Court of Honor Ceremony Honors Local Eagle Scouts

The Scouts BSA Troop 72 Parsippany held an Eagle Scout Court of Honor at All Saints Academy on Sunday, January 2, to honor three scouts who achieved the rank of Eagle Scout: Arnov Bhardwaj, Neil Deshpande, and Derek Kaiser.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented special challenges to the planning and executing of this event. All efforts were put in place to ensure the safety of the scouts, leaders, and families attending the event including sanitizing all surfaces, social distancing seating by family, wearing masks, and the Kaiser Family outside in a tent due to being currently quarantined. Life Scout, and, finally, Eagle Scout.

The Eagle Scout Award is Scouting’s highest rank and among its most familiar icons. Men who have earned it count it among their most treasured possessions.

Those who missed it by a whisker remember exactly which requirement they didn’t complete. Americans from all walks of life know that being an Eagle Scout is a great honor. The award is more than a badge. It’s a state of being.

The Eagle Scout may have received the badge as a boy, but you earn it every day as a man. In the words of the Eagle Scout Promise, they do their best each day to make their training and example, their rank and their influence count strongly for better Scouting and for better citizenship in the troop, in their community, and in their contacts with other people. And to this, they pledge their sacred honor.

The pathway to Eagle can be described as a steep trail leading up to three peaks, the highest being that of Eagle Scout. 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