ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. –Scouts returned to APG for the STEM in Scouting event at the Mallette Training Facility Oct. 22, 2022. During the event, 116 children and teens enrolled in Scouts BSA had the opportunity to complete requirements for merit badges related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Team APG hosted the event. During the opening ceremony, Maj. Gen. Miles Brown, commanding general of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command and Col. Evert Hawk II, mission command lead for the Army Futures Command Network Cross-Functional Team, welcomed the scouts, whose ages ranged from 12 through 18.
Brown said the event started at APG in 2011 and was held annually until 2020, then paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the community is happy to welcome scouts back to APG.
“At DEVCOM and across APG, we spend a lot of time and effort to grow the next generation of scientists, engineers and experts because we know that freedom requires service,” he said.
Hawk said he is an Eagle Scout, the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America.
“We are matching the scouts up with professionals, or people who actually work in the field,” he said.
The scouts split into classes in the morning and afternoon to earn their merit badges in topics like space exploration, radio, nuclear science, engineering, electronics, surveying, architecture and chemistry.
The day featured plenty of hands-on learning opportunities. For example, in chemistry class, volunteers dropped Mentos candy into soda, causing the soda to erupt into a “fountain,” led by chemist Michael Meredith with DEVCOM; he said he wanted to demonstrate a physical versus chemical reaction.
“While it may look like a chemical reaction, it is actually a physical reaction, driving dissolved CO2 [carbon dioxide] out of the soda, causing the fountain,” he said.
Meredith said chemistry is known as the “central science.” Overall, the scouts were very appreciative of his instruction, he said.
“Concepts and principles in chemistry have far-reaching effects; you will be hard-pressed to find a STEM field where chemistry isn’t present,” he said. “As such, I hoped the scouts took away a better understanding of the field of chemistry, but also how chemistry has a role in many aspects of our lives, and only strengthened their drive to study the areas of STEM.”
During lunch, the scouts participated in educational, hands-on games and viewed static displays from APG tenant organizations. In addition, scouts had the opportunity to tour a fire truck, courtesy of the APG Garrison Directorate of Operations’ fire department.
Virginia To, a contractor, told the students about the Robotics Research Collaboration Campus. R2C2 is a DEVCOM U.S. Army Research Laboratory facility in Middle River, Maryland, where public, private and academic organizations can work side-by-side to accelerate robotics and autonomous systems research. Next summer, students will visit the facility as part of the Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Science, part of the Army Outreach Education Program.
“We hope to broaden their horizon,” she said. “APG is a pretty well-kept secret; not all of the community knows.”
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