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Boy Scouts go nuclear

| 12 Apr 2017 | 05:12
    CPT Nathaniel Kaminski explains to a group of Boys Scouts how the particle accelerators work and gives a demonstration (Photo provided)
    CPT Nathaniel Kaminski explains to a group of Boys Scouts how the particle accelerators work and gives a demonstration (Photo provided)
    LTC Chad Schools and CDT David Sunberg explain the fission process to a group of Boy Scouts attending a one-day Nuclear Science Merit Badge Workshop at the United States Military Academy at West Point (Photo provided)
    LTC Chad Schools and CDT David Sunberg explain the fission process to a group of Boy Scouts attending a one-day Nuclear Science Merit Badge Workshop at the United States Military Academy at West Point (Photo provided)
    Boys Scouts from the Hudson Valley Council’s Delaware River District at the United States Military Academy at West Point. N.Y. (Photo provided)
    Boys Scouts from the Hudson Valley Council’s Delaware River District at the United States Military Academy at West Point. N.Y. (Photo provided)

WEST POINT, N.Y. — Did you know that the Boy Scouts have a Nuclear Science Merit Badge?
Boy Scouts in the Delaware River District of the Hudson Valley Council earned theirs at a special workshop last fall hosted by the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
Faculty members LTC Chad Schools, CPT Nathaniel Kaminski and Dr. Brian Moretti coordinated activities and laboratory experiments at Bartlett Hall for the Boy Scouts to complete. The department also enlisted some D/PNE cadet majors to assist the scouts in their activities throughout the day.
Fellow Eagle Scout CDT John Kroc (1 Class), CDT David Sunberg (1 Class), CDT Emily Beecher (1 Class) and CDT Christina Bouvier (2 Class) all donated their time to volunteers and help the scouts complete the requirements to achieve the merit badge in a one-day workshop.
Activities throughout the day included visiting an accelerator at a research lab or university where people study the properties of the nucleus or nucleons, examining a cloud chamber to understand how it can be used to see the tracks caused by radiation and constructing 3-D models of elements from the periodic table showing neutrons, protons and electrons.
Gary Albaugh, Delaware River District special activities chair and fellow academy staff member, has been working with the Academy to create a relationship between the two organizations to support challenging science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities that cannot be accomplished in an ordinary home environment.
The Hudson Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America currently serves more than 9,500 young people through Scouting and Learning for Life Programs in the New York Counties of Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and Pike County in Pennsylvania.