We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

Eagle of the Week

Troop 1882 Scout Builds Playhouse for Veteran Retreat

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Ryan C. of Troop 1882 of Haymarket, Virginia, didn’t think he’d ever reach Life Scout, much less try for Eagle. Taking a “fun and laid-back” attitude towards Scouting, he was always more concerned with the journey and finding new experiences than rank. Yet, through some friendly pushing from his fellow Scouts, and the competitive realization that he would be the only non-Eagle of his five-man patrol, he triumphed. Now, after more than 230 hours of work spent learning, assembling, and budgeting, his Eagle Project is completed.

Prior to his project, Ryan had worked many summers as a sous chef for the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run, the leading program of the Willing Warriors organization, a group that offers vacations and reprieve for wounded or ill veterans. To honor these veterans and their families, Ryan dedicated his Eagle Project to replacing the old playhouse at the Retreat, itself a former Eagle Project, which had become run down with age. Seeking to make his own mark, Ryan planned to make the new playhouse larger and better than it had been before.

Larger isn’t easier, however, and Ryan soon found his greatest issues were logistics and finance. Ryan wanted to build the playhouse completely from scratch, avoiding things like kits, and required large amounts of lumber to fulfill his sought expansion. Even after thrifty budgeting, Ryan’s predicted expenses were around $1,200 dollars. Ryan called on his community for support, setting up a GoFundMe campaign that proved so successful he raised $500 beyond what he needed; this extra was donated to the Willing Warriors. With his lumber secure “the hard part” was done, allowing Ryan to begin constructing the shed. 

Over the course of two weeks, Ryan built a project he was truly proud of. The first week was spent building a skeleton for the new playhouse with his family, and the second was spent roofing, tiling, and filling it out with Scouts from his troop, “There’s obviously a great feeling of accomplishment as you’re building it and seeing it all come together. But the greatest feeling was when I went back to do my post meetings with the Eagle Coordinator. One of the best things she said was that, when they were walking there to review it, there were already muddy footprints. A veteran had arrived, and his toddlers went right to the playhouse. From the beginning, even before the paperwork was signed, people loved it.”

Looking forward, Ryan hopes to study Computer Science and Cyber Security at Virginia Tech, pursuing his interest in the sciences. As for advice to prospective Eagles and Scouts, Ryan said: “It’s never too late to start doing anything in Scouting, no matter how new it is to you or how long you’ve been doing it. It’s never too late to start your trek to Eagle, and you should always try new stuff and try new things. Don’t focus on ranks, but on making the most out of your Scouting experience… A lot of people think Eagle is just a rank, like a college degree that you just mount on the wall. But I know now that an Eagle Scout is really a name and placeholder for all the work that you’ve put in to become it. It’s not just a title, but the time and work that you’ve spent to attain it.”

Aspiring Eagle Overhauls 9/11 Monument To Inspire Her Community

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Megan M. was introduced to Scouting by her younger Cub Scout brothers. She first joined BSA as a Venturer, then, on February 1, 2019, joined Scouts BSA Troop 164 and rose to Star within eight months. Now, after an additional year of work, her Eagle Project is finally completed.

On the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Arlington Fire Department received a steel beam from the Twin Towers to recognize their role as the first responders to the Pentagon. Lacking a support structure, however, the piece simply rested on the grass for a decade. To commemorate the 20th anniversary and honor the Fire Department, and inspired by her own father‘s 9/11 experiences, Megan decided to overhaul the monument, fashioning wooden supports to hold the steel beam and placing railroad beams around it in the shape of the Pentagon, with lights at each corner so the monument could be visible at night. After some final on-site adjustments, the monument has since become a community hotspot.

Megan fondly recalls people stopping on the street to watch them work. “Not many people visit the fire station, but the project drew a lot of interest.” It was this desire to celebrate community that motivated Megan to begin her journey towards Eagle and she hopes the monument will continue to draw crowds for years to come.

Today, Megan is studying to be a nurse at George Mason University and remains active in Scouting. She hopes to apply to her future occupation the skills learned through Scouting, particularly Lifesaving (her favorite merit badge) and Wilderness Survival. After all, “if I can save someone outside of the hospital, I’m prepared for anything.”

Speaking to all Scouts, Megan emphasizes the role of community: “Make sure you have a tight bond with your patrol mates. They’ll be more likely to come to talk with you if there’s a problem if they feel they have a strong relationship. No one is an island, and all Scouts can rely upon their fellows to assist and motivate them in any way.”

Megan also encourages young women to consider joining Scouting. “At first, I was like ‘uh this is all Boy Scouts,’ and I was concerned it would all be mud and roughhousing, but really it’s so much more.”

A Safe Hill

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As someone who has always had a soft spot for community service and a passion for engineering, I felt that my Eagle Project was a perfect opportunity for me to make a meaningful impact in my community while also developing personal skills and knowledge. For my project, I built a new path alongside a hill in my community, but it involves the risk of skidding and falling down the hill into shrubs while walking tangent to such a steep slope. My goal was to fix this issue and create a more convenient and safer path for everyone.

After I had submitted my proposal and done all the necessary planning, when I was about to begin my project, the COVID-19 pandemic began. For months, BSA had also shut down, and I had little to no communication with anyone who knew what I should do. Because of COVID-19, my project was already on a limited schedule. Moreover, the pandemic forced many lumber mills to shut down, thus creating a shortage in the availability of wood and rental trucks in all local stores such as Home Depot and Lowes.

Ultimately, I had to drive half an hour to Aspen Hill to rent out a truck and drive that truck for an hour to Chantilly, Virginia – the nearest place where I found a store that had the wood I needed in stock. The wood was being sold out so quickly that I became worried if it would still be in stock when I reached the store after the long commute. Furthermore, it was also tough to find wood chips. Local retailers either sold them in small bags or in mass quantities, which were too much for what I needed. Other companies didn’t offer shipping, and even those that did only would deliver in dump trucks instead of prepackaged bags, as I preferred.

But once I had received the wood chips, the project was back on track. Although we still had to be careful while doing this project due to COVID-19 and the summer heat. Since the nearest parking lot from the worksite was atop a steep hill, it was too strenuous and dangerous to transport all the wood chips from the place where the wood chips were dumped down the hill to the worksite. On top of this, there was a 107-degree heat index reading, which put everyone at risk for heat strokes and dehydration. Frequent breaks were necessary as everyone was exhausted and out of breath since breathing was limited through masks, and shade was scarce. This limited the amount of work that could be accomplished per day, and the project was ultimately extended into a third day. Lastly, the inherent risk of COVID-19 was another major issue related to the project, and several precautions were put in place to mitigate this.

Apart from these major issues, I also had some technical issues regarding the project. I had to make sure that the rebars and spikes I hammer into the ground don’t hit the utility lines directly underneath. Hammering in rebars was also incredibly difficult. Due to the rocky soil, the rebars would sometimes hit a stone a foot underground and not go down any further. This made it very hard, and time-consuming to get rebars into the ground and ultimately led to last-minute shopping runs to buy smaller sized rebars and spikes, costing us more time. Despite all of that, we finished the project. The primary process of the project started with clearing out shrubs. Then we dug out part of the hill to make stairs, leveled the area at the foot of the hill to create a path, and edged the path and stairs with woodblocks. Finally, we laid weed blocking fabric, connecting the stairs to the path, nailed down the wood with spikes (while making sure the spikes don’t hit any utility lines), and finally covered the path in wood chips.

My favorite part of this project is that it is related to my passion for engineering. I learned so much about leading a team under pressure and gaining experience designing and executing engineering plans. It was also humbling to see so many volunteers willing to donate tools or come and help out. Companies like Ace Hardware, which donated tools for my project, Mainscapes, donated, and delivered all the woodchips I needed. Many of my friends who volunteered in the project (some of whom were not even Boy Scouts themselves) were essential to my project’s success. Moreover, one of the workdays was during my 18th birthday, and it was very satisfying to spend the day that marked my adulthood, giving back to my community that made me who I am. This project taught me a lot about planning, delegating duties to people based on their strengths, learning to accept the unexpected, and understanding that you can’t be prepared for everything; impulse decisions under pressure will always be needed. I also learned to think and work like an engineer, worry about how the structure will hold up in various weather conditions, react to wear and tear, and understand the importance of adhering to all safety regulations for any construction.

Virginia Teen Joins Inaugural Class of Female Eagle Scouts

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Local Virginia Scout Emma Bazemore, 17, completed her Eagle Scout Service Project earlier this month, putting her on track to join the Inaugural Class of Female Eagle Scouts, and become one of the first female Eagle Scouts in the National Capital Area. The eldest of five, Emma watched as her younger brother advanced in Scouting and became an Eagle Scout. When the Boy Scouts of America opened the Scouts BSA program to female members eighteen months ago, she signed up immediately and began her BSA journey.

“Recognizing limited time for me to accomplish my goals, I worked fast to get organized. I was excited to learn more about leadership and to advance in ranks like my brother did,” said Bazemore. Joining Troop 1533G in 2019 not only built Bazemore’s skills in leadership, but also her confidence. “The fact that you interview with adult members of the troop when advancing ranks or earning merit badges really helps to build some confidence as you share what you’ve learned. While each step can feel a little intimidating, you keep going, and it gets easier the more you practice.”

Bazemore credits such experiences in Scouts BSA with developing her confidence as a leader, saying,  “The experience I’ve gained from leading a troop of 15 girls gave me the confidence to run for election and become the president of the WT Woodson High School’s choir program for a group of 200 students.”

When asked if she would recommend the Scouts BSA program to other girls, Bazemore responded, “I would say if you like hanging out with other girls, doing hands-on activities, and learning new skills, then Scouting is for you. Girls in our troop go camping, earn merit badges, build new skills, and gain new experiences. Some favorites for me have been emergency first aid and kayaking. If you have the opportunity to join Scouting, I think it’s great. It teaches you about leadership, skills like wilderness survival, and independence.”

To earn her Eagle Scout Award, Bazemore must hold leadership positions in her troop, earn 21 merit badges focusing on important life skills such as first aid, camping, and personal finance, and lead a service project in her community. For her Eagle project, Bazemore organized volunteers from her troop to make snuffle mats and blankets for a local animal shelter, the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria. The shelter staff requested the snuffle mats because they stimulate dogs’ brains and encourage slower eating habits. She raised money to purchase the supplies and also collected material donations, like dog and cat food, from her troop. As a result of the pandemic, she had to accomplish all of this digitally to maintain social distancing. “Thankfully, it was fairly easy to transition the demonstration of how to make the blankets and snuffle mats online. Although I am not set on a specific career path yet, I am very interested in veterinary medicine, so I wanted to do a project I was both interested in and could tie into my love for animals.”

Less than 5% of Scouts BSA members will achieve the prestigious Eagle Scout Award. Next month she hopes to complete her application and join this select group. This level of achievement is not new to Bazemore, however, as she is also a recipient of the Girl Scouts highest award for Seniors and Ambassadors, the Gold Award, making her one of the first to achieve both titles.

Bazemore will be one of the first female Scouts BSA members to have her Board of Review – a final review and approval of her Eagle Scout application – in October. The Inaugural Class of Female Eagle Scouts will be officially announced in February of 2021.

Sibling Eagle Scouts from Troop 1131 Earn All 137 BSA Merit Badges

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Pablo and Gabriel Sejas-Fernandez, brothers and Eagle Scouts in Troop 1131, have earned all 137 merit badge currently offered by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), an accomplishment achieved by only about 450 scouts in the 110-year history of the Boy Scouts. Troop 1131 is sponsored by St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church, in Burke, Virginia, and is part of the Patriot District of the National Capital Area Council, BSA. The boys’ inspiration to earn all the merit badges came early in their Scouting career when Pablo and Gabriel learned about an older Scout who had accomplished the feat. So, after several years of hard work, Pablo and Gabriel accomplished their goal. A small ceremony to celebrate their achievement was held on October 18, 2020, when they received the last merit badge they needed, Backpacking.

Pablo Sejas-Fernandez is a Senior at Lake Braddock H.S. in Fairfax County, Virginia. He joined Scouting in September 2014 and became an Eagle Scout on April 2, 2019. His Eagle Scout project was restoring the Indian Spring Community sign, removing the massive overgrowth, and landscaping the public area around the entry sign. Pablo’s leadership positions have included Senior Patrol Leader, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader, Bugler, Den Chief, and Troop Order of the Arrow Representative. His accomplishment includes earning the Ad Altare Dei Award in 2016, the Servus Dei Award in 2018, Service to Youth Outstanding Leadership in 2019, and the Pope Pius XII Award in 2020. He has over 150 days camping, earning the Alben Struble Award for Perfect Camping in 2016 and 2017, as a member of his earlier Troop 61 in the National Capital Area Council. He also has over 140 miles backpacking and hiking experience to his credit. Pablo attended the Kandersteg International Scout Center, in Switzerland in 2016, the National Order of the Arrow Conference in 2018, and the 2019 World Scout Jamboree at the Summit in West Virginia.

Gabriel Sejas-Fernandez is a Sophomore at Lake Braddock H.S. Gabriel earned the Arrow of Light as a Cub Scout and bridged over to Boy Scouts in September 2016. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout on October 18, 2020, at the same time he earned the last merit badge he needed, Backpacking. His Eagle Scout project was a landscaping project similar to Pablo’s. He cleaned up and removed abundant weeds and overgrowth. The planted 80 individual native Virginia species alongside the newly paved sidewalk at Hidden Oaks Nature Center, in Annandale, Virginia. Gabriel’s leadership positions have included Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader, Troop Guide, and Bugler. Gabriel earned the Servus Dei Award in 2018, Service to Youth Award in 2019, and the Ad Altare Dei Award in 2020. He also has over 150 days camping, earning the Alben Struble Award for Perfect Camping in 2017 as a member of his earlier Troop 61. He also has over 140 miles backpacking and hiking. Gabriel attended the National Order of the Arrow Conference in 2018, and the 2019 World Scout Jamboree Jamboree at the Summit in West Virginia.

A Library for Grief

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Since William P. of Troop 10 in Warrenton, VA, was a child he had been inspired to become a Boy Scout by his grandfather, who was a Boy Scout himself. As Boy Scout, William wanted to serve his community to the best of his ability and impress his grandfather. Unlike his grandfather, who could not complete his Eagle Scout Project, William was determined to make sure he completed his and make his grandfather proud.
William began to look around his community to see where he could help. A member of his church, who knew William was a Scout, reached out to him. She asked if he would be interested in helping create a Little Free Library dedicated to helping people dealing with grief. William agreed to help; his Eagle Scout mentor suggested he should build a bench as well. With the approval of his Scoutmaster and some help from his church, William got all the necessary supplies and went to work.
Like many of his peers this year, William’s plans were put on hold due to COVID-19. Being a resourceful Scout, William adjusted his plans and continued to work on the free library. After completing the library and the bench, William felt proud of completing his Eagle Scout project, saying, “My favorite aspect of this project was being able to teach the younger Scouts how to use tools for different purposes.”