Hill H., a NCAC Scout from Maryland, created wearable devices to aid visually-impaired individuals. Hill’s invention earned him the Lemelson Early Inventor Prize. This award from the Lemelson Foundation recognizes and celebrates the achievements of individuals who have “demonstrated early excellence in inventing solutions to real-world challenges.”
Read the full story published by the Society for Science at this link:
Middle schooler creates sonar-enabled wearables to help visually impaired
Color-Coding Robotics in Elementary STEM Scouts
Specific steps. Patience. Innovation. Thanks to coding, we are able to live our lives in a more convenient and revolutionized way! Throughout this module, Scouts use color-coding robots in a variety of ways to boost their familiarity with robotics, coding, problem-solving, and design-thinking. Starting with color codes, Scouts become comfortable with the idea of inputs and outputs and will then move on to block-coding with an online programming language.
STEM Scouts also focus on integrating art into STEM by creating various designs while
also learning about real-world concepts like data collection, Venn diagrams, and blueprints. Those who code hold the world’s technological future in their hands, and the opportunities are unlimited!
Soft Robotics in Middle School
The middle schoolers’ STEM Scouts robotics module delves into an exciting and newly developing branch of robotics—soft or flexible robotic structures. When you look at an elephant’s trunk or an octopus’s arm, you can see natural examples of flexible structures used to grasp and manipulate objects. There are many tasks in our world that a rigid structure just does not perform well. Soft Robotics explores the development of flexible structures to work in these areas. In this module, Scouts will explore the concept of soft robots and learn how flexible structures move and how they can be programmed to perform useful tasks. This module was developed by the REACH Lab at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
High School Robotics in a STEM Exploring Post
Botball Educational Robotics requires the students to build, program, test and document two robots to autonomously complete scoring challenges. The robots are built out of kits provided by KISS Institute for Practical Robotics (KIPR). Photographed below are members of Explorer Post 1010 working with the PVC pipe as they prepare for a Botball competition.
One of our recently developed STEM Scouts modules takes elementary schoolers on the journey of innovation. During their first meeting, scouts were handed individual kits and given basic instructions to assemble a simple yet entertaining wiggle bot. Wiggle bots are simple bots, that use a nonconcentric weight to generate some movement. As soon as the bots power on, typically they move in abysmal patterns, causing much amusement and giggles. The came the challenge: scouts were tasked to control their bots and make them “move in a straight line.”
This seemingly lighthearted challenge became a serious exercise in stamina and iteration for the scouts, immersing them in the hands-on intricacies of the engineering design process—a skill closely intertwined with the art of inventing.
Subsequent sessions delved into crucial aspects of inventing, including marketing, selling, and establishing a business. Scouts engaged in a brand awareness game, testing their knowledge of various logos. They also explored the significance of patents, examining patented products from our Council box of Inventions—among them, the crowd favorite LifeStraw. In an engaging twist, scouts were prompted to brainstorm improvements for the LifeStraw, sparking creativity and critical thinking.
A hallmark of STEM Scouts is providing career exploration; we are fortunate that this module lent well to two local field trips that enhance our STEM Scouts’ appreciation of inventing.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame museum resides in the USPTO HQ in Alexandria, VA. There scouts are able to explore exhibits such as “What is a counterfeit” and see the crowd favorite “50 years of innovation mustang”.
The Draper Spark! Lab at the National Museum of American History offers scouts interactive exhibits to try their hand at inventing – creating circuits, constructing pinball machines, designing costumes, etc. In fact, the Spark! Lab has an excellent bite size “inventing process” that helped guide scouts through the ideating process. All scouts walked out of our third meeting with sketches and an early model of their inventions made with supplies we had in lab (clay, pipe cleaners, recyclables). A few came back to their subsequent meetings with elaborate working models! We can’t wait to see these STEM Scouts’ future as inventors!
Every Scout learns and practices serving others as a core part of the ethos of Scouting BSA. The Cub Scouts and adult leaders of Pack 197 of Aquia District lived this spirit of community service in two events last November. They serve as a great example for the rest of us!
Four Cub Scouts and two adult leaders from Pack 197, sponsored by Ferry Farms Baptist Church, honored our Nation’s Veterans by performing a flag ceremony during an annual Veterans Day breakfast celebration at Ferry Farm Elementary School on November 9, 2023. This was a great example of what Scouts mean when the say in the BSA Scout’s Promise: “On my Honor, I will Do My Best, to do my Duty to God & my Country…”
After the flags were clipped to the halyards (the ropes used to hoist flags), Eli, a Wolf Scout, presented the American flag, while Bear Scout, John, presented the Virginia state flag to those assembled around the flagpoles. Bear Scout Gabriel then hoisted the American and Virginia flags up the flagpole while LeRoy led the Scouts and assembled Veterans in the Pledge of Allegiance. Joining their Scouts were Mr. John Ridout – Bear Den Leader – and Mr. Adrian West – Pack Treasurer and a U.S. Army 
Veteran who served in Afghanistan.
The Cub Scouts and their leaders were proud and humbled to participate in a ceremony honoring our Veterans for their service to our Nation.
The next mid-November event demonstrated that Scouting is for the whole Family!
Ferry Farm Baptist Church, the chartering organization of Pack 197, participates in a program called “Operations Christmas Child” that gathers and sends boxes of supplies to children in need in foreign countries. The Church leaders asked the Pack to participate.
Pack 197 Scouts, Scouting families and adult leaders eagerly gathered donations to buy and fill 11 shoebox size
containers with toys, school supplies, hygiene supplies, and clothing as a part of Operation Christmas Child. What they did made a difference for children they’ll never meet – this is the Scout Spirit of selfless service in action!
Time for your family to join in the fun and spirit of Scouting? To join BSA, please go to www.beascout.org to find a BSA Scout unit near you – Cub Scouting serves families with children in Kindergarten through 5th Grade; Scouts BSA serves families with children ages 11-18. There are BSA programs for families with older Youths, ages 14 – 20, including Venturing, Exploring or Sea Scouting.
The mission of the BSA is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling the values of the Scout Oath and Law. Aquia District includes Stafford County and Marine Corps Base Quantico. For more information on Scouting in Stafford/Fredericksburg area, including how to donate, join or volunteer, contact Kristy Freeman, Aquia District Executive, at Kristy.Freeman@Scouting.org or (540)287-3866
Last Saturday morning 23+ BSA Scouts participated in the NCAC Council Venturing Officer’s Association Goal Setting and Time Management course for Discovery Rank.
Then in the afternoon, 20+ Scouts participated in the NCAC Council Venturing Officer’s Association Project Management Training course for the Pathfinder Rank.
To learn more about Venturing awards and advancement visit:
https://www.scouting.org/programs/venturing/venturing-awards-and-advancement/rank-advancement/
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Arlington Troop 111’s from Chain Bridge District edged Potomac District Troop 439 in Kensington at the 47th Annual Md. Scout Orienteering Day on Oct. 28, 2023 at Patuxent River Park near Upper Marlboro. Over 50 units took part, 26 from NCAC, with attendance up this year to over 450 scouts.
Girls had a best-ever 22% of the attendance and also a best-ever 22% of the top (50) places, including the winning pair in the 198-scout older category, Emma T/Emma Th. from Troop 191 in King George, VA. They edged out Christian R./Brendan K. from Troop 111 and Eliot D./AJ S. from overall 3rd place Troop 647, Arlington.
Mike C. of Troop 111 nosed out troop-mates Hayden B. and Potter H. and Connor L. of DC Troop 1946 on the “super-advanced” 4.4 km course. Arlington Troop 164 was fourth overall, just ahead of Beltsville T. 1033.
SPL Ben P. led Troop 439 and, with Jonah C., topped 439’s total team-effort in the fun “free-for-all” Score Orienteering. That event also had nearly 100 adults “racing” around the forest, seeking some of the 53 different markers over 3 square miles.
College Park Troop 740’s Lazarus K./Horatio G./Nathanael J. won the 241-scout younger category, edging out Troop 111’s Will Kennedy/Jack M. and Sam B./Ravi K. Each scout and participating adult received three special, new color maps in addition to answer keys, instructional tips, and patches.
Jim Chaplin’s big 19th Annual NCAC Scout Orienteering Day (scoutingevent.com/082-2024ScoutOrienteering) will be on May 4 at N. VA’s Prince Wm. Forest Park . The next MD Scout Orienteering Day will be at Broad Creek Mem. Scout Res. in Harford Co. on Nov. 2, 2024: see BaltimoreBSA.org/orienteering for more details (and full 2023 results) and qocweb.org for good DC-area orienteering events suitable for scouts.
Photos by Stan Turk. Pictured, 1) 1st & 2nd place finishers in all three categories, all but 2 from NCAC. 2) Older category winners: Emma Tolley, Emma Thomas, T. 191, King George, VA. 3) Girls from T. 422, Annapolis (backs to camera.)
