We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

Scouts BSA

Join the National Scouts BSA Committee for Live Office Hours

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Join the National Scouts BSA committee and Scouters from around the country to learn more about the Scouts BSA program on Thursday, April 18, 2019 at 8:30 pm ET during their live office hours.

This Q&A session is great for new Scouts BSA leaders to get answers to any question they have about the program. For example:

  • How to help new Scouts advance in rank
  • How to reinforce the Patrol Method
  • How to prepare for weekend overnight outdoor experiences
  • How to grow your new Scouts BSA troop

Please submit any questions you’d like to have addressed via email to Please submit any questions you’d like to have addressed via email to family.scouting@scouting.org family.scouting@scouting.org by April 15th. All questions will be answered, either during the live presentation or at a later time.

Troop 1526’s Last Gasp of Winter Campout

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The Scouts of St. Matthews UMC Girls’ Troop 1526 in Annandale completed their first three-day, two-night camp out this past weekend at Camp Snyder in Haymarket, Virginia. The strong winds of Friday night couldn’t blow their properly staked tents over. The freezing overnight temperatures didn’t stop them as they were prepared for the weather.

The 16 girls participated in day and night navigation, first-aid training, and earned their Totin’ Chip. Two memorable moments: after splitting a log using an axe, the Scout exclaimed it was the first time she had ever done that, and three other Scouts successfully baked a chocolate and cherry cake in their first attempt using a Dutch oven.

Any girls interested in joining our Troop should contact Keith Robertory at keith@robertory.com

Annual Scouts to the Rescue! Training in Patuxent District

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    Last Saturday 85+ Scouts and Scouters from Packs and Troops in Patuxent District came together to learn and practice Search and Rescue, First Aid, and Emergency Management skills at the annual “Scouts to the Rescue!” training.

Prince Georges County Community Emergency Response Team members, Charles County and Prince Georges County EMS providers and firefighters, a Prince Georges County Police Department K9, and a Helicopter from the Maryland State Police joined the Scouts at the American Legion Youth Camp in Cheltenham, MD to contribute a wide variety of skills and equipment for the training.

Scouts completed round robin classes in the morning covering topics that included the Incident Command System, Hurry Cases, Major and Minor Injury Treatment, Rescue Techniques, Radio Use, Backboarding, and First Responder Careers and Skills. The afternoon was a practical exercise with the Scouts using their new knowledge to find and treat simulated victims of a campsite flooding scenario. Community EMS partners completed intake of “victims” delivered to them from Scouts and helped evaluated Scouts’ First Aid efforts.

Keep your eyes open for next years event.

Ashburn’s Troop 58 Helps Pack 100,000 Meals

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For the fourth year in a row, Ashburn’s Troop 58 supported the annual Cross Catholic Outreach’s You(th) vs Hunger event at St. Theresa Catholic Church on March 16. Over the course of the day volunteers packed 100,000 rice meals! Troop 58 Scouts were onsite from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM acting as the hub of the operation delivering and refilling rice, beans, soy, dried vegetables and vitamins to the stations to be measured and weighed to make individual bags of a complete meal. As each box was filled with meals the Scouts hauled it outside using dollies to stack on a pallet. Once each pallet was full, they wrapped it in plastic to prepare it for shipping. The meals will be shipped to those in need in Haiti, Guatemala and other countries the ministry serves. More than twenty Scouts from Troop 58 participated in the event under the leadership of Troop Chaplain, Allen Shen and Chaplain Aide, Charlie McClelland. Over 400 volunteers were needed in total for the day.

BSA Troop 58 is chartered by St. David’s Episcopal Church in Ashburn, Virginia, and meets at the Ashburn Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department on Tuesdays at 7:30 PM. For more information, please visit the following websites: http://troop58ashburn.camp; https://sainttheresaparish.com/activity/youth-vs-hunger/; http://www.sdlife.org/; https://ashburnfirerescue.org/.

Local Eagle Scout Wins $1,000 Eagles-Only Award In Leadership / American History Competition

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Northern Virginia Eagle Scout Matthew Lawley of Herndon (Troop 157) was awarded $1,000 in a Leadership / American History statewide competition held in Richmond February 9th sponsored by the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (VASSAR). All current Eagles and aspiring Eagles should pay attention to this program for the coming year as this is a program limited to Eagle Scouts.

Matthew had first won the competition at the local chapter level competition sponsored by the Fairfax Resolves Chapter (http://fairfaxresolvessar.org/) (Fairfax and Loudoun county areas VA) of the Sons of the American Revolution. There are 28 Virginia SAR chapters eligible to participate in this annual competition. Matthew will now move forward to the national competition to be held this summer in Costa Mesa, CA which provides a top award of $10,000 and lesser amounts for second ($6,000) and third ($4,000) place.

Eagle Scout Matthew Lawley won the Arthur M. and Berdena King Eagle Scout competition by submitting an impressive application documenting the leadership he has already shown in his young life through scouting, in the community and through his church. The Eagle Scout competition consists of an application reflecting accomplishment, a four generation genealogy chart of the Scout’s family and a 500 word patriotic themed essay related to the revolutionary war. The competition is open to all Eagle Scouts under the age of 19. The SAR gives extra credit to those applicants that have secured the American Heritage, Law and Genealogy merit badges. Matthew had all three of these badges. For his essay, Matthew wrote a persuasive argument as to the need to have a monument to John Adams in Washington, D.C. John Adams is one of the few founding presidents not so memorialized.

The SAR sponsors a range of competitive educational programs for youth (4th through 12th grades) to enhance their understanding of the founding principles of our nation and the role the Revolutionary War played in establishing our freedom (https://www.sar.org/education/youth-contests-and-awards). There is no requirement for Revolutionary War ancestry in order to compete.