it’s cool to be a cubscout

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to tour our local NBC tv station with the Tiger scouts of Cary Pack 218. It was a tour that I set up for my son’s den in order to meet one of the Tiger badge requirements.

Wow! It was so much fun! We met Melanie Sanders (the news anchor), Wes Hohenstein (the weatherman), Penn Holderness (sports), and Nanette (the boss). We got to see the control room first and then the main part of the station where the news is done. The desk is much smaller than you think. Wes the weatherman talked to us about his job, showed us his 8+ computers that allow him to put together his forecast and let all the boys have fun with the green screen. One of the boys had purposely worn a green long sleeved shirt. When he stood in front of the green screen, he looked like a floating head on the tv screen.

Next Melanie Sanders took us around the newsroom where stories are being researched and put together. We saw the editing rooms and the boys got to hang out with Penn Holderness who was thrilled to be talking with the boys about sports. He was really good with them and the boys ate it up! Turns out, Penn is an Eagle Scout and encouraged our (7) six year olds to stay in scouting.

We met one of the camera guys and the boys got to “hold” one of the cameras. One of the scouts asked, “Can you let go?” wanting to hold the camera by himself. The cameraman…”umm, NO” Haha. Melanie then took us to Nanette’s office (I can’t remember her last name). She’s the boss and everyone answers to her. It was really funny when the boys walked into her office. As you can imagine with six year olds, they had been energetic and talkative the whole tour. Walking into her office, they were quiet like they were going to see the principal! One of the boys noticed she had Emmy awards and asked about them. She let the boys hold them.

That pretty much concluded our tour. One of the last people we met gave the boys each a car magnet that said MyNC. Apex on them. They were thrilled!

I grew up as a girl scout and loved the experiences I had. Now that I have boys, I get to experience “being” a cubscout and love the experiences that I get to share with my boys. We have been to Ft. Bragg, had a helicopter land in front of our meeting place and go onboard, toured and slept on the USS Yorktown, toured a firestation, had a visit from a Secret Service agent, toured a radio station and now have toured a tv station. It’s cool to be a cubscout! Check out some photos of our experience.