Hello Everyone! This is your 2023-2024 National Quarterdeck. It has been an amazing and successful year. We have seen tremendous growth in everything from the socials to our program numbers and Ships.
We’ve attended numerous Ship and council events, created new initiatives, and got closer to you all as Scouts. We restarted the newsletter, Sea Scout Times, and the Lookout Podcast. Trimester Reports were developed, as a way to share with Scouts and Scouters progress throughout the term along with other program resources.
The Sea Scout Social was started, along with various Google Forms (found on linktr.ee/seascoutsbsa) to recognize those who achieved the rank of Quartermaster, promote and recognize events, and request officer attendance.
The National Quarterdeck also worked on facilitating the return of the National Virtual Sea Scout Academy (NVSSA), with all members staffing it to support the host which was the Capital Area Council. The event ran really well with great participation and turnout. Thank you to Nick Withrow (NVSSA Lead), Levi West (Program Lead), and Evan Nazareth (NVSSA Mentor) who served as the key 3 for that event.
We also attended various events, such as Winterfest hosted annually by the Northeast Georgia Council in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, the National Jamboree, Seabadge courses, long cruises, and rendezvous, academies, and various Ship, Council, and Lodge events.
At National Jamboree, some dedicated youth and adult staff ran the booth to spread the word about the program (see article on National Jamboree 2023), with a lot of interest and engagement.
The National Quarterdeck as a whole took big strides, tried new things, and developed new ways to engage with ALL Scouts. The program is going in a great direction, and we can’t wait to see where Sea Scouts goes in the future. We wish the best of luck to the next National Quarterdeck, and we will see you all at the Older Youth Program Conference at Philmont Training Center (register here), the National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC) at the University of Colorado Boulder, and future events!
Yours in Sea Scouting, ⛵
The 2023-2024 National Quarterdeck
The National Quarterdeck (NQD) is Sea Scouts, BSA’s youth leadership team. The National Quarterdeck serves a term from June 1 – May 31 of the following year. The National Quarterdeck is led by the National Boatswain and is generally made up of Boatswain’s Mates, and other youth leadership positions.
Authors: Katie Notbohm and Evan Nazareth