up sessions: Sunday, October 31

For questions regarding this event, ping @Bill Pzedpelski on the NCAC Basecamp or contact bill.pzedpelski@gmail.com.

Thank you for your consideration,

Bill Pzedpelski
NCAC Advancement Committee

Back Country Outdoor Leader Skills

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This course is aimed at all adults working with older youth regardless of program (Scouts BSA, Sea Scouts, Venturing, or Exploring). This training IS NOT recommended for Cub Scout leaders. All participants must have completed Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills, as well as the position-specific training for their program area prior to attending this course and be able to meet physical requirements of the BSA Annual Health & Medical Record.

September course:
9/20, 7pm-8pm online
9/25, 9am-7pm @ Frederick MD

https://scoutingevent.com/082-50510

October course:
10/11, 7pm-8pm online
10/16, 9am-7pm @ Haymarket VA

https://scoutingevent.com/082-49968

For more information, contact Dominick Caridi at dscscouting@aol.com or 703-625-4196.

 

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.

August Council Wide Virtual Roundtable, Wednesday, August 18, 2021

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Council-wide Roundtable, Wednesday, August 18th, 2021

Doors open for virtual midway at 7:15pm, Roundtable starts at 7:30pm

NCAC brings back our Council-wide Roundtable to help you and your units get ready for the upcoming Scouting program year.

Even as the new program year gets started, we will help units focus on Rechartering and planning for the rest of the calendar year. The rechartering cycle has been changed, and every unit will benefit from getting the information and resources early in the process. This information is so crucial that it will be our main focus session.

Cub Scout leaders will benefit from our split session to help you organize recruiting and program resources to help your packs with our Cub Scout Relaunch.

ScoutsBSA leaders will get help with plans for getting back in the outdoors this fall and winter and how to reach out to those families that didn’t rejoin your Troop after the pandemic has eased.

We look forward to seeing everyone on August 18th.

George Costigan, Bill Desmond, and Dave Rockwell
Your NCAC Roundtable Team

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Join Zoom Meeting

https://ncacbsa-org.zoom.us/j/89720118287?pwd=T2ZhZUU2aHJ3YVozK3pZYUdCdkF6dz09

Meeting ID: 897 2011 8287
Passcode: 198415

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Meet the Newest Volunteers in Michael’s Woodshop

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

Adult Volunteers

Kirk Vetter is married with two teenaged children and has a passion for millwork. He is the Executive Vice President / General Manager of Gaithersburg Architectural Millwork which specializes in manufacturing Commercial Interior Architectural Millwork in Warrenton VA. (We toured his facility – it is a very impressive operation!) He is volunteering his time in an effort to get youth as excited about millwork as he is.

Ryan Fisher is an experienced woodworker and has been actively engaged in Scouting since his youth. He is an Eagle Scout, OA member (Vigil Honor), has attended Philmont twice, two National Jamborees and NOAC and after a series of adult leadership positions currently serves as ASM, Troop 1372-G. Interestingly, during his service career, he willingly jumped out of perfectly fine aircraft on 52 occasions.

Elena Ziu discovered Michael’s Woodshop while her son was working on his Woodworking MB. The shop reminded her of her days at the University of Virginia where as an experimental physicist she often modified or built parts for her experimental apparatus in a machine shop. Elena has been active in Scouting since 2016 and currently serves as NCAC STEM Counselor and Powhatan Crew 160 Advisor.

Youth Volunteers

Ayaan A. is an Eagle Scout with Troop 1548.  While working on his Eagle Scout Project in Michael’s Woodshop, he was “bitten” by the woodworking bug (we would apologize, but it would not be sincere…).  Ayaan has a goal of earning a Gold Congressional Service Award (requires 400 service hours) and has decided to combine his new interest in woodworking with his desire to serve others.

Mihai Z. is a First Class Scout with Troop 160.  He loves playing trumpet and serves as bugler for his Troop. Mihai completed the Woodworking MB Spring 2021 and now has three hobbies he loves: woodworking, model rocketry, and 3D model design and printing. Mihai is already excited to try out our newly donated CNC machine. (And the adult volunteers are happy to have a teenager around to teach us how to use it!)

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. Interested female adults and youth are also invited to attend one of our Ladies Nights in the Woodshop sessions which provide potential volunteers with a chance to learn more about the shop – and to make some sawdust!

Meet 2021 NOESA Honoree Joseph “Bill” Bluff

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Bill Buff is managing partner of Stratacomm, a communications and marketing firm recognized by Washingtonian magazine as one of “50 Great Places to Work.”  Along with his business partners, Bill carefully nurtures Stratacomm’s corporate culture, which places high value on client service, innovation, entrepreneurship, inclusion, teamwork, learning, ethics and fun.

Bill serves clients by crafting the right messages and campaigns through the careful combination of research, strategic planning, media relations, grassroots activation, coalition building, digital outreach, high-profile events and personal contacts. Besides being a skilled communicator, Bill also knows the ins-and-outs of the complex system of government procurement and leads the firm’s growing federal government practice.

Before joining Stratacomm in 2001, Bill was a client at the American Highway Users Alliance (AHUA). There he oversaw media strategy, public opinion research and external communications as the director of communications and government affairs. He brings two decades of experience with transportation, environmental and energy issues to help clients achieve legislative, regulatory and reputational goals.

Bill graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Davidson College in North Carolina where he studied anthropology.

Congratulations to Bill and his fellow 2021 NOESA Honorees! Eagle alums, let’s stay connected. Join NESA DC today! www.ncacbsa.org/national-eagle-scout-association/