Last month, Prince William District’s Cub Scout Pack 295 had the opportunity to visit their local water treatment facility to learn about the technology used there as part of NOVA STEM’s Tech Talk adventure!
The Virginia American Water staff were extremely generous with their time, information sharing, and PPE during the tour. Youth and adults alike learned a ton about the treatment process on this amazing outing!
To learn more about the Tech Talk Nova, read the requirements on BSA’s STEM page.
The 2022 NCAC Powder Horn Course wrapped up this August at the beautiful Camp Saint Charles located on the banks of Charleston Creek and the Wicomico River in Newburg Maryland. The participants, 10 older youth Scouts and Sea Scouts and 11 adult Scouters, spent the weekend experiencing hands on activities that included, astronomy, emergency prep, backcountry communications, scuba, small boat sailing, paddle boarding, kayaking, canoeing, COPE course challenge, fly fishing, mountain biking, shooting sports, orienteering, geo-caching, and leave no trace practices.
Powder Horn is a resource course designed to introduce Scouting’s adults and youth to the exciting high-adventure program possibilities for their unit. The course supports the mission of strengthening units so they can achieve the mission of the Boy Scouts of America. Its purpose is to educate the youth and adult Scouting leaders about specific high-adventure skills, to connect them to resources to deliver those skills, and to get them excited about delivering those skills in an exciting, challenging way to youth.
Mark your calendar now as we are starting the planning for our 2023 Course to again be held on the last weekend in August.
National Capital Area
Council (NCAC) Sea Scouts had the opportunity to engage in outreach and community service through a collaborative effort with Cub Scout Pack 1144. Pack 1144 held its First Annual Fishing Derby at Fountainhead park on Sunday, June 5th, 2022, with great success! The event provided an immense opportunity to bridge the gap between Sea Scouts and Cub Scouts in an interactive-learning environment. Sea Scouts supported Cub Scouts and parents in acquiring basic fishing skills, safety, and conservation mindfulness.
Able Sea Scout Quinn Laffey, Ship 1942 was on-site to bring awareness to his Conservation Quartermaster Project ,“Reel-n-Recycle.” According to Laffey “because of the GREAT EXPOSURE, 10 of the Cub Scouts recycled their fishing line and scanned the QR code on the recycling tube, to enter the lottery and possibly win one of the two fishing rod and reel packages that were donated by West Marine ($350.00 per package.)” Fifty-two Cub Scouts and Parents from Pack 1144 registered for the fun-filled event. Pack 1144 Committee Chair Brandon Budman said, “the event just took off!” The weather was beautiful and many of the Cub Scouts had great success with the “catch-and-release event.”
Sea Scouts registered for this event through a sign-up genius disseminated through the Sea Scout Committee Wardroom Meeting. This initiative fostered the opportunity for Sea Scouts to earn volunteer service hours toward rank advancement, increase Sea Scout visual presence, as well as support Cub Scouting and conservation. This Sea Scout outreach and support initiative was made possible through the collaborated efforts of the NCAC Sea Scout Committee, Pack 1144, and the newly selected National Service Territory 12 (NST12) Boatswain, William Kennedy. Boatswain William is transitioning from NCAC Boatswain’s Mate for Program to his new Territory leadership role.
Sea Scouts provide an excellent opportunity for adventure focused on youth ages 14-21 who are interested in white water rafting, canoeing, kayaking, sailing, powerboating, and SCUBA diving. To find a Sea Scout Ship near you, log-on to www.beascout.org. The opportunity is also available to start new Ships within NCAC and National Service Territory 12 (NST12). For those interested in learning more about Able Scout Quinn Laffey’s Quartermaster and Conservation Project, a hyper-link to a Dropbox is provided for Reel-n-Recycle.
Please reach out to Sea Scout Ship 1942 if interested to learn more about the engagement!
Join fellow Scouts at Nationals Park for Scout Day on August 14th!
This should be a great event as every individual who purchases a special ticket will receive a limited edition patch, and have access to an exclusive pregame event before gates open for the game!
If you organize a group of 20 or more, the group leader will receive a complimentary game ticket (1 ticket per order).
To book your tickets for Scout Day, head over to:
https://www.mlb.com/nationals/tickets/specials/scout-days
Hello, I am Lauren Nank, and I am the first woman in NCAC to earn the Thomas Edison Supernova award. I joined GT1853 right before COVID put us all into lockdown. During that time, I was introduced to the multitude of STEM opportunities in scouts. It started with the Nova awards. A Nova award is a project-based activity, and each award covers one area of STEM. I completed Let it Grow, Splash, and Mendel’s Minions. Let it Grow, taught me how we get our food, how it is processed, and a lot about food science all around the world. When I was completing the Mammal Study merit badge for the Nova award, one of the requirements was doing a project that would benefit a mammal. I decided to build a bat box. A bat box helps bats sleep and mate safely. Now, one problem was my mom was afraid of bats; but I had the opportunity to go to someone’s farm and place the bat box there. Adding on, the owner took me on a tour of the farm as well!
After, I completed the Splash Nova award. I learned about water use, consumption, and how water gets recycled for use again at water treatment plants. Lastly, I earned Mendel’s Minions nova award. I had been interested in genealogy at the time, so it was the perfect choice for me. I learned how to extract DNA from a strawberry with just at-home ingredients, as well as create a 3D model of DNA. Who knew you can extract DNA at home? From there, I thought Nova awards were all I could do, but that wasn’t the case. With a friend of mine, together we completed the Bernard Harris Supernova Award. A Supernova, in basic terms, is a small STEM eagle project. This Supernova taught me leadership, communication, and self-discipline. My favorite thing I did during the Supernova is interviewing and shadowing a NASA Helio physicist. I learned a tremendous amount about work at NASA, what’s next for NASA, and the work environment for women. After the shadowing, I interviewed a woman in a neighboring program; and she shared with me about the lack of women around her when she first joined. Luckily, as time went on more and more women have been getting into STEM and changing the world with it.
Immediately after I started the Thomas Edison Supernova award. I started by completing the “Shoot!” Nova award. I learned about projectiles, aviation, and astronomy. One of the requirements was making a marshmallow catapult and doing a scientific experiment. While measuring the angle and distance projected. I enjoyed using the information I learned about the scientific investigation in school in real life, and of course eating a bunch of marshmallows.
After completing the Nova award, I started two STEM-related activities. I made a precipitate with Ammonia and Copper Sulfate. The activities require you to do write-ups that include preparation and research, then reflection after you’ve finished. My precipitate experiment went extremely well. I had done it before in school, and when I did it at home, I knew exactly what to do. It was fascinating to see how when the ammonia is dropped into the Copper sulfate, it turns into small flakes.
My math experiment was planting seeds and seeing if enzymes affect the growth of plants. I learned in science class that enzymes speed up chemical reactions, and plants use a chemical reaction to create food called photosynthesis. Each week, I measured the height of the seed and by the end, my hypothesis was proven true! Honestly, going into the experiment I just went off of background knowledge, and it was rewarding to see it was successful.
One of the other requirements is to complete a STEM fair, competition, or workshop. I decided to do a Nuclear Science workshop. One of the coolest things during the workshop was seeing both beta and alpha beta particles. Before, I didn’t even know the slightest thing about beta particles, cosmic radiation, and radiation found in food! This workshop allowed me to add to my knowledge about atoms and extend it further on how it relates to nuclear science.
Lastly, you have to present a Nova award or STEM activity to your troop or Cub pack. My friend and I organized a meeting where we made color-changing slime and a Carbon Sugar Snake. We led scouts through both activities, and both were very different from each other. We ran into a few roadblocks with the slime, but from a different perspective, it all went incredibly well. I was proud of the results, and the positivity on everyone’s faces.
All of these awards, merit badges, and experiences not only taught me more about STEM, but how the world works, discipline, leadership, and communication online and in – person. I learned that with being open – minded new experiences could come through. Even when you feel like things aren’t progressing, everything will turn out alright in the end. I encourage everyone to get involved in STEM in your troop, or anywhere around you. I guarantee you will learn something new, or you will meet and experience new possibilities.
The Composite Materials Merit Badge was published by BSA in 2006. Since then, almost every year it has ranked in the bottom ten of merit badges earned in BSA. Specifically, in 2021, Composite Materials ranked 131 out of 137 merit badges according to Bryan on Scouting. 
If you look at the requirements of the Composite Materials merit badge, you’ll notice that it is demanding in terms of hands-on materials.
On April 23 and May 21, 2022, NCAC’s STEM Committee partnered with an Alexandria, VA based organization to offer the Composite Materials Merit Badge class to nearly 175 scouts.
The organization, Building Momentum, offers military training as well as community education thru dynamic programs. Often, their programs involve Arduinos, drones, welding, CAD, laser engraving, etc. The NCAC STEM Committee is working with Building Momentum’s Senior Education Associate, Cecily, to map Building Momentum’s incredible capabilities with scouting events.
Last week, we wrote about the incredible Welding merit badge workshop the Cecily and her team put forth for scouts. https://weownadventure.com/scouts-weld-nameplates-on-their-way-to-earning-new-awards/
Well, that wasn’t the only workshop! Building Momentum also led workshops for scouts to earn Composite Materials merit badges. Scouts learned about polymers, resins, their physical and chemical properties, toxicity, strength, softness, availability and cost effectiveness. A particularly interesting discussion ensued regarding cost – scouts noted that the cost comparison of materials was different from when the Composite Materials pamphlet was last updated in 2012. Now, in 2022, with the current supply chain challenges, lumber was more expensive than most metals.
For their projects, scouts made knife sheaths with fiberglass and acrylic boxes affixed with epoxies.
