Cubmaster’s Corner

October 10th, 2025

Fall and is here and that means the return of Pack Activities!

Over the summer we had Scouts participate in Twilight Camp where they learned about first aid, completed crafts and participated in multiple shooting sports. The Scouts also enjoyed an evening at the pool during our Summer Swim and a few attended Scouting Night with the Frederick Keys. We closed the summer, and officially began our new year with our Crossover the Sunday after school started.

In September, we held our Join Scouting Night where the Scouts got to make an obstacle course and flew paper airplanes. We also held our first Pack Meeting where we learned about the basics of Scouting. Lastly, we had 64 Scouts and their families attend our Fall Camp Out at Artillery Ridge in Gettysburg, PA. The Scouts got to fish, play and participate in a fun campfire with S’mores. A few Scouts also went on hike at the battlefield.

The Pack is now gearing up for our yearly fundraiser and Scouting for Food. Come join us for lots of fun adventures!

May 29th, 2025

Our 2024/2025 Pack Year has come to an end and we celebrated with our Court of Honor where 26 Scouts received their rank badges. They worked really hard this year on their adventures and we are proud of all they accomplished!

In February, we held our Blue & Gold celebration where we awarded our Arrow of Light Scouts with their rank badges. We also celebrated four of our Scouts who crossed over to Boys Scouts where they are all thriving with their new Troops.

Our annual spring camp out was at Bear’s Den in May. Although the night was a little cold the Scouts enjoyed a hike, dinner and a campfire with s’mores. We also held our annual Field Day in April where the Scouts learned about Bike Safety and played some fun games. In May, our Webelos went to Sugarloaf Mountain for a six mile hike to the peak. It was a challenging hike but with their six essentials they made it back for cupcakes.

Pack Leadership has begun planning our schedule for 2025/2026 including camp outs at Artillery Ridge in Gettysburg and Camp Snyder. Everyone is welcome to join our planning calls on 06/09 and 08/11. We will also have families going to the Scouting Night at the Frederick Keys and if the weather permits, a night swimming at AV Symington in July.

Our new Scout Year will officially begin with our Crossover on 8/24 and we hope that you join us as adventures await!

February 21st, 2025

Our Pack is a day away from our annual Blue & Gold celebration where we will celebrate the birthday of Scouting and say goodbye to our Arrow of Light Scouts. It is a time to come together and reflect on the past few months.

The Pack has been very busy as in December we had a mix of events including Sock Wars, Wreath’s Across America and the Leesburg Holiday Parade. The Bear Den worked together to make two new rolling candy containers which were a huge hit. January was focused on preparing for the Pinewood Derby which was held on 02/01. We had 28 racers with lots of fun and unique designs. Our Arrow of Lights showed their experience as they had our 3 fastest cars! Earlier this month the Pack got to meet with the Loudoun Soil & Water to learn about the impacts we have on our soil and water. Finally, as a reward for an amazing fundraiser, the boys spent the evening roller skating and eating pizza at Bush Tabernacle Skating Rink.

We are looking forward to our Spring Camp Out, a longer hike for our Webelos and the Field Day for our Lions and Tigers =)

November 1st, 2024

With most of the Scouts reaching their “fall break”, now is a good time to reflect on the past few months which have been very busy for our Pack. It started the end of August with our Crossover Ceremony where the Scouts moved up to their new dens. We also welcomed several new Scouts to the Pack and had some cake and water ice to celebrate the start of our Scouting year.

In September we held our first Pack Meeting and more importantly our Join Scouting Night which was very well attended. During our Join Scouting Night the kids were able to learn about the Outdoors, Personal Fitness and Paper Airplanes. They finished the night with a game of Hungry, Hungry Hippo =). Our Pack has grown significantly from last year and we are very happy to have all our Scouts.

During October we were very active beginning with a Wreath Laying Ceremony at Arlington which was a unique experience for the Scouts. We followed that up with a short hike and fishing. Our Dens also started meeting and many of the Scouts completed their Bobcat adventures. Our month ended with our Pack Meeting where the Scouts made “monsters” and participated in a Monster Relay Race before having a campfire and some s’mores. We are gearing up for Scouting for Food and our Fall Camp Out at Camp Rock Enon!

July 1st, 2024

Summer is here and I thought it was a good time to do a quick recap of our Scouting year. We had a great spring including our hike at Morvan Park and Field Day where we shot a large slingshot and launched water rockets! We wrapped up our year with our Court of Honor, which was held at the VFW due to bad weather, where we had dinner together and awarded our Scouts their badges of rank. Congratulations to all of our Lions, Tigers, Wolves and Webelos.

We have continued with our summer activities as we had a hike at Balls Bluff in June and six (6) of our Scouts just finished Twilight Camp. Congratulations to Corbin and Luke for placing second and third in the camp wide Archery competition and to Olive for placing first in BBs! There are photos from the camp on our Facebook page.

Upcoming we are going to meet up at the AV Symington center on July 15th to splash around and cool off from the summer heat. We also have a few families planning to go to Scouting Night at the Fredrick Keys on July 13th. Finally, we are looking forward to Crossover on August 25th where we will formally advance the Scouts to their new dens.

We at Pack 998 hope everyone has a happy and safe summer =)

March 8th, 2024

Pack 998 is off to an exciting start to the year as we held our Pinewood Derby on January 27th. This was followed by our Blue & Gold Banquet on February 16th where we awarded eight (8) Bobcat awards and three (3) Arrow of Light ranks. We also said goodbye to our Arrow of Light Scouts as they Crossed Over to Troop 982.

We recently held our Spring Planning Meeting and have a full slate of activities for our Scouts. They include a hike at Morvan Park in March, a Field Day for our Lions and Tigers in April and our Spring Camp Out and Court of Honor in May. Dates, times and locations for our upcoming activities can be found on our Home Page!

December 28th, 2023

As we countdown to the end of 2023 I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the accomplishments of our current Scouting Year. We started in August with our Crossover where we welcomed all of our Scouts into their new Dens. They were all excited to get started on their new adventures.

In September and October we began with the basics of Scouting and started our monthly Den Meetings. In October we focused on our Outdoor Adventures and hiked the Rust Sanctuary after talking about the Outdoor Code, Leave No Trace and the Six Essentials. 

November was our annual Fall Camp Out at Camp Snyder where we played games, learned about Orienteering and held our campfire with our Flag Retirement ceremony. Our Webelos and Arrow of Light Scouts also participated in the Veteran’s Day celebration at Tolbert. Finally, the Scouts completed their service project by distributing Scouting for Food stickers and collected over 2,000 pounds of food. 

During the holiday season our Scouts focused on our Duty to God adventures, participated in the Leesburg Holiday Parade where our theme was Blue & Gold, and collected socks to donate to Mobile Hope that were first used in our annual Sock Wars. 

It has been a very exciting year for our Scouts and families and we look forward to the additional adventures ahead.

May 10th, 2023

It is hard to believe but we are nearly at the end of our Scouting “Year”. We will be holding our last Pack Meeting of the school year on Friday, May 19th where we will be awarding ranks to our Scouts. They have been working hard and I’m very proud of them as they complete this step in their Scouting Journey. The following Monday we will hold our final Planning Meeting for the “year” as we start preparing for the 2023/2024 Scout Year. All our welcome to join our call and provide input into our plans.

In April we held our annual Spring Camp Out. The Pack traveled to Gettysburg where we toured the battlefield and museum. We stayed at the Artillery Ridge Campground where the boys got to play mini-golf and fish. At our campfire we retired several flags and told stories and jokes while enjoying some s’mores.

---

March 15th, 2023

On Friday, March 17th, we will be saying goodbye to our Arrow of Light scouts as they Crossover to their Boy Scout Troops. It will be an opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments as they prepare to begin the path to Eagle. This includes receiving their Arrow of Light.

In February we held our annual Blue and Gold celebration and it was an honor to award several of our scouts with their Bobcat rank. This rank is the first one earned by all Cub Scouts as it teaches them the basics of Scouting.

We are looking forward to our Spring Camp Out in April as we will be going to the Artillery Ridge Campground in Gettysburg, PA. It is a fun campground with fishing, mini-golf and a playground. It is also located less than a mile from the National Park which will have an opportunity to explore.

---

February 1st, 2023

This past weekend the Pack held its annual Pinewood Derby with over 20 boys participating in the races. It was an exciting event, and it was a great example of the Cub Scout Motto – “Do Your Best”.

In January we also had a Pack Meeting where we looked at some of the basics of Scouting and met with Leesburg Town Councilor Todd Cimino-Johnson who talked with the Pack about his Scouting experiences and his new role. We hope to tour the Township building with him soon.

This month we are looking forward to an afternoon skating at the Bush Tabernacle Rink and our Blue and Gold Celebration. Scouts are also working to complete their Bobcat rank and our Arrow of Light Scouts are preparing for their Crossover in March.

---

---

If you have any questions, you can reach me thru our contact page or pack998leesburg@gmail.com. I look forward to our Scouting Journey together.

– Andrew Fernandes