Making Progress

Last night was the September Court of Honor for Troop 636 in Elizabeth, along with a Court of Honor for our newest Eagle Scout. It was a long ceremony, but also somewhat cool. A re-affirmation of scouting values, and one of the younger scouts, our Scoutmaster’s son, at 15 and a sophomore in high school, completing his Eagle. We’ll have another kid in Dec or Mar who will finish his Eagle as an 8th grader, at 14, which is amazing.

Delaney got his canoeing and pathfinding merit badges, which were expected, and his 50 miler patch, for his canoe trip. That was unexpected, and it was cool. I was proud of that one, as was he, and hopefully I’ll go with him next year and earn that one.

The Pathfinding is cool as it’s one of the un-retired merit badges for the 100th anniversary of scouting. Kids can earn 1 of 4 for this year only, and we’re hoping Delaney can earn one or two more before the end of the year.

We were hoping Delaney would earn his first class, but a lack of camping has slowed us. He’s down to one major requirement left, and at the Fall camporee next month I hope that we get it done. He’s on a good pace, and since he’s not yet 12, he’s in good shape. If he can earn his First Class this year, and then Star next, Life and Eagle should be easy to finish when he’s 15 as well.

Some interesting facts that came out in the Eagle ceremony.

• Only two Presidents were in Scounting, JFK and Gerald Ford. President Ford was the only eagle.
• All the service academies send admission packets to all eagle scouts
• Only about 10% of the people at the Naval Academy are Eagle Scouts
• of 100 people that enter scouts, 2 will use their skills to save a life.
• On average, only 4% of kids will make Eagle.

Delaney still is going, but he’s feeling a little behind on his work, and maybe some pressure. I told him not to worry and we’d get there, and once he gets through his black belt, I think we’ll start to make more of an effort to push forward in Scouts. He should get 3-4 more merit badges this year, hopefully 2-3 eagle ones, and a rank, and that’s a good pace for us.

He did say that he’d recognize me as one of his mentors if he makes Eagle. That was pretty cool.