Scouting Programs

Adventure Talks Recap; Looking Ahead

July 28, 2020 by John Blackwell

This month, NCAC kicked off a webinar series called Adventure Talks. Adventure Talks are a webinar series to bring the illustrious and exciting adventures that Scouts take to you! Scouts have explored the deep ocean, the corners of the earth, and space. This series of talks features presentations and panels about Philmont, the Appalachian Trail, research in Antarctica, biking across the USA, Scouting Jamborees, and more.

The first three talks included a Philmont Panel, a NESA World Explorer sharing his experience at the Biodiversity Station in Ecuador, and a Thru-Hiker’s Tales of the Appalachian Trail.

Today, July 28, we revisit Philmont, with new panelists and another perspective. Tune in as Danielle Ballantine, John Blackwell, Patricia Wrath and Toni Welch share their experiences of the Philmont Training Center, Family Adventures, PLC and Philmont Ambassdors!

Have a burning question or a topic you wish to see addressed? Let us know ahead of time in the sign up. OR ask the panelists directly during Q&A in the ZOOM session. To get the link to join the ZOOM, please sign up (free) here: https://scoutingevent.com/082-adventureTalks

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Recap of July Adventure Talks

July 7: Philmont Panel: The Philmont Fires, the Welcome Center, the highest peaks and longest treks.

The panelists include Tom Giugni, Jay Oakman, Sam McGrath and Arden Dougan. Our Moderator is Julia Mae-Shen Lesko.

Our panelists have been Philmont Ambassadors, Scouting U Faculty, Rangers and participants – we aim to offer you a glimpse of each role and how you can participate too!

July 14: An Eagle’s Guide to the Rainforest

Evan Dunn, NESA World Explorer, will share his experience at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Ecuador.

Dr. Michael Manyak, distinguished Eagle Scout and founder of the NESA World Explorer program also shares and intro about the program!

July 21: Tales from the Trail

Approximately 2,000 people attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail each year. Only about 10% (150-200) of the hikers who start make it the whole way from Georgia to Maine. Join long distance hiker and biker Pete Lane for a first hand account of how he made the journey.

July 28: Philmont Talks II

There’s so much to cover with Philmont, we have Part II! Our panelists include Danielle Ballantine, John Blackwell, Pat Wrath and Toni Welch. Topics include: PTC, Family Adventure, PLC and Philmont Ambassdors! Have a burning question? Let us know ahead of time in the sign up or ask the panelists directly during Q&A.

To get the link to join the ZOOM, please sign up (free) here: https://scoutingevent.com/082-adventureTalks

New Date for NCAC’s Second All-Council Campfire – Aug. 29th!

July 23, 2020 by The Scouter Digest Staff

Save the Date for NCAC’s second all-council Campfire on August 29th! And wait for it……. it’s Sing-a-long style. Yep, tha’s right. The Order of the Arrow will host and provide the words for you to sing with us! We expect we’ll all be in our own key and probably off a little in time, but who cares? We’re singing.

Special guest from Golden Gate Area Council, Mike Fujimoto – get a kazoo and sing “Scouting Thunder” with Fuji and friends! And of course, we can’t forget old favorites like Dum Dum Da Da and the Philmont Hymn. More details to come!

STEMaTHON | The Great Scouting Invitational

July 23, 2020 by NCAC STEM

STEMaTHON is a 2 day virtual event hosted by the National Capital Area Council’s STEM Commitee, which aims to encourage exploration of STEM interests, future career opportunities and hobbies.

Join us from September 5-6, 2020 for a STEMaTHON: Scouts Building Bridges and Feeding the World through the lens and tools of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This two day event includes online workshops, keynotes, tours, presentations and even activities!

The scheduled events are below, but there are also activities you can do in advance to be featured in the STEMaTHON:

– Build a bridge in the STEMaTHON Engineering Bridge competition! When you register for the competition, we will mail you the kits. You are also invited to attend the Engineering Merit Badge STEMaTHON sessions to earn your Engineering Merit Badge. Be sure to check out the attachment on this webpage for more on the competition.

– Design and execute Rube Goldberg Machine that rolls a can of food a distance of at least 1 foot, film your creation and send the video in to our channel! Details attached in the webpage.

Scheduled Events:

Saturday: Building Bridges

10AM : Welcome Keynote

11AM : STEM Careers Conference

Professional Engineer, Mr. Paul MacDonald, Career Talk & Q&A

12PM : Lunch Hour Programming

1PM : Bridges to the Point of Destruction | Live Competition

3PM : Inventions Showcase

3:30 PM : Supernova & Nova Kickoff!

Sessions for Cub Scouts & Scouts BSA on how to get started with the Nova & Supernova Awards

5PM : STEM Scouts | Season 6 Kickoff

6:30 PM: STEM Innovator Moment

Rockets & Airplanes, 30 years at NASA with Mr. Tony Springer & Q&A

8PM: Astronomy Activity

Sunday: Feeding the World

10AM : UMD, AGNR Keynotes

Dean Dr. Beyrouty, Chair Dr. Bowerman, Professor Dr. Ellis
Food Security & Food Safety, Green Infrastructure & Water Quality Treatment

11AM: 4H Water Quality & Community Service

11:45PM : Engineers Without Borders | Water around the World

12:30PM : Food (In)Security and Sustainable Development

1:00PM : Einstein’s Science Fair

with NCAC Einstein Supernova recipient William Cather

2PM : Feeding The World: Rube Goldberg Machines

3PM : Bees and Honey

4PM : STEM Awards & Closing

Will you build a bridge?

July 23, 2020 by Stanley Fricke

Attention, all those who are up for a challenge…

The Great STEMaTHON Invitational includes a bridge building competition that will be showcased live online, on Saturday, September 5, 2020. Will you build a bridge?

Everyone will receive the same set of materials upon registration, and have 16 days to build their bridges! You can see the full set of materials and how the bridges will be measured (or weighted, rather!) in this PDF: BridgeCompetition.

Scouts are also invited to pre-STEMaTHON sessions to help you earn the Engineering Merit Badge. Sessions will be held on August 4, 5, 17 and 18. Of course, by participating in this bridge competition, you will already earn requirement 6!

Be sure to join us for the whole event: September 5-6, 2020 for a STEMaTHON in which you will be part of Scouts Building Bridges and Feeding the World through the lens and tools of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This two day event includes online workshops, keynotes, tours, presentations and even activities!

Cub-A-Day Program Week 7 (July 20 – July 25)

July 19, 2020 by The Scouter Digest Staff

MONDAY

This is Make Some MUSIC Monday – Recycle items from your house to make a rain stick or a drum. Even better if you and a family member or a friend can jam together on multiple homemade instruments.

If you are a Bear – Make sure to get credit for World of Sound Requirement #3 and Webelos should get credit for Maestro Requirement #2a.

TUESDAY

It’s Taste Something Tuesday!

Taste Something Tuesday – Every Scout should know a couple of go-to campfire desserts – We made S’mores for Family Fun Friday during week 1, so now let’s try another camp cooked treat – Banana Boats!

Here are some https://www.freshoffthegrid.com/campfire-banana-boats/ (You can use an oven if a campfire isn’t an option)

WEDNESDAY

It’s Wander Around Wednesday!

Wander Around Wednesday – If you’ve been keeping up your ScoutStrong tracker since Week 1 – Take a celebration walk!! You should have enough entries to complete the award!

If you aren’t quite there yet – Start logging now and you’ll finish up in early September.

Get your ScoutStrong paperwork signed by an adult in your home and then sent to your Den Leader or Cubmaster.

THURSDAY

It’s Do Something Thoughtful Thursday:

Thoughtful Thursday – The 1st and 2nd of August is NCACs Do A Good Turn Weekend.
To get ready – Work with your Den or Pack to find a local charity and see what you can do to give them a hand.

Check out the ideas here – https://weownadventure.com/good-turn-weekend-aug-1-2/

You could start a drive-through food drive, collect blankets or bags to donate, or help organize their facility.

For example: For our Scouts in the Alexandria area – Collecting paper grocery bags to help food pantries distribute supplies could help the Mother of Light Center in Del Ray.

Service projects can earn credit for the NCAC Scouting at Home Award: https://www.scoutingevent.com/082-scoutingathomeaward

FRIDAY

It’s Family Fun Friday:

Family Fun Friday – Work together on a task the benefits the whole family – Some laundry or cleaning around the house maybe? It might not sound fun now, but working together as a family is a great quality family time and it improves your home!

This also completes the first activity in the Explore My Family category of the Cub Family Summertime Passport: https://public.3.basecamp.com/p/AqAQD4gKhjdXw4m2AkDEbCWn

SATURDAY

It’s Safety Saturday…

You can still work on the Protect Yourself Adventure if you haven’t finished it already…but this week we are going to start a new theme – Emergency Preparedness.

Pick any requirement from the Emergency Preparedness Award and work on it as a family- The requirements for each rank can be found here: https://www.scouting.org/awards/awards-central/emergency-preparedness/

Cub Scouts Investigate Electronics in STEM@Home!

July 14, 2020 by NCAC STEM

On Saturday, June 27, NCAC held its’ 4th STEM@Home Nova event! Nova Counselor, Dr. Jason Kralj of Potomac District ran a ZOOM class for 20 Cub Scouts to earn the Nova Award: Swing!

Scouts completed a few requirements on their own (such as watching physics-related videos for requirement 1 and submitted their assignments for Dr. Kralj to review in Google Classroom).

However, we did most of the requirements together during the ZOOM class. A very fun activity was requirement 2A: With parental permission, Cubs took an old or broken mechanical item and broke it down into its component pieces! We investigated some cool items in our class; cubs took apart alarm clocks, scooters, CD players, hard drives, and even washing machine components! Can you tell what is what?!

The class was lots of fun and almost all of the cubs completed their Nova Awards!

Want to join the next STEM@Home event? Dr. Kralj is teaching Down & Dirty this Saturday, July 18 and you can sign up here: https://scoutingevent.com/082-STEMatHome

This upcoming event will have a cool twist to it too:

- From 1-1:30PM, this session will include an interaction with WD Lab Grown Diamonds, which uses patented Chemical Vapor Disposition to create diamonds for the gemstone market as well as for medical and scientific fields!
- From 1:30 – 3PM, cubs in the Down & Dirty Class will continue their activities and requirements with Nova Counselor Dr. Kralj