By Laurie O’Brien
The road to earning the rank of Eagle Scout is a long one and it has to be completed by a boy’s 18th birthday. By their own statistics, the rank of Eagle Scout is earned by only 5 percent of Boy Scouts each year. The list of requirements is pretty daunting, and includes progressing through a series of ranks, earning a minimum of 21 merit badges, taking part in a leadership conference, holding troop leadership roles, and, of course, planning and successfully completing an Eagle Scout service project that benefits a school, community or religious organization. To top that all off, candidates must also successfully complete an Eagle Scout Board of Review.
On Saturday, March 10th, four Thurston County youth were awarded the rank of Eagle Scout in a special court of honor ceremony. Chandler Collins, Austin Sager, Kyle Lobe, and Justin Glandon-Hall began their scouting journey together as six and seven-year-old Cub Scouts. When they were eleven, the quartet received the Arrow of Light Award, the highest rank in Cub Scouting, and “crossed the bridge” into Boy Scouts at a special ceremony in the rotunda of the state Capitol. After determining they wanted to hold a joint court of honor, the ceremony during which the Eagle Scout award is bestowed, the boys agreed to bring their Scouting journey full circle and decided to return to the same space.
Involvement in Scouting was never a question for Kyle Lobe, a 17-year-old Timberline High School senior. According to his mother, Liz, “Kyle’s family, on his father’s side, is dripping with Eagle Scouts.” His father, Randy, achieved the rank of Eagle Scout as a teen and remains active in the local troop and an adult volunteer. Liz served as the den leader for the group of Tiger Cubs where the boys met in first grade.
The parents of the other boys have been involved in the program from the beginning as well. Each of the dads was a Boy Scout, and all have served as parent volunteers and trip leaders for Troop 48 of the Pacific Harbors Council.
One of the benefits both parents and boys see from their involvement in Scouting is leadership development.
Austin Sager is a senior at Olympia High School. He is looking forward to making the transition to adult leadership roles. “Once you turn 18, you’re eligible to be an assistant Scoutmaster, so basically you just switch your role from being in leadership positions as a kid to being in an adult leadership position. You help guide the younger kids.”
Because they’re 18 already, Chandler Collins and Justin Glandon-Hall are able to serve as assistant Scoutmasters and patrol leaders. “It’s really hard to be able to lead your peers because they judge you all the time,” said Glandon-Hall, “But Scouting has helped me learn how to lead my peers, and I know it’s going to help me a lot with my future.” Glandon-Hall plans to join the Air Force after graduating from Olympia High School this year. Because he has attained the rank of Eagle Scout, he can enlist as an E2 rather than an E1.
Tim Collins, Chandler’s father sees the difference Scouting has made in his son as well as the other boys. They know, “…how to take a challenge on and to finish that challenge or know that they have done 110% of their challenge instead of saying, ‘Hey, I give up.’ They know that they have to go to the end of it to the best of their ability.”
That determination is most important when completing the Eagle Scout service project.
Chandler, also a senior at Olympia, completed his Eagle Scout Service project earlier this school year and was able to use it as his senior year culminating project. He chose to do restoration work at the Mima Prairie Pioneer Cemetery in Littlerock. His task, like those of his peers, was an exercise in project management.
The Scout must coordinate all aspects of his project from inception through budgeting, and coordination of volunteers. Each boy was quick to point out that the Scout doesn’t do the bulk of physical work on his own project. That’s where the troop comes in. In addition to spending countless hours organizing the tasks associated with completing their own projects, the four friends provided volunteer labor hours to help their peers complete theirs.
Said Glandon-Hall, “You have to document all the hours that anybody else works on your project, any hours that you work on your project, all your donations – everything.” Glandon-Hall organized a revitalization of the Fort Eaton monument off the Yelm Highway.
Lobe chose to do a cleanup project at the Masonic cemetery off of North Street. In addition to pressure washing monuments, he erected two flag poles and cleaned a number of the military head stones.
Sager resurfaced the rhododendron trails at Burfoot Park. The physical work took a full day, but when all was said and done, over a hundreds of hours of volunteer effort had to be coordinated.
Sager was actually the first of the group to complete his Eagle Scout project. Unlike his friends, he wasn’t able to tie it to his school work, because he finished when he was 14. Due to the strong bond that had developed over the years, he delayed receiving his Eagle Scout award until the rest were finished.
The boys agreed that achieving Eagle Scout rank is the highest honor they have received, but when asked about their favorite Scouting experiences, all four chimed in and said their participation in the three high adventure programs offered by the Boy Scouts of America was the ultimate highlight. The “Triple Crown,” as they are called, includes: Nothern Tier, a boundary waters canoeing program based out of Ely, Minnesota; Philmont Ranch, a wilderness camping program in Cimarron, New Mexico; and Sea Base, an aquatic educational program in which groups of Scouts sail around the Florida Keys. Only a small percentage of Scouts participate in all three programs.
Two of the boys plan on entering the military after graduation this spring. The others plan to begin their higher education at SPSCC. All four plan to remain involved in Scouting.
In addition to their parents, the four Eagle Scouts are thankful to the United Methodist Church, which serves as the home for their troop.
