Four become Eagle Scouts
The hall at Pine Island Methodist Church was filled with family, friends and even neighbors of four Boy Scouts that achieved their Eagle Scout status Saturday morning.
The event began with the Color Guard posting the colors, the Pledge of Allegiance and the four scouts reciting the Scout Oath: “On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”
Mark Haffner served as master of ceremonies for the event and has been an adult leader of Pack 20 for 11 years.
“Scouts has meant a lot to me, my family and my son,” Haffner said. “Scouts learn how to fix things before the are broken and not wait until things break or go bad, to understand how things work and the scouts have been wonderful to teach. I encourage you to keep supporting the scouts long after your children are gone so we can have more Eagle Scouts in the years to come.”
The “Eagle Scout Court of Honor” came to order with the presentation of the four Eagle Scouts: Robert Sheppard Brinson, Devon Michael Hamilton, Justin Alex Chura and Brandon Nicholas Reed.
“Scout law includes three parts: duty to god and country, cut to other people and duty to self,” Haffner said. “A scout is also trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
“The pathway to Eagle Scout can be described as a steep trail leading up to three peaks, the highest being that of Eagle Scout,” Haffner continued. “Officially, the trail starts with the Tenderfoot rank and continues through Second and First Class ranks. Then, the mountain climbing begins. The path is marked with merit badges, leadership responsibilities, service projects and the practice of scouting skills and ideals. The first peak reached is that of Star Scout, the second is Life Scout, and, finally, Eagle Scout.
Eagle Scouts must also earn 21 merit badges, including 12 required: First Aid, Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in the World, Communications, Personal Fitness, Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving, Environmental Science, Personal Management, Swimming or Hiking or Cycling, Camping and Family Life.
In order to meet the “service project” requirement for Eagle Scout, Brinson and other members of Troop 20 built two land bridges last summer for the Calusa Land Trust at Dobbs Preserve in St. James City.
Awards were presented to the four Eagle Scouts by the Sons of the American Revolution, VFW/American Legion and the U.S. Submarine Veterans from the Southwest Florida Military Museum.
Each Eagle Scout offered a few words of thanks to the people who helped them along the path towards achieving Eagle Scout rank.
“During my many years in scouting I have not only gained leadership skills but gained confidence in myself,” Hamilton said. “I’ve had lots of fun and gained friends and I’ve just had an overall great time and I love being a scout. I’d like to thank everyone who helped me on my journey and I wouldn’t be the same without your help.”
“I can tell you that awarding four scouts their Eagle Scout rank at the same time is unusual anywhere and has never happened on Pine Island,” Brinson said. “These four boys started as Cub Scouts together as far back as second grade. Way back then we all went to an award ceremony for a boy that became an Eagle Scout. They said then that they were going to become Eagle Scouts. They’ve been together all the way through and here we are today. I’m very proud of each and every one of them.”
Cub Scouts Pack 20 Den meetings are every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Pine Island United Methodist Church (grades 1 through 5). Call Cubmaster, Jerry Bush, 282-9284 for further information.
Boy Scouts Troop 20 meetings are every Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Pine Island United Methodist Church (grades 6 through 12). Call Scoutmaster Mike Taylor at 898-0657.