WATERVILLE – For Cub Scouts, earning a Supernova Award is rare. Having every member of the same den earn the STEM-focused award is …super rare. Yet, on Jan. 31, five Waterville Pack 101 Scouts were presented with the Dr. Charles Townes Supernova Award medal.
Taking a break after participating in the annual Pinewood Derby race, Logan Etherton, Calvin Kleman, Jordyn Scharringhausen, Goliath Sprouse and Ben Vickers posed for photos and shared more about the award – and the research, experiments and fun they had along the way.
“The statistics for earning one Supernova are less than 1 percent,” said den leader Jen Scharringhausen. “The statistics of earning two Supernova awards are unknown, but likely very slim; and having an entire den earn a Supernova is even more rare.”
After Jordyn earned the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award – available for Wolf and Bear Cub Scouts – when she was 8 years old, Jen, who has served as den leader for six years, began looking into opportunities for the entire den. The Dr. Charles Townes Supernova Award is available for Arrow of Light Cub Scouts, or those who are about to cross over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.
To achieve their goal, the Scouts held extra meetings to complete a variety of activities, including earning the engineering adventure badge, building a bridge for Construction City, creating and studying an insect zoo, learning to check oil and tire pressure in a vehicle, earning the first responder adventure badge, building and launching model rockets, learning about Newton’s Third Law, creating a solar oven out of a pizza box, and researching five famous scientists, mathematicians and engineers.
“I liked checking the oil and tire pressure on my grandma’s car,” said Ben.
In the process, Calvin said his dad learned that he was overfilling his tires with air, and Calvin now understands the meaning of PSI – pounds per square inch.
“I liked the bridge competition,” said Goliath, explaining that the bridge they created out of cardboard for Construction City was the strongest – able to withstand 80 pounds of downward force.
The team also learned that the triangle is the strongest geometric shape. That knowledge has helped as the fifth-graders are tasked with making a bridge out of paper at Fallen Timbers Middle School, Calvin noted.
Jordyn enjoyed the solar pizza experiment, in which they placed marshmallows in a pizza box lined with foil and facing the sun – which promptly was obscured by clouds.
“We used the scientific method to make a theory and test it. The marshmallows didn’t cook really well,” Jen said.
While some of the projects were as a team, others required working at home, such as the bug zoos that each Scout created.
“I put stink bugs in mine,” Ben said.
“I could only find ants,” Jordyn said, noting that in September there weren’t as many bugs available.
The Scouts did research on Dr. Townes and five scientists, engineers and mathematicians, then gave a verbal report. Townes was the co-inventor of the maser and laser, and famous for his research in microwave spectroscopy and in microwave and infrared astronomy.
The Scouts shared some other famous inventors, including the “father of algebra,” 9th-century Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi and Archimedes, a Greek mathematician, physicist and engineer. Marie Curie was a physicist and chemist who won the 1911 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Alexander Graham Bell is known for inventing the telephone, but was a scientist and engineer.
While doing the extra work to earn Supernova Awards, the five Scouts participated in regular den and pack meetings and activities, including making Viking chairs – pairing up with adults to use power tools to assemble the portable wooden chairs while learning about safety, following instructions and using a tape measure.
Some of the Scouts’ other favorite activities: Camp Miakonda for summer and winter camps, the Raingutter Regatta, the Pinewood Derby and pushcarts – a one-seated, four-wheeled vehicle pushed by a second and third Scout while another steers.
“Ours was the coolest. We had the music,” Goliath said of the playlist their den leader made for their pushcart races.
In the summer, the Scouts enjoy Camp Miakonda activities like the obstacle course, hikes and gaga ball, as well as earning badges in knot tying, adventure and fire building with flint and steel. Coming up is Winter Weekend, when they’ll stay in cabins at Camp Miakonda and work on badges and team building. Also on the calendar: a fishing derby at the Progressive Fishing Association (PFA) and attending a Birds of Prey program at Nature’s Nursery. They’ll also do community service, including cleaning up after the July 4 celebration in downtown Waterville.
In their final step as Cub Scouts, the five will cross over to become Boy Scout Troop 101 members and have the opportunity to earn even more Supernova Awards – and enjoy the benefits of Camp Frontier in Pioneer, Ohio, or one of several high adventure camps.
For youth in grades K-5, Pack 101 is always welcoming new members. Visit watervillepack101.com for more information.
