Scouts from around Hawaii Island ascended upon Waimea on Saturday for the first Pinewood Derby car race since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic over two years ago.
Dozens of boys and girls in Cub Scouting and Scouts with family in tow filled the Thelma Parker Memorial Gymnasium to put their unpowered, unmanned miniature cars they built to the test. The sound of the gravity-powered cars racing down the tracks to the cheers and laughter of children and adults alike filled the old wooden gym.
“Scouts is fun. All the activities are fun, like this one,” said Nixie Asadon, a 10-year-old Cub Scout in Pack 79 in Kailua-Kona about taking part her first Pinewood Derby . “I learned that it takes weight and how the shape of the car has to be to have it go fast or slow.”
Nash Ishimine was among the older Scouts helping out the Cub Scouts in the event after taking part in Pinewood Derby racing for several years. Having recently graduated from Cub Scouting, he is now working to gain all the experience and merit badges needed to, hopefully, one day become an Eagle Scout like his older brother.
“It’s pretty cool. I’m really excited to do a lot more stuff, like you can do the tomahawk range and other stuff and also get merit badges,” said Ishimine, whose work during Saturday’s Pinewood Derby counted toward the necessary volunteer hours to be a Scout. “You can have the chance to become an eagle scout — it’s pretty exciting.”
Ishimine’s mother, Shandelle Levine-Ubrig, was also helping out during the Pinewood Derby on behalf of Troop 56 out of North Kohala.
“They’re really excited,” she said of the kids finally getting to take part in an in-person gathering with Scouts from around the island. “For the Cub Scouts here, it’s been just two years of distance. It’s been really hard.”
Levine-Ubrig, who serves as commissioner of the troop, urged parents and children to consider taking part in the Scouting program, which is operated by the Boy Scouts of America and open to boys and girls.
“It teaches them skills, and it gives them a really positive environment and it gives them friendships, that my sons say, last a lifetime,” she said. “It’s given them opportunities to just do so much and go so far.”
For more information on Scouting, including how to get involved, visit https://www.scoutinghawaii.org/.