A Brief History

It is true that success breeds success and that one quality scouting program leads to another. To understand the history of Venturing Crew 572 you need to know the history of a couple other quality programs. It all started in the fall of 1995. The community was growing fast with rapid development in the Sterling Cascades and Lowes Island planned communities. At the time there were no Venturing Crews in the area and only one Boy Scout Troop in Sterling meeting North of Route 7. That unit was Troop 956. There were several Packs including 761 & 905 (Algonkian), 951 (Meadowland) and 956 (Sugarland) meeting at the respective elementary schools.

In the Fall of 1995 Loudoun County opened Potomack Elementary School . Blue Ridge District sponsored a join scouting night in September where several interested boys and their parents met, many for the first time, to discuss the formation of a new Cub Scout unit. There appeared to be strong interest and much support, which led to the search of a chartered organization. Pastor Paul Osphal of Community Lutheran Church (CLC) indicated that his church was looking to extend their youth outreach program and that the church would charter the new pack. Within a couple months Pack 950 was up and running. Over the next two years the Pack grew from 30 scouts to 60 and crossed over several boys to local Boy Scout units.

In the spring of 1998 it became clear the local community needed an additional Boy Scout unit. Troop 970 ( Sterling United Methodist Church ) saw it's membership exceed 100 scouts while Troop 761 ( Guilford Fellowship Church ) went from 30 scouts to 70 in a couple months. The growth was do to the explosive residential development in both the Sterling and Ashburn communities. With few troops available in Eastern Loudoun County most cubs joined existing units that were willing and able to take them while still maintaining a quality program.

Some of the parents that had helped start Pack 950 met to discuss the situation and determined that a Troop 950 was needed. Again a meeting was held with Pastor Paul Osphal of CLC. Pastor Paul indicated that to better serve the community CLC would like to support the formation of a troop that could serve as a unit to accept the scouts that transitioned from Pack 950 while also accepting scouts from across the community. Again the church saw this as a logical extension to the youth outreach ministries. By August 1998 Troop 950 was a chartered unit starting with five scouts in the unit.

During that same time Pack 950 was experiencing great success while also growing beyond it’s ability to serve a new school about to open. Loudoun County opened Lowes Island Elementary School in the fall. The school boundaries were redefined and many of the scouts of Pack 950 were transferred to the new school. While the leaders did not want to run another new unit at the time they all felt it important to assist the Blue Ridge District get a unit up and running at the school. Leaders of Pack & Troop 950 ran Join Scouting Night at Lowes Island . Many interested families attended and several leaders surfaced. Working together a new unit (Pack 1152) was up and running at that school.

Northern Sterling communities continued to be developed; another school was scheduled to open in the fall of 1999. By this time Pack 950 had grown to 125 scouts and it became increasingly difficult to hold pack meetings, the Pinewood Derby and Blue & Gold Banquet. Several leaders of the pack who’s children would be rezoned to attend the new Horizon Elementary school decided to start a new Pack seven months prior to the opening of the school. This would allow for the new unit to form, get leaders identified, trained and put a program in place prior to the opening of the school. This time Pastor Brian Clark of Riverside Presbyterian Church was approached about chartering the new unit. Pastor Brian was very supportive and took the idea to the governing body of the church for their consensus to support a scouting unit as part of their youth outreach ministries. In March of 1999 Pack 572 was a chartered unit with 17 scouts.

Even though the scouts and leaders were registered as Pack 572 they continued to meet with and as part of Pack 950. Both units worked together very closely to ensure a smooth transition for both units without interruption to the youth program. In September of 1999 when Horizon opened Pack 572 and Pack 950 began to meet separately. Both units maintained a very close working and operating relationship that continues today. The units share pinewood derby management; an annual picnic and the Webelos of both units go to Goshen Resident camp together each summer.

In the spring of 2001 Troop 950 membership went from 25 scouts to 39 with the crossing over Webelos from Packs 572, 761 and 950. The troop feared that it could not accept additional Webelos without it having a negative impact on the quality of the youth program. The Troop put a freeze on additional membership and had to turn down many scouts from Packs 761, 905 and 1152. Again the leadership saw the need to assist others form a new unit even though no members of Troop 950 decided to transfer to a new unit. Troop 950 and Goose Creek District leadership assisted interested parent’s form a new troop chartered with Galilee United Methodist church. Troop 905 was chartered in the spring of 2001 with 9 scouts.

In the fall of 2001 Webelos leaders began to inquire into the status of Troop 950’s membership freeze. Pack 950 had 11 scouts beginning to search for a troop while Pack 572 had 7. The troop committee decided that even if it could raise the membership cap it still could not support the growing need in the community.

Again several interested leaders of Pack 572, 950 and Troop 950 met to form a new troop. This time several leaders and parents of Troop 950 decided that they would lead the new unit. A transition team was formed with representatives of Troop 950 and the new unit to build a transition plan. Meetings were held with Pastor: Rev. William P. Saunders of Our Lady of Hope Catholic Parish. Father Saunders was very supportive of adding the scouting program to its youth ministries. The charter application was signed and submitted for the formation of Troop 572 having 9 scouts transferring from Troop 950.

Troop 572 grew over the next few years to one of the most active Troops in NCAC. Typical registration of active youth is 60-70 members. The Troop runs programs for three main groupings of scouts; New Scouts, trail to First Class and Trail to Eagle. Every year the Troop alternates between various summer camps including Goshen , Heritage, Rodney and Otari. The Troop supports a Venture Patrol that has been to Philmont three times, Northern Tier and Sea Base each twice, the World and National Scout Jamborees. Other high adventure outings include the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, spelunking, white water rafting and scuba.

In the Fall of 2008 leadership in Troop 572 determined it was time to support the formation of a Venturing Crew. The intent was to offer a more challenging program for the more experienced scouts as well as alow those that have moved on to college a program that offers opportunity while they are home from school.

After several planning and organizational meetings with Troop leadership, the youth of Troop 572 and our Charter Organization Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church a date was set to start the unit, April 16^th 2009.

Crew 572 would like to express our sincere appreciation to all the leaders that served before us as well as those currently serving in the units mentioned in this history. Without their support, guidance, time and effort the boys of the Potomac Falls/Sterling community would not be able to have the great opportunity the scouting program has to offer. We would also like to send a very special thank you to the scouts and leaders of Troop 572 for their support. Troop 572 exemplifies the qualities the scouting movement extols upon us.

Thank You Troop 572.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at;
membership@crew572.org