An annual local Blue and Gold Banquet celebrated the achievements of Cub Scout Pack 277 of Ponte Vedra Beach and the birthday of Boy Scouts of America.
The awards dinner featured an advancement ceremony at Christ Episcopal Church on Friday, Feb. 14. The event included 115 scouts, aged 5 to 11 years old and seven den leaders. Fourteen scouts earned their Arrow of Light award, which is the highest award in Cub Scouts before advancing to Scouts BSA.
Troy Weinberg, den leader for the Webelos 2 Den, said his scouts worked half the year to complete four adventures with the addition of electives to earn their Arrow of Light awards.
“Cub Scouts is parent and leader led,” Weinberg said. “Boy Scouts is scout led (however). During the transition we let the boys try to lead some of their own meetings, where they will appoint someone in charge and delegate responsibilities. They've worked really hard for this.”
Weinberg said his scouts hosted an event at the Harlem Globetrotter’s exhibition, an overnight campout at the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp arena and SeaWorld, beach clean ups and Bahamas hurricane relief donations. At the banquet, the scouts were collecting food for the St. Johns County Animal Shelter.
This year’s scouts who crossed over to Scouts BSA included: Spencer York, Jackson Bohsali, Ethan Weinberg, Nicholas Olumo, Andrew Loo, Ethan Osborne, Carter Stoltz, Rafay Bajwa, Conner Blalock, Forrest Lindow, Noel BePuy, Austin Barber, Seth Dowling and Ryan Tawk.
Ethan Weinberg was the leader of the Webelos 2 Den and is looking forward to joining Scouts BSA for the (adult-free) camping. “We are going into the woods and it's scout led so we are not with any parents,” Weinberg said. “I am going to be a leader (for the BSA troop.)”
