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Boy Scouts Troop 74 from Montville, NJ, today soared their way to victory, earning the title of National Champion at the 23rd American Rocketry Challenge National Finals held at Great Meadow in The Plains, VA. Boy Scouts Troop 74, whose team name is “The Troop 74 Rocketeers,” outperformed a record-breaking 1,001 teams that entered the competition at the start of the year and bested the top 100 teams competing at National Finals on Saturday. This is the team’s first time qualifying for National Finals. Their precision in designing, building, and launching a model rocket was unmatched by any other team in the country. Boy Scouts Troop 74 students will take home $20,000 for their engineering prowess and will represent the United States in the International Rocketry Challenge at the Paris Air Show in June. ... “Today feels surreal—we weren’t expecting to win,” said Makayo (Mak), a Boy Scouts Troop 74 teammate. “Seeing a score of two from another team after the first round was crazy compared to our score of 16, but we stayed optimistic for our second launch. Once we realized we were in the top 10, we were excited that we might actually have a chance to win. Our biggest challenge was building a consistent rocket. Our launch tower took nearly two hours to assemble today, and balancing it against strong winds was tricky, but we were prepared. A huge shoutout to Chase, who couldn’t be here today. We worked hard as a team— Chase was in charge of management and scheduling, I led design and building, and Thomas assisted with assembly and launch preparation. For future teams competing in the American Rocketry Challenge, our biggest piece of advice is to be consistent.” Boy Scouts Troop 74, a third-year Boy Scouts of America (BSA) team, excels in rocketry through innovative design, consistency, and function, driven by Scout spirit. The team consists of three dedicated scouts: Mak, Thomas, and Chase. They collaborate to engineer model rockets, learning more about aerodynamics for successful launches. They ensure consistent builds for reliable flights and prioritize functional designs that soar. The team’s victory follows months of dedicated preparation designing, building, and testing a rocket capable of meeting rigorous mission parameters set by the competitions’ sponsors – the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), National Association of Rocketry, and 15 other industry, government, and academia partners. To qualify for the finals, each team designed, built, and launched a model rocket that safely carried two eggs to an altitude of 790 feet, stayed airborne for between 41 and 44 seconds, and returned the rocket to the ground safely. At the National Finals, a Friday night coin flip determined that competing teams had to launch the rockets to 815 feet in the first round of competition. The top 42 teams conducted a second launch that was required to reach 765 feet. “Today’s National Finals was a success for all 100 competing teams, who showcased the future of aerospace innovation – built on teamwork, innovative thinking, and practical problem solving,” said AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning. “The Boy Scouts Troop 74 Rocketeers exemplified these qualities. After besting 1,001 teams, the team’s incredible achievement will propel them to the international stage at the Paris Air Show in June and set them on a bright and promising path to a career in STEM.” Scout Salute, More at sources including photos: https://rocketcontest.org/news/new-jersey-team-named-national-champion-in-worlds-largest-rocketry-challenge/ https://www.tapinto.net/towns/montville/sections/community-life/articles/paris-bound-montville-boy-scouts-win-national-rocketry-competition

Sounds like where we want to be as a program here in the states. 

Going from memory here, so bear with me. One of the reasons for better quality control is that there are a lot fewer professionals, so there is no pressure to increase membership numbers. As a result volunteers are empowered more to do things. If a group of volunteers want to clean up camp to prepare for an event, they contact the camp warden (ranger) and Bob's your uncle, you can do it.  I know of councils where  you have to go through the council office and SE in order to have a work day, and they may even deny it! Another thing is that their standards when I was there had not changed. "One and Done" was not a thing. Emphasis on advancement, and Queen's Scout was not existent, compared to the pressure in the US. I have had folks tell me HA is a was a of time because there is little to no advancement involved. Instead their focus was on skills and adventure. Finally, they held their Scouts to higher expectations/standards. It was not uncommon for their Scouts and Ventures to go on a week long expedition without any adult supervision as part of the DoE Award program. Even today they do "Remote Supervision" as defined as: "Remote [Supervision] ‑ Where the Supervisor remains out of sight and hearing of the team and allows them to get on with the expedition without any intervention ‑ The Supervisor will have a good idea of roughly where the team are and how they are progressing ‑ This is the norm for the majority of practice expeditions and all qualifying expeditions. It allows the Supervisor to:            ◦ Periodically observe the team without intervening            ◦ Allow the team to make mistakes and to recover from them without outside intervention            ◦ Support the team by remaining remote yet in the expedition area and able to intervene if absolutely necessary or if requested."

Here's a good resource: https://troopleader.scouting.org/

Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan found a photo of Brownie Taylor.  Nicely done. Sources: https://www.facebook.com/GSHOM?ref=embed_post https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/girl-scouts-unveil-rare-childhood-085528203.html