On the Scouting Trail: Kast earns highest Scouting honor
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A La Cañada Scoutmaster has achieved the highest award granted by the National Court of Honor of the Boy Scouts of America, it was announced late last month.
Martin Kast, Ph.D, who leads Boy Scout Troop 509, chartered by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was given the Silver Beaver Award on Jan. 27 for his service to Scouting youth. Two days later, Kast was also given the District Award for Merit as a commissioner with the Rose Bowl District Round Table.
Kast became involved with Troop 509 when his son, Harold, joined it 10 years ago. Martin Kast took an interest in his son’s goal of achieving as many merit badges as possible — a dream achieved in 2013.
The senior Kast told a reporter then that building a natural enthusiasm for discovery was the goal of each badge offered through Scouting. He accompanied his son on many weekend trips devoted to earning different badges.
Martin Kast earned his own awards along the way, collecting his Wood Badge beads in 2011 and encouraging nine assistant scoutmasters to become involved in the Wood Badge course. He is a merit badge counselor to 15 and in 2013 served on the staff of the National Jamboree in West Virginia as game design merit badge counselor, giving lessons to more than 1,000 Boy Scouts.
According to local Scouting officials, Kast has been a District Committee member since 2014 and took the Effective RT course at the National Training Center in Philmont in 2015. He has been a Leave No Trace trainer since 2011, took the Powderhorn course in 2012 and was honored with the Scoutmaster’s Award in 2010, the Baden Powell Award in 2012, the Unit Leader Award of Merit in 2013 and the Scoutmaster’s Key in 2014. He achieved the rank of Brotherhood in the Order of the Arrow and became a James E. West Fellow in 2013. Kast obtained his Masters of Commissioner Science in 2014.
Kast’s entire family is devoted to Scouting activities. His wife, Sylvia, is an assistant Scoutmaster, daughters DJ and Hinde have both earned prestigious Girl Scout Gold Awards and son Harold achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.
A professor at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Kast’s research is focused on developing therapies for cervical cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma.
