Spring 2014 - National Eagle Scout Association

NESA.org
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE FOR EAGLE SCOUTS
SPRING 2014
ALL THE
WORLD’S
A STAGE
And Eagle Scout Rob Ward
Helps Bring It to Life
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
We Can’t Thank Eagle Moms Enough
Project Markers Say ‘An Eagle Did This’
Eagle Lands Access to Space Shuttle
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Are you looking for a gift for a new Eagle
Scout that will be special and memorable?
Trustworthy
Loyal
NESASTORE.ORG IS… Helpful
You’ll find gifts that are perfect for:
- Council Eagle Scout recognition events
- Eagle Scout courts of honor
- Birthdays and holidays
NESA Conservation Hat
This hat is based on the
conservation patch issued
by NESA at the jamboree. It
depicts an eagle flying over
the Summit Bechtel Reserve.
It is perfect to wear when
participating in a service
project outdoors.
$10 each.
NESA Jamboree
Belt Buckle
NESA Life Member
Jamboree Belt Buckle
$20 each.
$30 each.
At the 2010 National Scout
Jamboree, NESA started
a series of belt buckles to
celebrate the NESA exhibit
at the jamboree. The 2013
version is shown here and
is available for purchase.
It has a pewter finish.
A special brass life member
buckle was issued and
numbered sequentially
from 1 to 2,000. You must
be a NESA life member
to purchase this item.
To become a life member,
go to NESA.org today.
Friendly
Courteous
Kind
Obedient
Cheerful
Thrifty
Brave
Clean
Reverent
Go to nesastore.org for more great gift ideas!
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AM
On the Cover
Eagles’
Call
Eagle Scout Rob Ward stands in
Times Square, in the heart of the New
York City Theater District, where he
works as a set designer and props
supervisor for Broadway shows.
Photo by W. Garth Dowling.
™
Boy Scouts of America
President of the United States Barack Obama
Honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America
Robert M. Gates ............................ National President
Tico Perez .................................National Commissioner
Wayne Brock ............................. Chief Scout Executive
Contents
National Eagle Scout Association
Glenn A. Adams ........................................... President
C. William “Bill” Steele ................................ Director
NESA Committee
Rick Bragga, Dr. David Briscoe, Nick Dannemiller,
Clark W. Fetridge, Marshall Hollis, Dr. Ken King,
Dr. Michael Manyak, Lou Paulson, Todd R.
Plotner, Congressman Pete Sessions, Frank Tsuru
FROM TOP: W. GARTH DOWLING; COURTESY OF HEATHER AND DAVID BULLARD; COURTESY OF STAN HARRISON; BSA FILE/ROGER MORGAN
Magazine Division
10
Michael Goldman........................... Editorial Director
Bryan Wendell ........................................ Senior Editor
Gretchen Sparling ............................ Associate Editor
Elizabeth Hardaway Morgan ..... Senior Art Director
W. Garth Dowling.................... Photography Director
Edna J. Lemons........................................ Photo Editor
Bryan Wursten .........................................Online Editor
14
Lenore Bonno ............................. Production Manager
Marcie Rodriguez .................................Imaging Artist
Judy Bramlett ................ Customer Relations Manager
Barry Brown ................................. Advertising Director
Kenneth Lipka .............Regional Advertising Manager
Patricia Santangelo .....Regional Advertising Manager
Cheryl Solomon ................... Midwest Publisher’s Rep
Chuck Carroll ..................West Coast Publisher’s Rep
Lisa Hott....................Advertising Production Manager
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
(866) 584-6589
ADVERTISING INFORMATION
(212) 532-0985
Eagle Scout Magazine (ISSN 0890-4995) is published four times a year by the
Boy Scouts of America, 1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX
75015-2079. Issues are Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. Copyright © 2014 by the
Boy Scouts of America. All rights thereunder reserved; anything appearing in
Eagle Scout Magazine may not be reprinted either wholly or in part without
written permission. NESA accepts all articles from members for submission,
but because of space limitations and dated material, we are not always able
to use all materials. We cannot return articles or photographs submitted for
consideration. For detailed submission guidelines, go to nesa.org. Application
to mail at periodicals postage prices is pending at Irving, Texas, and at additional mailing offices. Address changes: eaglechanges@scouting.org Include
your name, new and old addresses, birth date and the number printed above
your name on the address label. Send other correspondence to NESA, S322
Boy Scouts of America, 1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX
75015-2079 or eaglescoutmag@scouting.org.
Printed and bound by Quad/Graphics.
VOL. 40, NO. 1
Features
Regents consist of more than 600 life members of NESA
who are recipients of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
Special Contributors
Lois Albertus, Teresa Brown, Keith Courson,
Drew Denoyer, Ryan Larson, Jeff Laughlin,
Mark Ray
SPRING 2014
Set For Life By Bryan Wendell
Go behind the curtain as Eagle Scout Rob Ward
reveals what it’s like to work as a theater set designer
for productions on and off Broadway. Plus, find out
how he uses his creative skills to help give back to the
Scouting movement.
10
There For You By Mark Ray
A Baltimore gathering seeks to honor Eagle Scout
mothers, including the mom of Mike Rowe, host of
Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs. Discover how the
council event celebrates the contributions of Eagle
Scout moms and works to enlist them in future
Scouting endeavors.
6
16
Departments
2 News From the Trailhead
3 Members
6 Community
8 Lifestyle
16 Achievements
22 Closing Shot
NESA.org
14
Visit NESA online to submit your
Eagle Scout projects, see more Eagle
achievements, complete scholarship
information and more.
SPRING 2014
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News From the Trailhead
SPRING 2014
Eagles’
Call
™
Are you a social-media-savvy Eagle Scout? Do you have
experience in your local council, the Order of the Arrow
or a Scout camp uploading exciting content to a Facebook
page? Would you be interested in volunteering to assist your
national NESA committee in expanding the content of the
national NESA Facebook page?
We have created enormous reach on the NESA Facebook
page (facebook.com/NationalEagleScoutAssociationBSA)
during the past two years and are looking for a few good
Eagle Scouts who will help source content, post and drive
excitement to our Facebook page.
The only way Eagle Scouts can participate in the lifechanging opportunities NESA offers through social
media, such as the Eagle Scout Argonaut and Eagle Scout
Astronomer, is to continually access the NESA Facebook
page, and we want to find ways to increase the traffic on
our page. If you are interested, please contact the NESA
professionals at: NESAfacebook@scouting.org.
Even if you just have a great Eagle Scout story that you
think should be told on the NESA Facebook page, we want
to hear from you.
The 2014 National Annual Meeting of the Boy Scouts of
America will be held in Nashville, Tenn., during the week of
May 19. One of the premier events of the annual meeting is
the inspiring Americanism Breakfast hosted by NESA. It’s a
celebration of all things Eagle Scout, with a strong patriotic
theme. Last year we “made some waves” with our program,
and this year we are really going to “blow you away” with
our program!
Because most Eagle Scouts and adult Scouting volunteers
cannot attend the meeting, you will find a video of the
breakfast presentations at nesa.org. You will not be
disappointed!
DAN BRYANT
From the President
From the Director
The Eagle Scout and the bald eagle: Both are symbolic of
something lofty and grand. The bald eagle is the symbol of
both our country and of Eagle Scouts. At least three other
countries use the eagle as the symbol of their highest rank in
Scouting: Albania, South Korea and the Philippines. Only the
Boy Scouts of America uses the bald eagle. (Interestingly, the
Philippines’ eagle is the monkey-eating eagle.)
At the 2013 National Jamboree, the NESA tent boasted a
live bald eagle every day. This eagle, named Regis, was profiled
in the last issue of Eagles’ Call (on pages 4-5) with a description
of his home, the Three Rivers Avian Center — located not far
from the Summit Bechtel Reserve.
The national NESA committee voted at its October 2013
meeting to show its support of bald eagle conservation at
Three Rivers Avian Center by donating an additional $3,000
beyond the discounted fee they requested for Regis’ visit to
the jamboree. His presence was a big hit. Regis is 5 years old,
young for an eagle, and he was rescued from the wild and
cannot fly, so he is very likely to be with us again at the 2017
National Jamboree.
Again, thousands of Scouts will be able to meet him, pose
for a photo with him and marvel at his handsomeness. He’s
the symbol of our country and Scouting’s highest rank —
a wonder to behold.
Yours in Scouting,
C. William Steele
Director
From the Eagle trail,
Glenn A. Adams
President
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MEMBERS // Eagle Survey / Project Marker
Making Unknowns Known
D
Thanks to a new online tool, some of
those unknowns will soon become known.
Since last fall, the online version of the Eagle
Scout application has included a link to an
optional survey Scouts complete online.
The goal is to learn more about them, their
Scouting experience and their future plans.
Ryan Larson, the BSA’s associate director of alumni relations and NESA, says
the survey should help the BSA improve
the program for future Eagle Scouts. For
example, initial results show that parents
— not Scout leaders — contribute most to
Scouts’ achieving the Eagle rank. So provid-
ing parents more information about the
advancement process could be beneficial.
Larson says the survey should also
benefit Eagles. “We hope to take the data
and help Eagle Scouts network after their
involvement as Scouts ends,” he says. “If we
identify 10 Scouts going to the same university, we could use the data to connect them.”
To support goals like that, the survey
asks for more extensive contact information
than the standard Eagle Scout application.
That way, even if the Scout changes his
phone number or email address, NESA
will still be able to reach him or his parents.
SURVEY SAYS…
After changing our name, our design and
our article mix last fall, we wanted to know
what readers thought of the new Eagles’ Call.
To find out, we asked the BSA’s Research
and Innovation Department to conduct an
online survey. The bottom line? To misquote
an old country song, you like it, you read it
and you want some more of it.
Leaving a Mark
Every year across America, Scouts complete more
than 50,000 Eagle Scout service projects. Many of
them leave a permanent mark — a nature trail, a
prayer garden, a refurbished playground — but
relatively few include permanent markers giving
credit to the Scouts who created them.
That situation might soon change. Last year, the BSA introduced the
Eagle Scout Service Project Marker (No. 617492). This $200 black marble plaque (shown
above) displays the Eagle Scout’s name, troop number, city, project date and project description. Best of all, it comes with an initial NESA membership for the Scout whose project it
recognizes. (A simpler, non-personalized marker, No. 611429, is available for $50.)
Former NESA Committee member Jack Coughlin of Larchmont, N.Y., dreamed up the
plaque at a highway rest area in North Carolina. Sitting on a bench in a small garden, he happened to notice a homemade sign that said the garden was an Eagle project. “You could see it
was made by a kid,” Coughlin says. “It was a wooden plaque where he had burned in his name.”
Last November, Coughlin presented the first marker to the father of Eagle Scout Lenny
Joyner, who died in a 2012 hiking accident. For his project in 1997, Joyner had built a bridge
in Graham Hills Park in Pleasantville, N.Y. Although he left Pleasantville after 9/11 to join
the New York City Fire Department, Joyner checked on his bridge every time he was home,
even making repairs if needed. Now, park users will know just whom to thank when they
cross Joyner’s bridge.
For more information on the new project marker, visit bit.ly/esprojectmarker.
BSA FILE PHOTO
onald Rumsfeld once
famously riffed on “known
knowns” and “known
unknowns.” Here at NESA,
we have some of both. We
know what merit badges new Eagle Scouts
earned and what service projects they completed, but we don’t always know things
like whether they worked on camp staff or
what they plan to do after college.
A FEW HIGHLIGHTS:
More than 90 percent of respondents
rate the new magazine as good or
excellent.
Almost 90 percent agreed that the
magazine helps them stay engaged with
Scouting.
Nearly everyone read at least one issue
in the past 12 months; eight in 10 read
every issue.
At least two-thirds of those who read at
least one issue read all or most of the
content.
Respondents read the magazine primarily to learn about Eagle Scout
accomplishments, read about other
Eagle Scouts and stay updated on
Scouting in general.
WE ALSO FOUND OUT A LITTLE ABOUT READERS:
You are nearly all male. (No surprise
there!)
Two-thirds of you are greater than 40
years old, although we have a healthy
percentage of readers younger than 25.
Nearly 40 percent of you are not registered in Scouting.
You’re all over the map in terms of
household income and household size.
Our favorite comment from someone
who reads every issue: “I enjoy the articles
and also share with my two sons who are
currently Bear Scouts and would like to
be Eagles like their dad.” If you didn’t get
the survey, don’t worry. Your comments are
welcome at eaglescoutmag@scouting.org.
SPRING 2014
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MEMBERS // Merit Badge Update
N
C
S
Merit Badge Roundup
L
ast year, Hasbro Inc. made news
when it replaced the iron token
in its iconic Monopoly game
with a cat. (What irons and cats
have to do with property acquisition remains a mystery.) The BSA has done
some similar housekeeping in the merit
badge program recently, part of a neverending quest to keep Scouting relevant.
Here’s a recap of the changes. Plus, find
more new merit badge news at blog.scouting
magazine.org/merit-badge-calendar.
Cooking
Eagle-required for
the first time since
the 1970s, Cooking
has been updated to
cover nutrition and home
cooking.
Gr
Ph
Moviemaking
Formerly known as Cinematography, the
Moviemaking merit badge now covers all
aspects of filmmaking.
Th
Sco
of
ne
cal
in
Sco
spu
led
to
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Sustainability
Unveiled at the 2013
National Jamboree,
Sustainability joins the
Eagle-required list as an
alternative to Environmental
Science.
Rec
Th
bri
og
Sco
ing
(D
Sco
Ea
in
Cycling
Cycling, an alternative to
Hiking and Swimming on
the list of Eagle-required
badges, now includes a
mountain-biking option.
Spre
Th
sen
Fo
of
DE
As
hu
say
Programming
The new Programming merit
badge supports Scouting’s STEM
(science, technology, engineering
and math) emphasis. More tech
badges are on the way.
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See
Ro
you
an
Th
Sco
ret
NESA
Committee
Spotlight:
Grand Canyon Council
Phoenix
The Grand Canyon Council produces Eagle
Scouts at an impressive rate. Some 9 percent
of the council’s Scouts become Eagles,
nearly double the national average. A typical year sees 1,000 new Eagle Scouts, and
in 2012, the 100th anniversary of the Eagle
Scout Award, the total reached 1,400.
The Eagle Scout anniversary also
spurred the council’s NESA committee,
led by Scottsdale attorney Mike Rooney,
to redouble its efforts to engage and enlist
Eagle Scouts of all ages.
There Ought
To Be a Law
Did your Scoutmaster ever tell you to “tuck
in that shirttail”? If so, he needn’t have.
There’s never been a rule that uniform
shirts had to be tucked in — until now,
that is. Last fall, the BSA clarified its policy
on uniforming to say that “shirts are to be
worn tucked in, regardless of whether the
wearer is a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Varsity
Scout, Venturer or adult Scouter.” The only
exceptions: youth dress whites and youth
dress blues in Sea Scouting.
Your Scoutmaster wasn’t too far off,
however. Uniform guidelines have always
said that Scouts should be neat in appearance. And the rest of your Scoutmaster’s
wisdom still applies. A red sky at night
really does mean a sailor’s delight. If you’re
cold, you really should put on a hat. And
campfire smoke really does follow beauty.
Scouters, are you looking for ways to help
enable your council to better connect with
Scouting alumni? If so, the “Reconnecting
Scouting Alumni” Seminar Aug. 10-16 at
Philmont Training Center is for you. And,
better yet, the location (with its robust
outdoors activities) is for the whole family.
The Scouting Alumni Association and
NESA will provide 10 $500 scholarships
to Scouters interested in attending. Learn
more about the seminar and the scholarship requirements by visiting bsaalumni.org/
scholarshipphilmont2014. Deadline for applications is May 23.
NESA LEGACY
SOCIETY MEMBERS
Capt. James Blank Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council
Salvatore P. Ciampo Theodore Roosevelt Council
Lee Thomas Cook Ohio River Valley Council
Michael J. Downs California Inland Empire Council
Michael W. Grogan Greater St. Louis Area Council
Terry W. Grogan Greater St. Louis Area Council
Stanley M. Herrin Prairielands Council
John W. Kennedy, Ph.D. Patriots’ Path Council
Kenneth Kolde Ventura County Council
Andrew S. Mullin National Capital Area Council
Lou Paulson Mount Diablo Silverado Council
Robert Lee Powell Heart of America Council
Norman Schaefer Palmetto Council
John Arthur Severino Cradle of Liberty Council
Kelly H. Williams Rocky Mountain Council
Dr. Geoffrey W. Zoeller Jr. Patriots’ Path Council
RECOGNIZING EAGLES
The committee’s biggest project was to
bring back the council’s Eagle Scout recognition dinner, which honors new Eagle
Scouts and offers a platform for presenting the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
(DESA) and the NESA Outstanding Eagle
Scout Award (NOESA). About 150 new
Eagle Scouts attended the inaugural event
in December 2012.
SPREADING THE STORY
The council doesn’t just keep award presentations within the Scouting family.
For example, Michael M. Crow, president
of Arizona State University, received his
DESA at a meeting of the ASU Alumni
Association a few years back. “There were
hundreds and hundreds of people,” Rooney
says. “We were able to make a big deal of it.”
JOIN THE NESA LEGACY SOCIETY
SEEKING THE LOST
BSA FILE PHOTO
Rooney’s next big goal is to reconnect
younger Eagle Scouts — college students
and 20-somethings — with the program.
The same goes for the countless Eagle
Scouts who move into the area, often upon
retirement.
EARN ONE OF 10
SCHOLARSHIPS TO
ALUMNI SEMINAR
By making a contribution to the
national NESA endowment, you will
help fund Eagle Scout scholarships,
NESA committee service grants, career
networking opportunities and more.
(Note: You must first become a James E.
West Fellow in your local council.)
Make a contribution at nesa.org/
PDF/542-121.pdf. All NESA LEGACY SOCIETY
FELLOWS will be recognized with a unique
certificate, a pin to wear on the James E.
West knot and name recognition in the
pages of Eagles’ Call magazine.
SPRING 2014
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COMMUNITY // Eagle Scout Projects
Swinging on a Star
D
The 2013 Central Region Adams Award Winner
uring the typical Eagle
Scout service project, an
Eagle Scout candidate has
to worry about all sorts of
things: whether it will rain,
which of his volunteers will show up and
how much pizza to order.
Forrest Bernhardt of Whitehall, Mich.,
had to worry about those things, but he had
to worry about a whole lot more, including
international exchange rates, tax-deductible
bank accounts and underground utilities.
All the worrying paid off, however. His
project was a success and earned him the
2013 Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams
National Eagle Scout Service Project of the
Year Award for the Central Region.
Forr
Ber
Sco
U
B
WHAT HE DID: For his project, Forrest raised
money to buy and install a wheelchair-
Mi
of
Sep
an
som
ser
The completed, landscaped Liberty Swing was the culmination of two and a half
years of work and more than $23,000, not including donated materials.
COURTESY OF STAN HARRISON (4)
accessible swing at Whitehall’s Goodrich
Park. The project took two and a half years,
cost $23,491.80 (not including donated
labor and materials) and involved more
than 1,300 volunteer hours.
Forrest Bernhardt (top photo, left) and Neal Martell, a
department of public works employee, grade a freshly
excavated sidewalk path to the wheelchair-accessible
swing Forrest built for his Eagle Scout service project.
Scouts and leaders from Troop 1041 spent more than
1,300 volunteer hours on the project.
6
ABOUT THAT SWING: Forrest didn’t install just
any swing. He installed a Liberty Swing,
an Australian invention its creator calls
the world’s safest and most recognized
accessible swing. Designed to comply with
Americans With Disabilities Act standards,
the 800-pound swing allows a user to roll
into its compartment, get strapped in and
start swinging.
FORREST’S INSPIRATION: Although Forrest purchased his swing from Australia, he found
his inspiration closer to home. His older
brother, Zachary, has cerebral palsy and uses
a wheelchair. “When everyone went to the
park as a family, me and my other siblings
all had activities to do, but he didn’t really
have much to do. That was one of the main
reasons why I did it. Also, there’s a lot of
group homes in the area,” Forrest says.
UNUSUAL CHALLENGES: Because the swing was
coming from overseas, Forrest studied exchange rates and worked with the swing’s
distributor to buy at the best possible time.
(In the end, the swing cost $17,600.95, less
than he had originally anticipated.) Forrest also had to find an organization that
would accept tax-deductible donations for
the project; Easter Seals served in that role.
EAGLES’ CALL
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PENNY BY PENNY: Forrest got a $5,000 grant
from the White Lake Community Fund,
along with a handful of other large gifts.
But most of his money came in small
chunks from bake sales, yard sales, car
washes, a fundraiser at McDonald’s and
donation jars at businesses around the
community. “It kind of went penny by
penny,” he says.
OTHER NOTABLE EAGLE PROJECTS
COURTESY OF THE NORMAN FAMILY
And, of course, he had to raise the money
in the first place.
WILLIAM TAYLOR NORMAN
VERO BEACH, FLA.
As a young Scout, Taylor Norman had helped
another Scout build a picnic area on IR43, a
Spoil Island in the Indian River Lagoon that is
frequented by boaters and campers. For his
Eagle project, Taylor returned to IR43 to clear
invasive species, like Brazilian pepper, and
build two raised 8-by-10-foot tent platforms.
SWINGING ON A STAR: All Forrest’s hard work
paid off on June 30, 2012, when the city
held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the
swing. The first person on board? His
brother Zachary, whose ear-to-ear smile
made the whole project worthwhile.
Forrest Bernhardt (from left); his brother, Zachary
Bernhardt; his Scoutmaster, Dan Soelberg; and former
Scoutmaster Stan Harrison pose with the completed swing.
Because the project took place on an island,
Taylor had to file a float plan and figure out
how to transport a half-ton of lumber and 24
volunteers to the site. He also had to raise
more than $1,800 for supplies, the biggest
chunk of which arrived from the Home Depot
Foundation just one day before the project
began. In all, Taylor and his volunteers spent
more than 440 hours on the project.
Mike Sweeney was just 17 when he died
of an undiagnosed heart condition on
Sept. 8. He left behind a grieving family
and friends, a lifetime of promise and
some unfinished business: his Eagle Scout
service project.
Mike’s plan, which had already been
approved, was to build a 100-foot-long
split-rail fence along a waterfall in Braddock’s Trail Park in North Huntington
Township, Pa. It was the perfect project for
him, combining his love for the outdoors
with his passion for serving others. “The
waterfall and cliff only had a chain strung
at knee level to prevent people from getting too close and possibly falling,” says Assistant Scoutmaster Don Brill, who served
as Mike’s Eagle Scout advisor.
Not willing to let Mike’s plans die with
him, Brill and Scoutmaster Jerry Kuhn
decided on the day of Mike’s death that
the troop would finish his project. “That
day on the phone, Jerry said, ‘We are going
to finish his Eagle project. We’ll put up a
plaque, and he will always be our Eagle,’”
Brill recalls.
Brill and other troop leaders began
soliciting materials and recruiting volunteers. Mike was well loved, so volunteers
were no problem. Neither, as it turns out,
were materials. For example, Donn and Re-
COURTESY OF FELICIA RICHARDS
Unfinished
Business
Scouts and volunteers rallied to keep Mike Sweeney’s Eagle
Scout project alive by completing a 100-foot-long fence.
nee Syster of Custom Fencing in Ligonier,
Pa., donated lumber for the project. Their
son had recently completed his own Eagle
project, and two of their nephews had
dealt with serious heart conditions.
On Oct. 26, 85 volunteers descended
on Braddock’s Trail Park. They anchored
posts into bedrock, assembled fence rails
and even cut logs to reline the trails — one
of them named Eagle Trail — that meet at
the waterfall. This spring, the troop will return to the site to erect a memorial plaque.
Mike will be remembered in other ways
as well. At his funeral, countless mourners
asked what they could do for his family.
“The family’s only response was heartfelt
and sincere: Perform a random act of kindness in memory of Mike,” Brill says. “That’s
his legacy.”
COURTESY OF MOMILANI TU’UA
f
Eagle Scout Projects // COMMUNITY
CHARLES TU’UA JR., PROVO, UTAH
Charles Tu’ua is a college-bound Eagle Scout
of Pacific Islander descent. He is also an exception. According to the U.S. Census Bureau,
just 14 percent of Pacific Islanders finish
college, exactly half the national average.
To put a dent in that disparity, Charles chose
a unique service project: an educational fair
to help minority high schoolers understand
how college works. Representatives from
Brigham Young University, the University
of Utah, Utah Valley University and the LDS
Business College discussed the application
process, multicultural needs and more on
transitioning from high school to college.
More than 300 students and parents attended the session. Some of them will probably run into Charles at BYU in the years to
come; after he completes his LDS mission
in Tokyo, he plans to attend BYU and study
mechanical engineering with an emphasis
on biomedicine.
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LIFESTYLE // Space Shuttle Endeavour / Eagles in the Olympics
Shooting the Shuttle
Sports Scene
S
An Eagle Scout documents Endeavour’s final journey (at 2.2 mph)
Eagle Scouts in the Olympics
Cr
E
HOW DID IT EVEN GET OUT OF THE AIRPORT?
They actually had to remove a gate to be
able to move the shuttle out. Because of
FAA rules, the second that perimeter was
breached, the entire airport had to be shut
down. As soon as the shuttle was through,
they were putting back up the gate.
IT SEEMS THAT THE JOURNEY WAS A REAL
STOP-AND-GO PROCESS. The streets and
the layouts were all so dynamic that there
were several times we had to stop and lift
up the shuttle, put blocks under it and
shift around the Sarens units [the four
computer-controlled vehicles the shuttle
was riding on]. Every time they had to do
that, we’d stop for several hours.
TOYOTA RAN A SUPER BOWL AD SHOWING
A TOYOTA TUNDRA PULLING THE SHUTTLE.
The shuttle
and the Sarens units were far too heavy to
go over the 405 bridge. At this
point, they’d planned out with
Toyota to have a Toyota Tundra
actually pull the shuttle across the
bridge. It was a completely stock
truck — nothing special about it
except the paint job.
HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TAKING THE
SHUTTLE THROUGH RESIDENTIAL
STEPHEN H. SILBERKRAUS
Silberkraus documented workers cleaning the orbiter, loading it onto a modified
Boeing 747 and ferrying it to Los Angeles
International Airport. He then walked with
the shuttle on its slow crawl through the
streets of Los Angeles to its new home.
THE SHUTTLE FLEW AT 17,500 MILES PER
HOUR. HOW FAST DID IT GO THROUGH LOS
ANGELES? The highest speed we ever got was
2.2 miles an hour. It was supposed to take two
and a half days and ended up taking three.
8
STEVEN HOLCOMB AND CHRIS FOGT,
TEAM USA BOBSLEDDERS
Things are now quiet at the Sanki Sliding
Center near Sochi, Russia. But a couple of
months ago, the air was filled with the sounds
of two Eagle Scouts racing a carbon-fiber
sled at speeds approaching 90 miles an hour.
Don’t try this one at home.
AREAS? They were rotating the back
and front and lifting up one corner
and dropping the other. We were
probably doing a tenth of a mile an
hour. We were going painfully slow,
but everybody was making sure this
national treasure wasn’t damaged.
THE CROWDS MUST HAVE BEEN ENORMOUS.
Pretty much anybody who could come up
with an excuse to be there was there, taking
their photos and watching it go by. You had
people hanging out of windows, standing
on rooftops, up on billboards. If there was
anywhere someone could climb to have a
slightly better view, they were there. Later,
they said we easily passed over a million
people who had come out to see the shuttle.
ANDREW P. SCOTT-USA TODAY SPORTS
agle Scout Stephen Silberkraus
owns a small media production
company, so he jumped at a
friend’s offer to document the
final launch of space shuttle
Atlantis. The connections he made on that
2011 project opened the doors to a much
bigger opportunity: documenting the final
journey of space shuttle Endeavour the
following year.
Dubbed Mission 26, this was Endeavour’s
journey from the Kennedy Space Center
to the California Space Center, where the
retired orbiter is on permanent display. Over
several trips, Silberkraus enjoyed unprecedented access to the shuttle and KSC
facilities. He took some 10,000 photos, the
best of which he has distilled into two books
coming out this spring: The Space Shuttle
Endeavour (Arcadia Publishing, $22.99) and
the self-published A Final Endeavour (afinal
endeavour.com).
Eagle Scouts Steven Holcomb (left) and Chris Fogt (right)
wave to the crowd as they accept bronze medals along
with four-man bobsled teammates Curtis Tomasevicz and
Steven Langton during the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter
Games at Sanki Sliding Center.
The speedsters were Eagle Scouts Steven
Holcomb and Chris Fogt, two of the four
members of Team USA’s bronze-medalwinning bobsled team.
Holcomb, a gold medalist in 2010, also
won two-man bronze in Sochi. Fogt, meanwhile, got his first Olympic medal. It’s a
badge of honor he doesn’t plan to part with
— even when he reports back to the Army.
“I’m taking that thing everywhere,” he
told ESPN.com. “I’m going to wear it in the
shower. I’m going to wear it to sleep.”
– Bryan Wendell
TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE PEOPLE YOU
SAW. There was woman in the Army
who was just standing there saluting and
crying; I will never forget that face. You had
firefighters sitting on top of their engines
so they could take photos. You had gang
members out there being part of the crowd.
It was a moment where the entire city came
together in a way I’d never seen before.
DID YOU REALIZE AT THE TIME HOW
Every
person was in awe of what was going on. It’s
a really strange feeling to be in the moment
while having to document the moment.
MOMENTOUS THE OCCASION WAS?
EAGLES’ CALL
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N
wa
you
fan
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In
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eag
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oft
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Lo
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Eagle Scout Startup / In the Wild // LIFESTYLE
Snackdish
the Snackdish website, snackdish.com, users can
see what their friends are watching and share
tidbits about the shows they enjoy, including
favorite quotes, uncredited cameos, hidden
cultural references and details on shooting
locations. It is, in effect, an online book club
for movies and TV shows. “Even though you’re
watching it alone and you’re three or four years
behind everybody else, if there’s information
that’s valuable about the show, you can read
about it in real time,” Hall says.
Creating Community for Generation TiVo
nds
r.
h
e
dell
wd.
me
It’s
nt
of hit shows, viewers watch what they want
when they want, and that makes it harder to
share what they’ve seen and experienced.
Enter Snackdish, a startup company
founded by Eagle Scout Kevin Hall of Seattle
(shown above hiking in Mount Rainier
National Park with daughter, Adelaide). Set to
launch this spring, Snackdish lets fans enjoy
a virtual shared experience with other people
in their social networks and beyond. Through
One day, Brent noticed something surprising on a statue of Robert Guthrie that stands
near the tower. Pinned to his duffel bag was
an Eagle Scout pin; tucked inside was a merit
badge sash. “I had never seen it before, even
though I walk past the statue every day,” Brent
says. Brent promptly snapped a photo and
sent it to his dad, Bruce, a Lexington, Ky.,
Scout leader. Bruce did some research and
eventually met with Lowell Guthrie, who told
him — and Eagles’ Call — the story.
Lowell was just 8 years old when his
older brother left home to join the Army, so
he didn’t know much about Robert. “The
main thing I knew about him was about his
Scouting, what it meant to him and what
kind of man he was developing into — how
the mamas in the community loved him
and how the kids wished he wouldn’t be so
good,” Lowell recalls. When designing the
Lowell Tower, it was only natural to include
an Eagle Scout badge for visitors to spot.
Or not to spot, as the case may be. Brent
Harney’s older brother and fellow Eagle
Scout, Brice Harney, is a junior at WKU and
had never seen the Eagle badge. “I’d been on
campus maybe two weeks when I noticed it,
so I definitely gave him a hard time about it,”
Brent says.
In the Wild
Robert Guthrie’s Eagle Badge
Editor’s Note: Eagle Scout badges show up in the
most surprising places, from ships to statues to
stained-glass windows. If you find an Eagle badge
or other Eagle Scout symbol “in the wild,” send us
a picture and tell us its story. We may reprint it in
a future issue of Eagles’ Call. Send submissions to
eaglescoutmag@scouting.org.
In his first few weeks at Western Kentucky
University last fall, Eagle Scout Brent Harney
often walked past the Guthrie Tower, a
campus icon that pays tribute to America’s
war dead. Dedicated in 2002, the tower was
donated by Bowling Green businessman
Lowell Guthrie in memory of his brother,
Robert, who was killed in the Korean War.
COURTESY OF BRICE HARNEY
ad
N
ot so long ago, watching
TV shows and movies was a
communal event. Even if you
watched the latest episode of Friends by
yourself, you could discuss it with other
fans at work or school the next day.
These days, thanks to DVRs, DVDs and
streaming video services like Netflix, audiences are much more fragmented. Aside from
big events like the Super Bowl or the finales
COURTESY OF KEVIN HALL
n
ANDREW P. SCOTT-USA TODAY SPORTS
ght)
ong
and
nter
Hall envisions users interacting with
Snackdish on a laptop or mobile device while
they watch TV, much as they now check
Facebook or search for show information on
websites like Wikipedia. “It’s amazing how
much there is to learn and see,” he says.
Although creating Snackdish is a major
endeavor, it’s a side job for Hall. He spends
his days as a data and decision scientist at
Microsoft and often rises at 5 a.m. to get some
work done before he goes to work.
He doesn’t spend all his time with
technology, however. The former assistant
Scoutmaster volunteers with the Washington
Trails Association, where he served on the
board for six years, and goes hiking as often as
possible. “Going outside allows you to create
the mental space to be able to work through
problems,” he says.
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Set for
Life
By Bryan Wendell / Photographs by W. Garth Dowling
Behind the scenes with an
Eagle Scout and Broadway
set designer who lives as if
all the world’s a stage.
“
we
as
of
Les
sho
hav
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Elm
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of
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ded
on
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ord
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ma
un
hig
the
wo
Rob Ward takes a break on set at
the Elmwood Playhouse in Nyack,
N.Y. (above), before returning to
work on Les Misérables’ iconic
barricade (opposite page).
10
NE
Na
sta
Eagles’ Call
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e
“YOU’D NEVER KNOW
we were opening on Friday,” Rob Ward says
as he crosses the stage carrying a large piece
of plywood on wheels. Opening night for
Les Misérables is just four days away, but the
show is far from ready. “My feeling is we
haven’t bled on it enough.”
No blood here, but Ward does suffer for
his art. The grease on his cheeks and paint
splatters on his clothes show his dedication,
but he’s sure to keep a positive attitude.
That’s important because Les Miz is the
most ambitious production ever staged at
Elmwood Playhouse, the 99-seat community theater in the New York City suburb
of Nyack.
Ward is designing and building the sets
for the famous musical, already sold out for
each of its 21 performances. But before the
audience files into the theater on Friday,
Ward has a set to finish.
Today, the stage looks more like an
empty attic than a scene out of 19th-century France. But if history is any indication,
Ward — an Eagle Scout, Elmwood volunteer since 1976, Broadway set designer and
dedicated Scouter — will more than deliver
on his promise.
the National Eagle
Scout Association tent at the 2010 jamboree to find an empty 40-by-60 space
and a few scattered chairs. None of the
equipment he and other NESA volunteers
ordered had shown up. Others might have
panicked. Ward improvised.
“Myself and one of the other staff
members were like, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ ”
Ward recalls. “ ‘We have tools and expertise.’ ”
During the next two days they built and
designed the entire exhibit, considered by
many to be the best NESA tent ever. Well,
until Ward outdid himself three years later.
“Going into 2013, I was told to aim
high. Go big,” Ward says. “The exhibit for
the 2013 jamboree was supposed to really
wow people when they walked in the door.”
And wows were delivered daily at
NESA’s popular exhibit at the 2013
National Jamboree. Ward helped build the
stage, configure the lighting and design the
“You have to be prepared and make sure
you’re ready for anything that may come,”
he says. “That’s what ensures that once you
get to wherever you’re going, you’re able to
put everything together in a timely fashion.”
Once the Broadway set takes its place,
Ward doesn’t stick around for opening
night. Except, that is, when he got the call
saying he’s heading to Broadway full time.
flow of the tent so it never felt crowded.
Thing is, Ward didn’t get applause from
Scouts for his fine work at the jamboree.
Most probably didn’t see him at all.
That’s fine with Ward, who typically
shines behind the scenes. As part of his job
designing sets with production company
PRG (which, coincidentally, was the production team behind the 2013 jamboree
stadium shows), Ward has helped create
sets for big-budget Broadway musicals
including Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,
Shrek the Musical and The Book of Mormon.
That latter set is his favorite.
of Elmwood
Playhouse you’ll find the Neil Simon
Theatre, a New York City landmark whose
stage has been graced by Fred Astaire,
About an hour south
Ward arrived at
Lucille Ball and Matthew Broderick.
Since it opened in 1927, the theater
has been home to well-received musicals
like Company, Annie and Hairspray. Ward
snagged a job with Big Fish, a musical
based on Daniel Wallace’s book and Tim
Burton’s film.
The show follows Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman whose off-the-wall stories
lead his son, Will, to wonder whether
his dad can ever tell the whole truth and
nothing but. Eventually, Will learns his
dad’s tales contain more truth than he first
believed. This exploration of the
sometimes-tense bond between a father
The Tony Award-winning set features
a false proscenium designed to resemble
Salt Lake City’s Mormon Tabernacle.
And while the show itself isn’t Scoutappropriate, its set features the level of
creativity, attention to detail and construction skills anyone who has completed an
Eagle project can appreciate.
Patience also helps. The entire set must
first fit into an 18-wheeler, then squeeze
through a theater door and finally wind
through the cramped hallways of New
York City’s older theaters. The planning
involved, Ward says, is not unlike packing
for a Scout trip.
RobWard.indd 11
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and his son resonates with Ward.
“My father and I have not always seen
eye to eye,” Ward says. “He never understood why I wanted to be in the theater.”
Things have gotten much better. Ward
and his dad staffed the NESA jamboree
tent together in 2010, and Ward’s dad
visited New York to see his son’s work as
assistant properties supervisor for Big Fish.
Most of Ward’s magic happens out of
the audience’s view. During the show, he
stands stage right and makes sure every
prop is exactly where the actors expect it to
be. He points to a tricycle near the wall.
On The Web
Rob Ward takes you on an exclusive
look behind the scenes of Les
Misérables and Big Fish. Watch the
video now at nesa.org.
12
Like Scouters, the volunteers at Elmwood Playhouse aren’t
paid, but they’re no less dedicated. Set painter Chantale
Bourdage (top left) puts in long hours helping transform
the theater. Later, Ward’s wife, Meg Flood (above), stops
by to visit and share some laughs with Crawford Deyo,
who does a little bit of everything at Elmwood.
“Even the handlebars on the tricycle
must be turned the same way each time,”
he says.
And if you’re captivated by on-stage
choreography, what’s happening just out of
the audience’s view is equally impressive. In
total silence and near-complete darkness,
Ward slides to the sweet spot where he’s
out of the way of actors flying off stage but
still in position for his next cue. One wrong
move in this dance, and he’s done for.
“Sometimes you’re blocked by 15 or 20
people, so you’re never getting to that thing
you left on the other side of the stage,”
Ward says.
To the audience, Big Fish looked like
the same show in each of its eight weekly
performances. But achieving that level of
uniformity required everyone to stay alert
and be prepared for anything.
“Yes, you have a planned series of moves
for the evening, but you can’t be thinking
about what you’re going to be doing five
minutes from now,” Ward says. “You have to
be thinking about where you are right now
and what the immediate next move is.”
Big Fish closed in December, and Ward’s
immediate next move sends him eight
blocks south to another Broadway show.
Soon after Big Fish’s closing notice,
Ward landed a gig as props supervisor for
the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch,
starring Neil Patrick Harris. The props
supervisor position is considered a step up
from his assistant properties supervisor job
with Big Fish.
Hedwig began Broadway previews
March 29 and opens April 22.
But Ward’s Scouting involvement will
continue. Perhaps he’ll help with another
camporee show for his council and district.
In 2010, the 100th anniversary of the BSA,
a district executive who knew of Ward’s
involvement with theater approached him
with the idea for a camporee show unlike
any before. Ward, like so many other selfless Scouting volunteers, couldn’t say no.
“It was a great way of taking two of my
biggest passions in life and doing them
simultaneously,” he says. “I still get a buzz
when I think about it.”
Eagles’ Call
RobWard.indd 12
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All’s quiet as Rob Ward takes a seat outside Elmwood
Playhouse (this column, top), but inside, the 38-member
cast belts out the rousing song “At the End of the Day.”
Ward’s other job takes him about an hour south of
Elmwood to the Neil Simon Theatre (second column),
where Norbert Leo Butz plays a father with tall tales to
tell and Ward works magic in the shadows stage right.
An Eagle in the Spotlight
While Rob Ward does impressive work in the
wings, another Eagle Scout shines at center
stage — or, technically, above it.
Ryan Andes made his Broadway debut in Big
Fish as Karl, the misunderstood 10-foot-tall
giant. Andes (6-foot-4 in real life) enjoyed a
memorable stilts-wearing turn in the role and
has a bright future on the stage.
It’s no surprise considering his bright family
past. In 1960, Andes’ grandfather Keith played
opposite Lucille Ball at the very same theater. The
show, Wildcat, was Ball’s only Broadway show.
Not only is Andes quick to announce he’s an Eagle Scout, he’s also quick to show fellow Eagle
Scouts what he carries at all times: a pocketknife. He’s a budding Broadway star now, and he’s
still always prepared.
BACK AT ELMWOOD PLAYHOUSE, there’s a
buzz in the air as actors and actresses arrive
for dress rehearsal night.
Ward is upstairs studying the barricade,
a signature set piece in Les Misérables used
by the characters to defend themselves
from French soldiers.
He cocks his head and finds an ideal
spot to screw on half a chair. Moments
later, a piece of broken wood joins it. Then
another. Ward has spent days crafting
this barricade, but the finished product
looks like a makeshift mess of wood that
someone rushed to throw together. In
other words, it’s perfect.
A few days later, the show is, too. The
sets, costumes, performances and intimacy
of the venue combine for a magical night.
Audience members call the show “mesmerizing” and “one of the most spectacular
shows ever to grace the Elmwood stage.”
You could say the cast and crew deserve
a raise, but, in another Scouting-theater
parallel, they’re almost all volunteers.
“The vast majority of people who come
here and participate in this theater group
don’t get paid for doing what they’re
doing,” Ward says. “They come here because
of the love of theater.
“I see a lot of similarities in that in the
Scouting program. When I look at my own
troop, we have 10 assistant Scoutmasters,
32 boys. We come from all different walks
of life, we do a lot of different things in our
professional lives, but when we’re there on
meeting nights and when we’re there on
the weekends volunteering our time, we’re
there because we want to be there.”
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are
pre
the
Baltimore event
seeks to honor
and enlist
Eagle moms.
By Mark Ray
B
For
14
ROGER MORGAN/BSA FILE
There
You
oy Scouting
might be
the most
testosteronefueled youth
program, but plenty of estrogen goes
into the making of Eagle Scouts. In fact,
behind nearly every Eagle Scout is a
mom who’s adept at sewing on patches,
offering guidance along the trail to
Eagle, washing unspeakably smelly
laundry or serving as a troop leader.
So what do Eagle Scout moms
receive for their hard work? A hug. A
mother’s pin. An “I’m proud of my
Eagle Scout” bumper sticker, which they
sometimes have to buy for themselves.
“We give them a bumper sticker for
their car and a pin for their business suit,
and then they move on down the road
when Jorge or Emmanuel or Bobby
goes off to college,” says Ethan Draddy,
who until May served as Scout executive
of the Baltimore Area Council (he now
leads the Greater New York Councils).
Before he left Baltimore, Draddy
oversaw a new event designed to finally
give Eagle moms the credit they deserve.
Held just after Mother’s Day, the council’s first-ever Eagle Scout Mothers
Thank You Reception brought together
91 Eagle moms for an evening of food,
fellowship, networking and more.
Moms Mean Business
Although Draddy dreamed up the
event with Chad Gillenwater, chairman
of the council’s NESA committee, it
was planned, appropriately, by a committee of Eagle moms. “This is not
getting organized by my father’s Scout
troop’s committee,” Draddy says. “These
Eagles’ Call
EagleMomsEvent.indd 14
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are the women in town who are the bank
presidents, the foundation board presidents,
the movers and shakers.”
Chairing and serving as host to the
event was Rosa Scharf, senior vice president
of Howard Bank, an institution whose
chairwoman and president is also a Scout
mom. Scharf, whose son, Joey, is an Eagle
Scout from Troop 306 in Catonsville, Md.,
says she first discovered the power of Eagle
moms when she was pumping gas not long
after Joey reached Boy Scouting’s highest
rank. Another woman at the gas station
saw her shiny new Eagle Scout bumper
sticker and said, “I just became an Eagle
Scout mom, too.”
“Not even the smelly mess returning with
them at the end of the week could spoil
those seven days for us,” she said.
“We had a 30-minute conversation about
how Scouting changed our boys’ lives and
how wonderful it was,” Scharf says.
Not surprisingly, the women at the
Eagle moms’ reception connected as well,
with several lingering to chat long after
the event ended. Although many had
never met before, they were united by
common experiences. Just how common
became clear when Peggy Rowe, mother
of Distinguished Eagle Scout Mike Rowe
(host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs),
gave the keynote speech.
The women roared with laughter when
Rowe talked about the mixture of pride
and nausea she felt when she watched her
three sons receive piles of patches at a troop
court of honor — patches she knew she
would have to sew on their uniforms. And
they nodded knowingly when she talked
of the blissful week she and her husband
enjoyed in 1977 while all three boys were
at summer camp together for the first time.
forward to connecting Aaron with other
boys and adult-male role models, but she
enjoyed her time as a leader. “It ended up
being a good fit,” she says. “It’s just that I
ended up becoming more involved than I
ever thought I would.”
In fact, her involvement continues.
“When he got his Eagle, a couple of the
boys were saying, ‘Oh, Ms. Fitzgerald, does
that mean that you’re not going to be here
to help us?’” she recalls. “I was like, ‘No, I’m
going to be there for you.’”
Getting moms to be there for other
Scouts was one reason the council held
the reception, says Jeff Griffin, the field
director who serves as staff advisor to the
council’s NESA committee. “We’re trying
to get Eagle Scout mothers back involved
in Scouting,” he says. “We’re not dictating
to the volunteer what we want them to do.
We’re going to sit back and listen to what
they would like to do and fit them with
what they want to do.”
DROPPING IN, NOT DROPPING OFF
Many of the women in attendance, like
Rowe, had initially assumed that Scouting
was a drop-off program, only realizing
later that “When you commit your son to
Scouting, you commit your whole family
to Scouting,” she says.
Denise Fitzgerald, for example, ended
up serving as committee chair for Troop
89 in Baltimore, a new troop in which her
oldest child, Aaron, became the first Eagle
Scout. A single mother, she had looked
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
To that end, attendees were asked to fill out
cards stating their interest in future Eagle
Scout mom events and various volunteer
opportunities. Nearly two-thirds completed
cards, Griffin says. Several offered to be
merit badge counselors, four said they
would like to join a district committee
or the council executive board, and one
wanted to learn more about planned giving.
Gina Zabetakis, whose second son,
Matthew, was still waiting for his Eagle
board of review to take place, had already
been thinking about the future. “I’m a committee member, and I was thinking about
ways I could stay involved after my last son
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They’ve attended numerous courts of honor. But today, the
attention focuses on Eagle Scout moms. Baltimore Area
Council’s NESA committee celebrates a group of 91 women
dedicated to Scouting, including (from left) Jane Brown,
event host Rosa Scharf, Denise Fitzgerald, Fran Hensen and
keynote speaker Peggy Rowe. As a mom of three Scouts,
including Distinguished Eagle Scout Mike Rowe (host of
Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs), Peggy recalls, “A court of
honor was a mixed blessing. ... I tried to smile at the pile of
new patches and badges ready to be sewn on.”
gets his Eagle this summer,” she says. One
option: serve as an Eagle mentor for other
members of Troop 9 in Upperco, Md.
Responses like that were just what
Draddy had hoped for from the event.
“It’s really straightforward,” he says. “Find a
bunch of Eagle Scout moms, get them in a
room, tell them you love them. We do love
them, and good things are going to happen.”
Scharf isn’t sure what will happen next,
but she’s excited about the future. “This can
be a powerful group, a powerful support
for the Scouts,” she says. “I think the possibilities are endless.”
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ACHIEVEMENTS // An Eagle in D.C. / Jamboree Coast Guard Contingent
James Hammersla
Sailing to Capitol Hill
U.S. NAVY
A
s a U.S. Navy cryptography officer,
Lt. Cmdr. James Hammersla spent
three years on submarines, three
years flying in the back of airplanes and two
years on surface ships. Last year, however,
the 1986 Eagle Scout got perhaps his most
interesting assignment: serving as a defense
legislative fellow on Capitol Hill.
Each year, the Department of Defense
sends a group of midrank to senior enlisted
personnel and officers to Congress. Their
mission: to learn more about the legislative process. “Then we take that one-year
experience on the Hill and go back to our
respective services or to DOD as a whole
and apply our knowledge in a job working
legislative affairs,” Hammersla says. In his
case, that means a job with United States
Cyber Command in Fort Meade, Md.
Hammersla spent his year on
Capitol Hill working for Sen. Barbara
Mikulski (D-Md.), who chairs the Senate
Appropriations Committee. “There was
a lot of exposure to the appropriations
process — a lot of decimal points,” he says.
But Mikulski dealt with a wide variety
of other issues as well, including military
sexual assault, budget sequestration and
the backlog in processing applications for
veterans’ benefits. (The turnaround time
dropped from 273 to 160 days thanks to
congressional prodding.) “The VA backlog
issue was a big one,” Hammersla says. “I’ve
been in the military for 23 years, and one of
these days I’m going to get out.”
So what was it like to watch Congress
operate up close? Hammersla found a more
S
S
collegial atmosphere than outsiders might
expect. He also found many fellow Eagle
Scouts, including the member of Congress
who noticed his Eagle Scout lapel pin.
“One minute we’re talking about armed
services stuff, and the next minute we’re
talking about hobo dinners,” he says. “It
was actually kind of cool. Whether you’re
a member of Congress or you’re a military
guy, you’ve got a common background
where everybody can say, ‘Yeah, I slept in a
wet sleeping bag, and it was terrible, but I
learned from it,’” he says.
Hammersla was also impressed with the
young staffers who do much of the grunt
work on Capitol Hill. “You have a lot of
mid- to late-20s staffers who are probably
some of the hardest-working, underpaid
people I’ve ever met in my life,” he says.
The “hardest-working” label could apply
to Hammersla as well. After 12 years as an
enlisted Marine, he completed his college
degree and became a Naval officer in 2003.
Thanks in part to leadership skills he had
learned in Scouting, he became class leader
at Naval Officer Candidate School.
For most of his career, Hammersla has
maintained his Scouting involvement,
serving as a volunteer in five different states.
“It’s something that sticks with you,” he
says. “I’ll probably be doing this until I have
trouble walking.”
I
ha
for
Batting .500
16
“Even our mottoes are a perfect marriage,” Cmdr. Jeff Westling said of the links between Scouting and the Coast Guard.
“ ‘Be Prepared’ and ‘Semper Paratus’ (‘Always Ready’).” Westling led the Coast Guard contingent at the 2013 National
Jamboree, seen above, where 25 Eagle Scouts and Coast Guardsmen gathered to educate Scouts in boating safety.
EAGLES’ CALL
Achievement_ES_14SP.indd 16
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EDMONDS PUBLISHING AND MEDIA GROUP LLC (2)
CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER RUSSELL TIPPETS
Just about five percent of all Boy Scouts
earn Scouting’s highest rank. So how
many of the U.S. Coast Guard personnel
who worked at last summer’s national
jamboree were Eagle Scouts? Just more
than 50 percent.
That’s no surprise to Cmdr. Jeff
Westling, who led the Coast Guard
contingent at the jamboree. “The skills
and experiences gained throughout the
Scouting program are the building blocks
for leadership success,” he says. “Doing a
Good Turn daily and living the motto ‘Be
Prepared’ have guided me as I do my best
to protect and defend those who use and
rely on our maritime domains.”
“When it comes down to it, Scouting and
the Coast Guard go hand in hand,” he says.
com
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Devotional Guide / Awards & Recognition // ACHIEVEMENTS
Strength for
Service
ht
ss
I
y
a
I
he
ply
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3.
er
s
tes.
d.
Edmonds Publishing and Media Group LLC (2)
ave
n 2002, after three years of work, Evan
Hunsberger completed his Eagle Scout
project. The Orange, Calif., Scout
had resurrected and expanded Strength
for Service to God and Country, a military
devotional guide his
grandfather had used as a
Navy corpsman during
World War II and later
as a Scoutmaster.
While Evan completed his project a
dozen years ago, it continues today under the
auspices of Strength
for Service Inc., a
nonprofit organization set up
by the General
Commission on
United Methodist
Men, which
sponsored and
promoted Evan’s
project. In 2013,
military chaplains
received 57 shipments of books, while
first responders in
communities touched by tragedy — from
Newtown, Conn., to West, Texas —
received a new guide, Strength for Service to
God and Community.
Evan had originally hoped to share the
devotional guide with personnel at just two
military bases near his home, Marine Corps
Base Camp Pendleton and Joint Forces
Training Base, Los Alamitos. Instead, more
than 470,000 copies of Strength for Service to
God and Country have gone to military personnel worldwide in 12 years — and more
than 25,000 police officers, firefighters and
other first responders received Strength for
Service to God and Community last year.
This year, the Strength for Service
project has come full circle. A Scouting
edition of Strength for Service to God and
Community is now available through local
Scout shops and scoutstuff.org. For more
information, visit strengthforservice.org.
Awards & Recognition
Eagle Scouts shine, even after reaching the top honor in Scouting. NESA celebrates the achievements
of the Eagle Scouts shown below. View even more Eagle achievements and recognize the success of
another Eagle by completing the form found at nesa.org/eaglemagawards.
Matthew Bernstein
Delmar, N.Y.
Graduated cum laude with a Bachelor
of Arts in government from Georgetown
University.
Ken Campbell
Lebanon, Ind.
Sheriff Campbell will serve as the
president of the Indiana Sheriff’s
Association in 2014. The Sheriff’s
Association represents the 92 Indiana sheriffs at the
legislature and provides ongoing training for all sheriffs
and their staff.
William Christopher Edens
Atlanta, Ga.
Received his doctorate in biomedical
engineering from Georgia Tech University
and Emory University. He has accepted a
position with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Aubrey Miller Faulk
Madison, Miss.
Graduated from Mississippi State
University in May 2013 with a Bachelor
of Arts in psychology and a minor
in aerospace studies. Completed Mississippi Law
Enforcement Officers Training Academy in the top three
in all categories, as well as serving as Platoon Leader for
the last eight weeks of the 10-week course. Employed as
an investigator in the Consumer Protection Unit of the
Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.
Patrick J. Heneghan
Chicago, Ill.
Heneghan was selected by the legal rating
service Super Lawyers as one of the top
100 lawyers in Illinois. He is a partner
with the business litigation firm Schopf & Weiss LLP in
Chicago. His practice includes antitrust lawsuits, complex
commercial disputes and insurance coverage matters.
Donald W. Layden Jr.
Milwaukee, Wis.
Recently listed in The Best Lawyers in
America (2012, Corporate Law). He also
received the 2013 Alumnus of the Year
Award from Marquette University in Milwaukee.
Christopher J. Menna
Philadelphia, Pa.
Elected to be the 2013-16 Director
of Region 2 of the American Society
of Civil Engineers. In this position,
Menna oversees a board of six governors, representing
approximately 11,000 members in Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C. He is also the
current Scoutmaster (12 years) and 1989 Eagle from
Troop 147 in Philadelphia. Menna has more than 33 years
of continuous service with the same troop.
Max Louis Olender
West Bloomfield, Mich.
A junior in the College of Engineering at
the University of Michigan, Olender has
been elected president of Pi Tau Sigma
- Pi Rho chapter at the university. Pi Tau Sigma, which
was founded in 1916, is the International Mechanical
Engineering Honor Society. He is also a member of Tau
Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society, and co-chairs
Cub Scout Day.
Cody Phelps
Norfolk, Va.
Earned his master’s in biomedical
research from Eastern Virginia Medical
School in May 2013. He was also
accepted into the biomedical science doctorate program
at EVMS and is working on cancer research.
Robert Charles Regan
East Northport, N.Y.
Received a Bachelor of Science in physics
and chemistry from Stony Brook (N.Y.)
University.
Billy Inman
Spencer Braden Templeton
Landrum, S.C.
Elected to his seventh four-year term as
a councilman for the City of Landrum.
He has also served as Scoutmaster for
Landrum’s Troop 155 for more than 25 years.
Greg Knott
St. Joseph, Ill.
Elected to the national board of the
Association of Community College
Trustees (ACCT) in Washington, D.C. ACCT
is the major voice of community college trustees across
the country. Knott also serves as a member of the board
of trustees for Parkland College in Champaign, Ill. He’s an
active Scouter, serving as an assistant Scoutmaster for
his son’s troop.
Wildwood, Mo.
Graduated summa cum laude in May
2013 from Missouri University of Science
and Technology with a bachelor’s degree
in physics.
Dr. Justin Wilson
LaFollette, Tenn.
Graduated from Union University School
of Pharmacy, where he received his
doctorate in pharmacy. He is giving back
to his community by working as a staff pharmacist at the
locally owned Terry’s Pharmacy.
Achievement_ES_14SP.indd 17
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ACHIEVEMENTS // Eagle Astronomer / Once an Eagle ...
Once an Eagle ...
Seeing Stars
Eagle Scout Astronomer reflects well on Scouting
T
Courtesy of Heather and David Bullard
ristan Bullard first
discovered astronomy
in the fifth grade, but
his fascination really began
two years later when his dad,
an Air Force officer, was stationed at Thule Air Base in
Greenland, where Air Force
Space Command tracks space
debris. “His telling me about it
just really sparked my interest
in astronomy,” Tristan said.
Tristan didn’t just want to
learn the names of planets or the shapes of
constellations. He wanted to join the hunt
for extrasolar planets capable of supporting
life. “I wanted to see farther than I could see
with my bare eyes,” he says.
A similar goal is leading development of
the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile. The
GMT, which is being built by a worldwide
consortium of universities and institutions,
will have 10 times the resolution of the
Hubble Space Telescope. Its seven primary
mirrors, each more than 27 feet in diameter,
are being cast at the University of Arizona
(where Eagle Scout Buell Jannuzi chairs the
Astronomy Department).
Last fall, as the BSA’s first
Eagle Scout Astronomer,
Tristan attended the casting
of the third of the GMT’s
mirrors. “It was really cool to
see exactly how they make
these gigantic mirrors and
how perfect these mirrors
are,” he says. “If they spread
the mirror out across the
width of the United States,
the tallest imperfection
would be about the size of a house.”
The GMT is expected to be at least
partially operational about the time Tristan
graduates from college, and he is already
imagining the possibilities. “I could be one
of the first people to be able to use it,” he
says. “It’s just an amazing opportunity to
see it created and see what I might be able
to use 20 years from now.”
The BSA’s first Eagle Scout Astronomer, Tristan Bullard
(above), attended the casting of the third mirror of the
Giant Magellan Telescope last fall. The polishing station
(below) buffs the mirror in a monthslong process.
... Always an Eagle. NESA remembers those Eagle
Scouts who have passed. You can recognize the
life of another Eagle by completing the form found
at nesa.org/eaglegonehome.
Mark A. Danison, 55
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Eagle: 1976
Passed: June 21, 2013
Winfred Robin “Rob”
Hampton, 79
Las Cruces, N.M.
Eagle: 1950
Passed: August 2013
1st
U.S
Dr. Kermit Lidstrom, 83
Bismarck, N.D.
Eagle: 1946
Passed: Nov. 26, 2013
Marvin S. Prestwood, 91
Portland, Ore.
Eagle: 1938
Passed: July 24, 2013
Com
sch
in N
awa
and
heli
at F
And
Scott Rubin, 44
Philadelphia, Pa.
Eagle: 1987
Passed: June 2013
2nd
U.S
Christopher M. Wagner, 27
Destin, Fla.
Eagle: 1993
Passed: July 2007
Gra
of M
in 2
of S
eng
Win
fly t
Tanner Lewis, 18
Aiken, S.C.
Eagle: 2012
Passed: March 31, 2013
From: Fellow Scouts in Troop 351 in
Langley, S.C.
Mic
Fra
As a
Sen
was
Civi
the
He w
aD
Kan
Fore
Alex D. Schlief, 32
Roseville, Minn.
Eagle: 1991
Passed: November 2009
From: David and Judith Schlief
bill steele
Ear
in e
with
Forc
is s
Bas
atte
Lt.
U.S
Strato Batmanis, 84
Houston, Texas
Eagle: 1944
Passed: Sept. 20, 2013
From: Anthony Kouzounis, Harris
and Vicky Pappas, Betty Yianitsas,
Chrysanthie M. Pappas, Catherine
Janes-Kowalski, Arthur and Mary
Minas, and Jack Lymberry
Eagles’ Call
Achievement_ES_14SP.indd 18
Man
Sco
arm
Joseph Commerico, 72
Norfolk, Va.
Eagle: 1957
Passed: May 5, 2013
Living Memorials
18
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3/3/14 7:39 AM
.
s
For God and Country // ACHIEVEMENTS
For God and Country
Many young men exchange their Scout uniforms for fatigues, dress blues or battle dress uniforms. NESA salutes the Eagle
Scouts shown below who are serving our nation in all branches of the armed forces. View even more Eagle Scouts in the
armed forces and recognize another Eagle by completing the form found at nesa.org/eaglegodandcountry.
Service Agent Christopher William Lorek
FBI Hostage Rescue Team
1st Lt. Anthony M. Runco Jr. U.S. Air Force
Completed a Master of Science
in electrical engineering
at the Air Force Institute of
Technology in Dayton, Ohio.
He was the recipient of the
Defense Intelligence Agency’s
Measurement and Signal
Intelligence Committee Award of Academic Excellence for
authoring a master’s thesis demonstrating high-quality
research. Anthony is stationed at Los Angeles Air Force Base.
Lorek, 41, was killed in May 2013 during a maritime
counterterrorism exercise off the coast of Virginia. The
hostage rescue team is part of the Critical Incident
Response Group, a military-like unit that serves
alongside Navy Seal Team 6 and Army Delta Force as a
part of the Joint Special Operations Command. Lorek,
who earned his Eagle rank in 1985, was awarded the
FBI’s highest award, the Memorial Star.
1st Lt. Paul M. Anderson
U.S. Army
2nd Lt. John Christopher Long
U.S. Army
Completed Army flight
school at Fort Rucker, Ala.,
in November 2013. He was
awarded his AVIATOR wings
and is a Kiowa OH-58D
helicopter pilot stationed
at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Anderson is a 2012 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy.
Graduated from the U.S.
Military Academy in May 2013
with a degree in economics.
After training to be an artillery
officer at Fort Sill, Okla., Long is
stationed at Fort Stewart, Ga.
2nd Lt. Matthew J. Bell
U.S. Air Force
Earned a Bachelor of Science
in environmental engineering
with honors from the U.S. Air
Force Academy in May 2013. He
is stationed at Vance Air Force
Base in Enid, Okla., where he’s
attending pilot training.
Lt. j.g. Adam Claudy
U.S. Navy
Graduated from the University
of Maryland Navy ROTC
in 2011 with a Bachelor
of Science in mechanical
engineering. Received his Navy
Wings June 28, 2013, and will
fly the MH-60R helicopter.
Michael G. Ensch
Franklin, Tenn.
As a member of the Army’s
Senior Executive Service, Ensch
was awarded the Exceptional
Civilian Service medal by
the Secretary of the Army.
He was also recognized as
a Distinguished Alumnus by
Kansas State University’s Department of Horticulture,
Forestry and Recreation Resources.
2nd Lt. John Joseph Runco
U.S. Air Force
Graduated cum laude from
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
with a Bachelor of Science in
aeronautical engineering and
minors in sports psychology
and air and space leadership
studies. He attained the Dean’s
List for all of his undergraduate semesters. Runco is
assigned to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Damian Orgeron
U.S. Navy
Lt. Robert Andrew Sharp Jr.
U.S. Air Force
Orgeron has been in the
U.S. Navy for two years. He
completed boot camp, nuclear
machinist’s mate “A” school,
Naval nuclear power academic
training and Naval nuclear
power prototype training. He
is assigned to the USS Florida,
SSGN 728, Blue Crew. The USS Florida is a guided-missile
submarine home ported at Kings Bay Submarine Base in
St. Marys, Ga.
Graduated from Liberty
University with a Bachelor of
Science in criminal justice.
Sharp has served both as
enlisted and as an officer
in the U.S. Air Force 802nd
Security Forces stationed at
Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. He achieved
his Eagle Scout rank in 2006 and is serving as a district
executive for the BSA.
Capt. Anthony C. Pucci
U.S. Army
Spc. Zachary Stengel
U.S. Army
Capt. Pucci, Commander of
1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry
Regiment, is stationed in
Kosovo, where he is in charge
of a peacekeeping mission
comprising 700 soldiers from
nine countries in addition to
the U.S.
Stengel recently returned to Fort
Campbell, Ky., after serving
in Afghanistan in the 101st
Airborne Division. He is married
to Becca and is “Daddy” to
Bella, 3, and Rickie, 2.
Ensign Ethan A. Yelverton
U.S. Navy
Michael Radosevich
U.S. Air Force
Graduated from Virginia Tech
in May 2013 with a Bachelor
of Science in wildlife science
and commissioned as a Naval
officer. He was a member of the
Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets
and is stationed at Norfolk, Va.
Graduated from the U.S. Air
Force Academy on May 29,
2013, with a Bachelor of
Science in civil engineering.
He is in Pilot Training at
Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.
Achievement_ES_14SP.indd 19
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ACHIEVEMENTS // Family Affair
Eagle Scouting Is a Family Affair
Scouting’s highest honor is best shared with other generations of family members. Join NESA in celebrating the families of Eagle Scouts shown
below. View even more Eagle Scout families and recognize the Eagles in your own family by completing the form found at nesa.org/eaglefamilyaffair.
Albert Family Orlando, Fla.
Retired Lt. Col. Dan Albert (1984),
Jonah Albert
(2013)
and Dr. David Albert (1945)
Birger Family Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
De Los Santos Family Los Angeles, Calif.
Harper Family Goldsboro, N.C.
Mc
Michael De Los Santos (2010) and Matthew De Los Santos
(2010)
Tim D. Harper (1974)
and Adam W. Harper (2012)
M. T
Flem
McD
Duclos-Vanden Berghe Family Sergeantsville
N.J.; Springfield, Va.; State College, Pa.
Krutsch Family Des Plaines, Ill.
Oly
Tennyson Birger (2010) and Bruce Birger (1969)
Copley Family Waynesboro, Va.
Jeffrey Duclos (2009), the Rev. John Vanden Berghe Jr.
(1973), Timothy E. Duclos (2013), Raymond J. Vanden
Berghe Sr. (1952; Distinguished Eagle, 2012),
Eric J.
Vanden Berghe (1980) and Alex J. Vanden Berghe
(2010)
Trevor J. Krutsch (2013) and
Jim Krutsch (1982)
Lass Family Rockville, Md.
Rob
Olyh
Femino-Shultz Family Round Rock, Texas
Pa
Frederic A. Lass (1983),
Daniel J. Lass (2013) and
John
M. Lass (1956)
Lipman Family Salt Lake City, Utah
Clockwise from left: Bill Copley (1938), John Copley
(1968), Paul Copley (1973), Mark Novack (1997), Paul
Copley (2010; shown as Webelos), Jack Copley (2013;
shown as Cub Scout) and Billy Copley (2003; shown as
Life Scout)
Ger
Jason Femino (1993), Reid Shultz (2013) and Eric Lewis
(not photographed; 1989)
Po
Gates Family Fairport, N.Y.
DeJonge Family Plymouth, Minn.
Arthur G. Lipman (1959) and
Joshua A. Lipman (2012)
Martinez Family Chappaqua, N.Y.
Mic
Andy Gates (1982)
and James Gates (2012)
Ra
Hahn Family Vicksburg, Miss.
Dave DeJonge (1973) and
Tim DeJonge (2013)
Alexander Martinez (2013) and Michael Martinez (2009)
Ray
Raw
Charles Hahn (1979),
William Hahn (2013), Patricia Hahn
20
Eagles’ Call
Achievement_ES_14SP.indd 20
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McDonald Family Savannah, Ga.
Restemayer Family Fargo, N.D.
Stackhouse Family Wall Township, N.J.
M. Taylor McDonald (1992), Andrew T. Adams (2012),
N.
Flemmon McDonald (1990), Ed Burns (1962) and
W. Alan
McDonald (1997)
Maxwell E. Restemayer (2013),
Douglas K. Restemayer
(Silver Beaver 2010),
William D. Restemayer (2007) and
Donald E. Setter (1948)
Tom Stackhouse (1983) and TJ Stackhouse (2013)
Olyha Family LaGrange, N.Y.
Schmidling Family St. Joseph, Mo.
Robert Stephen Olyha (1952; Silver Beaver),
James Robert
Olyha (2012) and
Robert Stephen Olyha Jr. (1979)
Ben Schmidling (2012),
Reid Schmidling (2011) and
David Schmidling (2012)
Parsons Family Carmel, Maine
Schratz Family Little Rock, Ark.
Gerald M. Parsons (1970) and Peter M. Parsons (2010)
Dr. Bruce E. Schratz Sr. (1950), Connor L. Schratz (2011)
and Bruce E. Schratz Jr. (1968)
Trompeter Family Toledo, Ohio
Mitchell T. Trompeter (2012),
Stephen J. Trompeter
(1976),
Jeffrey D. Trompeter (2012) and
Daniel M.
Trompeter (1977)
Wadlund Family La Quinta, Calif.
n
Polowski Family Tempe, Ariz.
John Antonio Wadlund (2013),
James Elliott Wadlund
(2011) and
Mark Roman Wadlund (2013)
Wolek Family Guilford, Conn.
Seifert Family Willmar, Minn.
Victor Alan Wolek (1950), Victor Gregory Wolek (1979),
Brian Christopher Yasuyoshi Wolek (2013) and Andrew
Thomas Yasumasa Wolek (2011)
Michael S. Polowski (2009) and Andrew S. Polowski (2011)
Rawcliffe Family San Carlos, Calif.
Thomas Seifert (2013)
and Charles Seifert (2008)
Shepherd Family Whigham, Ga.
Wolfe Family Hughesville, Pa.
9)
Ray Rawcliffe (1970),
John Rawcliffe (2012),
Michael
Rawcliffe (2012) and
Nick Rawcliffe (2006)
Kevin Shepherd (2008), Thomas Shepherd (2013) and
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Robert Shepherd (2003)
Stuart C. Wolfe (1976) and Coleman R. Wolfe (2013)
Achievement_ES_14SP.indd 21
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CLOSING SHOT // Just Add Water
www.NESA.org
SPRING 2014
Eagles’
Call
™
Calling all Eagle Scout photographers: We’re looking for images
that represent the essence of Eagle Scouting. Send an email to
eaglescoutmag@scouting.org with your name, the year you achieved
Eagle and low-resolution images that you’d like us to consider.
We’ll showcase our favorites on future “Closing Shot” pages.
ClosingShot_14SP.indd 26
photograph by // TOM
COPELAND // EAGLE 1985
At Goshen Scout Reservation in Virginia, Scouts get a chance to
waterski, kayak, stand-up paddleboard and much more. Eagle
Scout Tom Copeland, a 25-year veteran photographer, took this
image, along with many more, while on assignment for
Boys’ Life and Scouting magazines. He shares that this camp helps
bring Scouting to life. “Scouting is about getting the chance to do
things you normally wouldn’t be able to do, like waterskiing.”
Copeland says some of his greatest experiences as a
photographer have been while serving on the jamboree photo staff
in 1997, 2001, 2005, 2010 and 2013. His son, Graham, recently
earned his Eagle Scout rank in November 2013.
2/12/14 8:00 AM