Sea Scout Ship 502

01/06/2026

Great news! We’ve received a $750 Spark Good local grant from our local Cypress Walmart Supercenter #5091. This grant will help us keep our vessels in good shape. We are grateful for Walmart’s generous support. We’re so proud to be making a difference in our community! .

01/04/2026

Ship 502 had an extremely rare ceremony on Saturday at its chartering organization -- Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church in Cypress, Texas -- where four youths were awarded the Quartermaster Rank. The rank is the highest in Sea Scouts, and is equivalent of the Eagle rank in Scouting America.
Receiving Quartermaster were, from left, Erica Menasco, Jewell Norris, Chris DeBetta and Ryan Kubiak.
Norris is a former National Boatswain from three years ago, meaning she was the student in charge of Sea Scouts. And current Ship 502 member Lily Escobar is the Boatswain-elect; she will take her position on June 1, 2026. Lily will make five National Boatswains from Ship 502.
Ship 502 also was the National Flagship in 2002 and 2024, which is the highest number of times a ship has earned the status as the top Sea Scout unit in the United States.

01/01/2026

Come one, come all.
The Ship 502 Bridge of Honor will be from 2-4 p.m., Sat., Jan. 3, at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church, 11511 Huffmeister, near 290.
We will celebrate four youth in our unit who have earned their Quartermaster Award since our last Bridge of Honor. Quartermaster is the equivalent of the Eagle Award in Scouting America. It will be a rare ceremony, where four will be recognized. Most Quartermaster ceremonies have one honoree.
If you have not responded, please do so, so we can count out Chick-Fil-A nuggets for everyone.

12/31/2025

SHAC Sea Scout Ship 502 showed up for the celebration dinner during the National Youth Leadership Training sessions on Friday through Monday at Bovay Scout Ranch.
From left are Maggie Jones, Mary Cate Orsborn, Dustin McAdory, Kayden Schumacher, Reagan Cooper, Javier Torres, Neal Farmer, Ryan Nugyen, Luis Torres, Cassie Johnson, Dylan Freed and Codie Glaze. Not pictured, William and Cameron Jones.
There are five former NYLT senior patrol leaders in this photo and two current SPLs.

12/18/2025

12/16/2025

Monday was the annual Christmas Party for Ship 502. About 20 people showed up to have food, fellowship, fun and laugh at the annual White Elephant Gift Exchange at Skipper Andrew Houghton’s home in Cypress. The ship’s logo is a yellow, bath tub duck, and multiple ducks were among the serious gifts and the gag gifts.
The top gag gift? For the 10th year in a row, the World’s Most Difficult Jigsaw Puzzle reared its ugly head. Chris DeBetta had obtained the bad-luck gift last year, and since he was not at this year’s party it was presumed safe that no one would get zonked with the ugly puzzle.
Wrong.
Ryan Kubiak contacted Chris and surreptitiously wrapped the hideous puzzle, which has showed up like a bad penny for the last 10 years.
The. Last. 10. Years.
The look on Neal Farmer’s face tells you who got laughed at long and hard this year by picking the puzzle.

11/24/2025

Sea Scout Ship 502 will have a Bridge of Honor at 2 p.m., Sat., Jan. 3, at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church, 11507 Huffmeister Road. The event will be in Parish Hall.
We plan to have youth recognized for their advancements, including at least three who have earned the Quartermaster rank.

11/17/2025

Congrats to the three newly minted OA Vigil members from Ship 502, who went through Vigil ceremonies this past weekend at Camp Strake.
Earning the award were youths Lily Escobar and Chris DeBetta. The adult was Marcia Schleiniger.
That makes 13 Vigil members from Ship 502 in the past three years.

10/23/2025

Former Ship 502 member Jewell Norris teaching last weekend at Seabadge 81-NY-25 at the Summit Bechtel Reserve. The event took place in Glen Jean, West Virginia.
Jewell, who is from Cypress in Northwest Houston, also is a former National Boatswain when she was an undergrad at Mississippi State University.

10/18/2025

Four from Ship 502 were able to work at the Houston Food Bank on Friday to assist needy families in Greater Houston.
Ship member Luis Torres set up a project with his company, Microsoft, and allowed the other Sea Scout adults to help. They were Cynthia Swenceski, Cassie Johnson and Neal Farmer.
The quartet helped approximately 20 others from Luis’ company count and classify 18 pallets of donated food at the Houston Food Bank headquarters, which was estimated at 9,263 pounds of food for the poor.

09/23/2025

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