Goshen Bears
By: Brandon Wymelenberg

The weekend of May 14th-16th, three scouts and three scouters attended the  work  weekend  at Goshen Scout Camps. We left Olney at 5:30pm Friday night and stopped at the famous "Shorty's Silver Diner" for dinner. We arrived at Goshen around  11:30pm,where we got our work assignments for the next day.  Once again, we stayed at (The) Marriott, as in Camp Marriott.

We were up by 6:30am to be at breakfast by 7:00am. We were out by 7:30 am to start our assigned projects. Our Scoutmaster, Mr. Began, worked on an electrical project.  Bryan Kerr and Tuan Neu worked cleaning up PMI's camp after the loggers had come through and cut down the bigtrees.  They fed the debris into a large chipper. They had a great time working that job. This was part of the forest management program.  Mr. and Mrs. Wymelenberg and Brandon Wymelenberg, along with two other people from another troop, worked to restore the log cabin at "LJ", a part of Lenhok'sin. It was quite a challenge to take apart a section of the log cabin, notch out the new logs, and put the cabin back together.  It was all done in a day's work.

We all had a great dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, and corn that night.  The scouts were so hungry that they all ate two and three helping of the mashed potatoes with gravy and corn. Tuan received his first "claw" as a first time Bear at the ceremony after dinner. We all went back to (The) Marriott and took a walk down by the lake.  What a beautiful sight!  It was so clear that the stars reflected off the lake. The morning came quickly. We were on the road           back to Olney by 7:00am 

Eagle Scout Projects Help SSM
             By John Chirtea

       Many scouts are looking for ways to complete their Eagle projects, and the Sandy Spring Museum has become the new hot spot for these local scouters. In order to get their Eagle designation, scouts must come up with a project, get approval from the sponsor, write a proposal and get approval from their scout master, and then execute the project. They must supply all of the materials and labor to complete their project. The Sandy Spring Museum will be the beneficiary of three Eagle scout projects.
        Jamie Cook recently completed a nature walking trail through the woods behind the museum. With the help of fellow scouts and many scout leaders, he cleared the trail, lined the edges of the path with logs, and filled the path in with wood chips. The path is now complete, and you are invited to take a leisurely walk through the woods and enjoy Jamie's project. As an added feature to his project, Jamie will label the major trees along the trail.
       Kent Gebicke has built and delivered to the museum two lovely picnic tables. They arrived in time to see use at the Cokie Roberts book-signing event. Kent will also add four benches along the nature trail built by Jamie Cook. To complete his project, Kent solicited donations from the Sandy Spring Lions Club, the Olney Lions Club and Home Depot. He recruited scouts from his troop to help with the project, and with the help of his father, his project will be completed in May.
        A third Eagle Project is planned by Alex Biceglie. He will build a shed to store the firewood used in the museum's cooking kitchen. The woodshed will be an open structure made of materials that match the adjoining museum building. For the actual building of the woodshed, he will enlist the help of his fellow scouts and plans on executing this project in the early summer.
        It is pleasure to work with these young men on their Eagle projects. The enthusiasm they generate is contagious, and it is exciting to see their projects go from a written proposal to a finished project. We are lucky to have so many capable scouts in our community, and I believe we will see many more Eagle projects completed at the museum in the future.