In My Own Words: Becoming an Eagle Scout

by: Kenny Cericola ’17

When I first started the Boy Scouts, it was back in 5th grade; at that time, I became a webelo. Normally you start at a younger age, the Cub Scouts, but because of my age I started higher than that. A few years later I crossed over into the Boy Scouts. This is where I met people that I’ve made lasting friendships with and learned so many things to help me better myself.  Scouting isn’t just knots and merit badges as most people think. My troop participates in so many activities and fundraisers, aside from a camping trip every month and summer camp. The Boy Scouts isn’t just a place for kids to go and have fun and make friends, it’s a place for them to learn life skills and mature into responsible members of our communities.

The rank of Eagle Scout is the highest that you can earn in scouting. It takes the most effort and hard work to achieve. The first requirement is to obtain and hold the “life Scout” rank for six months, then comes the paperwork and planning. At this point your Scoutmaster and fellow leaders will prepare you for your work ahead, applications, having all your merit badges completed, and scheduling your project. Your Eagle project is a huge portion of your journey to Eagle. Before working on your project a scout must propose their plan to their troop in order to get approval and start. An Eagle project is not only meant to help the company or people. It’s about improving the Scout’s leadership skills. And once a Scout has completed his project, application, and binder describing everything about his project and himself, he sends it off to counsel and they will select a date to hold his board of review. An Eagle board of review is one of the scariest things I have had to prepare for, but once I sat down and went through it I realized that it wasn’t as bad as I thought. This was only made possible by the help and support of my troop and fellow Eagle Scouts. As I mentioned before the goal of becoming an Eagle Scout is meant to make a scout a better leader, and through this process I am certain that I have become not just a better leader, but a better person as well.