We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

Awards

Michael’s Woodshop Recognizes Distinguished Volunteers

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Pictured: CJ Staton (left) & Mell Cunningham (right)

On May 7, Michael’s Woodshop presented the Distinguished Volunteer Award to volunteers CJ Staton and Mell Cunningham in recognition of their “many years of consistent and dedicated contributions of time and talent to the development and operation of Michael’s Woodshop”.

CJ began volunteering in the fall of 2017, when Michael’s Woodshop was still in the concept phase. He was engaged in the initial planning and construction, helping with the installation of the insulation and walls, running conduit, pulling hundreds of feet of wire and installing dozens and dozens of receptacles throughout the shop. He is a regular volunteer during program sessions and is in the process of upgrading our jigs and templates using his 3D printer. Among his most notable and valuable contributions has been the development of many of our most successful programs; Pinewood Derby Days, Baloo the Builder, Webelos Build It and our Youth Assistant Program, which he continues to lead today.

Mell began volunteering in the spring of 2018, assisting with the completion of the lumber rack, the first major improvement in Michael’s Woodshop. For the next 7 months, Mell volunteered on an almost full-time basis completing the interior improvements including all of the work benches, shelving, tool storage systems and the dust collection system. After the shop officially opened in November 2018 (and continuing today), Mell has consistently spent several mornings a week in the shop working on numerous shop improvements and preparing materials for youth activities. He is a prolific “jig maker”, designing and constructing jigs to support youth activities and is currently developing our third summer camp project design (including project prototypes, jigs and evaluating process flow).

Please join us in recognizing CJ and Mell for their incredible contributions to Michael’s Woodshop. 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.

Outstanding Commissioners Recognized at NCAC’s 2020 Virtual College of Commissioner Service

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At our 2020 Virtual College of Commissioner Service (CCS) held via Zoom from August 28-30, 2020, NCAC’s CCS Dean Julia Mae-Shen Lesko and Council Commissioner Rick Rogers recognized some of our council’s outstanding commissioners.

John A. Mack Commissioner’s Award of Excellence – Ben Overbey

The Mack award recognizes a Scouter who has a distinguished record of consistent excellence and true servant leadership in a way that has profoundly improved our council’s service to units and youth…

This year’s Mack award recognizes a Scouter who has dedicated most of his adult life to Scouting and who has spent a decade being a master teacher for commissioners as an Assistant Council Commissioner. This person, while serving as an Assistant Council Commissioner for Roundtables improved roundtable quality in Maryland and across the council. He moved seamlessly from this role into serving as a model Service Area Assistant Council Commissioner for Montgomery County, where he has been a mentor and friend to at least a dozen council commissioners over the years. Because our council is so large, the Service Area ACC is a key role, and the requirements, activities, and scope of this ACC role are equivalent to what Council Commissioners would do in medium sized councils. In addition, this person distilled his knowledge of the rhythms of commissioner service into an annual calendar which we all use to plan ahead, and he has served as a master teacher for multiple district commissioner orientations and commissioner retreats. Finally, this person has served in our armed forces with distinction, having received the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star as an infantry officer. Without knowing he had been selected for this award back in March, this person further demonstrated his worthiness for the honor over the spring and summer by collecting and disseminating Scouting@Home best practices for our units as the current pandemic has changed the way we do Scouting. It is our honor to present the Council Commissioner’s Mack Award to Ben Overbey. Thanks to Sue Overbey for conspiring with us to present the award to Ben in person.

Robert L. Dise Gold Dean’s Award – Patrick Berney

The gold award recognizes a Scouter who has served as a commissioner for more than 5 years in a leadership role dedicated to education and training of commissioners at the unit, district, and council level. . . .

This year’s gold award recognizes a Scouter who has served continuously as a unit commissioner for over 30 years, while also serving 3 years as the immediate past District Commissioner.  According to the district, this Scouter is known as the quintessential servant leader who strives to help units run a better Scouting program.  This has included filling in the voids caused when another commissioner moves out of the area, and personally visiting unassigned units in addition to assigned units. The district greatly appreciates all the wealth of knowledge and advice this long-time commission shares in educating fellow commissioners, which includes mentoring of the new District Commissioner.  It is our honor to present the Commissioner College Dean’s Gold Award to George Mason District’s Patrick Berney.

Robert L. Dise Silver Dean’s Award – Mark Stoffel

The silver award recognizes a Scouter who has served as a commissioner for more than 3 years and has spent a substantial portion of time educating and training commissioners . . .

This year’s silver award recognizes a Scouter who began commissioner service 12 years ago as a unit commissioner and has continued to serve in that role while also serving the past 3 years as the roundtable commissioner for Cub Scouts as well as the district commissioner.  The district expresses great appreciation for this Scouter’s substantial contributions to education and training, not only for Commissioners, but also for the District’s unit recharter teams, which led to a notable reduction of unit frustration and the highest on-time submission of re-chartered units for the District.  It is our honor to present the silver award to Chain Bridge District’s Mark Stoffel.

Robert L. Dise Bronze Dean’s Award – Josh Willberger

The bronze award recognizes a new commissioner.  Someone who has been involved in Commissioner Service for less than 3 years . . . a shining star. . . 

This year’s bronze award recognizes a Scouter who became a unit commissioner in 2017, and made such an immediate impact providing valuable leadership and guidance to multiple units, that the district now is excited to have this Scouter as their new District Commissioner.  According to the district, this Scouter has brought great energy and enthusiasm to the commissioner staff, and already has increased their ability to serve units.  It is our honor to present the bronze award to Mattaponi District’s Josh Wilberger.

Jamie Frame Becomes the Youngest Shofar Awardee!

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On behalf of the National Capital Area Council Jewish Committee on Scouting, Jamie Frame received his Shofar Award Sunday morning, June 7, 2020. While we would have preferred presenting the award and certificates to Jamie at our Northeast Region JCoS Annual Conference, the coronavirus pandemic interfered with that. For the past three years, Jamie Frame has served as the Jewish Chaplain at Goshen Scout Camps conducting services weekly.

Attached is an image of Jamie wearing his Shofar ribbon and medal with his parents, Michael and Beth, holding the certificates from both the National JCoS and the NER JCoS. Jamie who is 20 years old is going into his senior year of college in Pittsburgh. I think he is the youngest person to have been awarded the prestigious Shofar Award. We wish him the best in all his future endeavors.

Please consider congratulating Jamie by sending him a message.

 

Pack 278’s First Supernova Award in Over 60 Years of Chartered Existence

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Finn H., a Bear with Pack 278, spent the year working towards earning the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award. The Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award is an achievement for Wolf and Bear Scouts in the Cub Scouts, BSA. Over the course of a year, Finn worked with his Supernova Mentor, Clare Davis, to complete nine different requirements in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Pack 278 is located in Braddock Heights, Maryland and has been chartered with the Braddock Heights Volunteer Fire Department for over 60 years. Finn H. is the first Scout in the history of the Pack to earn this award.

In July of 2019, Finn began the journey by completing his first requirement; visit with someone who works in a STEM-related Career. Finn’s grandfather, an Eagle Scout, is an oceanographer who works for the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Eric Powell has been in the field of oceanography/marine biology for the past 34 years studying shellfish and oyster restoration. Finn interviewed Dr. Powell to learn what he enjoyed most about his work. Dr. Powell’s favorite parts of the job were learning new things that were not known before and computer programming.

Learning about influential people in the STEM fields is a large part of the process in earning the Supernova Award. Along with learning about Dr. Luis W. Alvarez himself, Finn had to choose three other famous scientists, technology innovators, engineers, or mathematicians. Finn chose to investigate the lives of Albert Einstein, Neil Armstrong, and Josef Kates. Upon learning about these men, Finn learned that they had many similarities in their lives. All had a curious streak as children that would occasionally get them into trouble but ultimately drove them to excellence in their careers.

Throughout the year, Finn completed Bear electives investigating different science fields. During the Forensic Adventure, Finn learned about fingerprints and chromatography. The highlight of this adventure was watching a Police K-9 dog conduct a working track. During the Make It Move Adventure, Finn learned about the physics behind simple machines and created a Rube Goldberg-type machine with the help of his den.

With only two requirements left to complete, the COVID-19 lockdown threatened Finn’s successful completion of the Supernova Award. Finn completed a science experiment investigating how solar ovens work and planned on presenting it in the Annual Frederick County Public School Science Fair in April. Due to the lockdown, Finn’s mother had to record his presentation from home and send it to his Mentor. Finn’s last requirement was to participate in a NOVA Award activity with his Pack. Finn joined several Scouts from his pack and a Scout from Pack 651 in Adamstown to complete the Up and Away Nova over Zoom.

Without the dedication of Finn’s Supernova Mentor and Pack Leaders, Finn would have had difficulty finishing this award during regular times. As Finn’s mother, and fellow STEM enthusiast, I would like to thank all those that helped Finn complete and earn the achievement. He is already excited to start again this summer on the next one, the Dr. Charles H. Townes Supernova Award!

Cub Scouts Receive Supernova Award During Pandemic

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A total of 28 NCAC Cub Scouts have earned a Supernova Award during these first months of Covid-19.

Congratulations to the 19 Bears and Wolves from 6 Districts who earned the Dr. Luis Alvarez Supernova Award, and congratulations to the 9 Webelos/AOLs from 4 Districts who earned the Dr. Charles H. Townes Supernova Award!

While the requirements for each award are distinct, all of these Cubs had to earn at least one rank-specific adventure, learn about famous scientists, participate in a science experiment and connect with their teachers.

Supernova Awards are approved at the Council level, and must be earned under the guidance of a registered Supernova Mentor. A tremendous thank you to all of these Cub Scouts’ Supernova Mentors!

To see the requirements for the Cubs Supernova Awards, click here.

To learn more about BSA’s Nova & Supernova Awards, click here.

Four Pack 1500 Cub Scouts Earn the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award Electronically!

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Four Wolf Cub Scouts in Pack 1500 spent the year working not only on regular advancements and standard NOVA awards, but also striving towards the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award. Already a tough award to achieve due to the level of effort required, these Wolf Scouts were on the verge of completing their supernova requirements when suddenly COVID-19 happened and everything was locked down.

Undeterred, the Scouts (and their fearless mentor) started doing meetings over google hangouts in order to discuss and complete the requirements. Eventually, each scout finished up the grind of the supernova requirements.

Each parent of these Scouts had originally been working hard with their Scouts and collecting everything the Scouts had worked on in a binder to mail to NCAC. After NCAC closed, however, physical submissions were impossible and instead they were starting to be accepted via email. The brave supernova mentor went and picked up each of the binders on the door steps of the scouts houses and brought them back to his house.

After getting the binders, the supernova mentor (it’s too late to go into first person at this point) solicited help from his wife, a teacher and a den leader, to help convert the binders of information into an electronic package for the NCAC STEM committee.

After a lot of scanning, collation, and formatting, each Scout’s binder was converted into a google document that included links to all of the required material, photos/videos of all the activities, and all scanned hand written artifacts that the Scouts had produced. Once it was all collected, the supernova mentor emailed it to the NCAC supernova address and waited.

After a period of time it was announced that the four Scouts had been awarded the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award and that the STEM committee had considered the digital applications exceptional! Truely, the Scouts hard work and determination exemplified the Scout motto, “Do your best.”

I would like to thank the parents for their support in helping their Scouts and my wife for supporting us all when we were all trapped inside.

As a bonus, I have created an example of our supernova submission with the PII removed (although a few photos of my son remain). You can find it here.

Congratulations to David Cohen, Olivia Cohen, Zander Collins, and Whit Stallings on their achievement!