2016 Spring Eagles' Call by Scouting Alumni and Friends

NESA.org

â&#x201E;¢ THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE FOR EAGLE SCOUTS SPRING 2016

A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN Pat Gillick, the first Eagle Scout in the Baseball Hall of Fame, shares the plays that got him there.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Adventures of Trail Runner Luke Nelson See the Planet With NESA World Explorers Project Helps Decode Autism Diagnosis Eagle Honored for Saving Lives on Mount Everest

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Eagles’ Call

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On the Cover

Distinguished Eagle Scout Pat Gillick, a legendary general manager in the world of baseball, was the first Eagle Scout inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Read more about Gillick on page 10. Cover photograph by Colin Lenton.

NATIONAL EAGLE SCOUT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT Glenn A. Adams DIRECTOR Dustin Farris

NESA COMMITTEE Steve Bowen, Rick Bragga, Dr. David Briscoe, Howard Bulloch, Clark W. Fetridge, Hunter Jones, Dr. Ken King, Dr. Michael Manyak, Lou Paulson, Rich Pfaltzgraff, Todd R. Plotner, Congressman Pete Sessions, Frank Tsuru, Joe Weingarten

Contents

Regents consist of more than 600 life members of NESA who are recipients of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Michael Goldman MANAGING EDITOR Paula Murphey SENIOR EDITOR Bryan Wendell SENIOR WRITER Aaron Derr ASSOCIATE EDITORS Gretchen Sparling Clay Swartz SENIOR DIGITAL EDITOR Bryan Wursten DIGITAL EDITOR Keith Faber COPY EDITOR Ray Rose EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Adryn Shackelford SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Lois Albertus, Johnny D. Boggs, Brittany Hale, Ryan Larson, Jeff Laughlin, Mark Ray

FROM TOP: COURTESY OF CRADLE OF LIBERTY COUNCIL; COURTESY OF THE DAWSON FAMILY; COURTESY OF THE DOMINGUEZ FAMILY; STEVEN GNAM

CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR John Stewart CLIENT SERVICES DIRECTOR Eric Moore SENIOR ADVERTISING MANAGER Patricia Santangelo (Northeast Region) ADVERTISING MANAGERS Brian Cabanban (Central Region) Myla Johnson (Southern Region) Tanya Mitchell (Western Region) PRINT AD PRODUCTION MANAGERS Lisa Hott (Scouting and Eagles’ Call ) Leah Myers (Boys’ Life) DIGITAL AD PRODUCTION MANAGER Patrice Eulin MARKETING & RESEARCH Jillian Foley (Marketing Specialist) Jennifer Chan (Research Analyst) SALES & MARKETING ASSISTANTS Bianca Lentini (New York) Karie Sconyers (Irving) CIRCULATION MANAGER Judy Bramlett CIRCULATION ASSISTANT Judy Pritchard HONORARY PRESIDENT, BSA PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES Barack Obama PRESIDENT, BSA Robert M. Gates CHIEF SCOUT EXECUTIVE Michael Surbaugh MAGAZINES ADVISORY COMMITTEE David Talbot (Chairman) Ethan Draddy, James G. Elliott, Allen Pusey, Paul Sammon, Jeff Stoffer FOR SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION AND CUSTOMER SERVICE: (866) 584-6589 ADVERTISING INFORMATION: (212) 532-0985 ADVERTISING OFFICES: 1040 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, SUITE 16A, NEW YORK, NY 10018

VOL. 42, NO. 1

Features 10

All the Right Moves By Mark Ray

Making Great Strides By Mark Ray

DESIGN DIRECTOR Eric Ottinger PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR W. Garth Dowling ART DIRECTORS Elizabeth Hardaway Morgan Kevin Hurley PHOTO EDITOR Edna J. Lemons PRODUCTION MANAGER Lenore Bonno IMAGING ARTIST Marcie Rodriguez

SPRING 2016

In a life of Scouting and scouting, Distinguished Eagle Scout Pat Gillick — former manager and president of Major League Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies — has shown he’s a true winner.

Eagle Scout Luke Nelson grew up running the trails of Philmont Scout Ranch. Learn how Scouting helped prepare him for juggling a family, a full-time job and racing as a Patagonia-sponsored trail runner.

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Departments 2 News From the Trailhead

3 Members 6 Community

8 Lifestyle 16 Achievements

Eagles’ Call magazine (ISSN 2373-7026) 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 © 2016 by the Boy Scouts of America. All rights thereunder reserved; anything appearing in Eagles’ Call magazine may not be reprinted either wholly or in part without written permission. For submission guidelines, go to nesa.org. Postmaster: Send address changes to Eagles’ Call magazine, P.O. Box 152401, Irving, TX 75015-2401. Online address changes: nesa.org/eaglescall_subscriber.html. 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.

NESA.org Visit NESA online to submit your Eagle Scout projects, see more Eagle achievements, apply for scholarships and more.

scoutingworks@scouting.org

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News From the Trailhead

SPRING 2016

Eagles’ Call

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From the President

W. GARTH DOWLING; BACKGROUND BY DAN BRYANT

In 2015, I had the honor of attending several NESA Outstanding Eagle Scout Award (NOESA) presentations from California to the East Coast. This highly prestigious award (think Silver Antelope) has really taken off, with more than 320 awards given last year to Eagle Scouts of all ages. Since local NESA committees — not the National Service Center — approve this award, it truly provides the opportunity to showcase and honor exceptional Eagle Scouts in your community, state and region. The benefits are enormous. The NOESA honoree is reconnected to his local Scout council. Prominent citizens who are his friends, coworkers or mentors recognize him. Positive press is generated for each council, Eagle Scouts in general and the honoree. Many councils showcase the NOESA presentation by involving younger Scouts, and the council raises funds by selling tables to the event. You will find that many vendors, clients and coworkers of the NOESA honoree will gladly contribute to raise funds for your council. The most impactful presentations are those in which the NOESA honoree is the “star of the show,” as opposed to merely receiving the award during a council annual meeting or other event where the impact can get diluted. Your council’s NESA committee will find a NOESA presentation event to be a real capstone to a great year or even the kickoff event to help set up an upcoming year of activities. It will encourage other NOESA nominations and identify Eagle Scouts who will become great volunteers for not only your NESA committee, but also your district and council positions. Did your council host a great NOESA event? We would love to hear about it. Please reach out to Dustin Farris, Ryan Larson or me at nesa@scouting.org and share your success story. We would love to spread the word! From the Eagle Trail,

From the Director

One major purpose of the National Eagle Scout Association is to help Eagle Scouts find and network with one another. In the past, NESA relied on the “NESA Community,” created in conjunction with the 2008 Eagle Scout Roll of Honor and found at nesa.org. Recently, the publisher notified NESA that it would be discontinuing its service of the NESA Community. So NESA has created the Scouting Alumni Network and will be unveiling it throughout this year. As with many challenges, this one comes with opportunity. The Scouting Alumni Network was created with the potential to be more robust. For instance, it will not just include NESA members, but will also bring together records from NESA, the Scouting Alumni Association and other Scoutingaffiliated groups. It will also include updated information from the most recent Eagle Scout directory project. This one database will make it easier for alumni to find each other and keep their records up to date, while improving local councils’ ability to engage with people who are committed to advancing the cause of Scouting. The new database will also give alumni extensive control over what information appears on the site. In addition to their contact information and professional details, alumni will be able to include their Scouting histories (such as councils with which they affiliate) and links to their social media profiles. The site will not offer information regarding Eagle Scouts younger than 18. Local councils often reach out to the National Service Center for mailing lists or information on alumni who have moved into their service areas. With the new database, they’ll be able to access that information in real time. The new database is not fancy, but it is the functionality and search capabilities for the customer that we are excited about. We think that alone will create the engagement we are looking for with the new system. Once an Eagle, always an Eagle.

Glenn A. Adams Dustin Farris

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NESA World Explorers // MEMBERS

Earn Your Eagle; See the World Thanks to the NESA World Explorers Program, these seven went far.

ast year, NESA sent seven Eagle Scouts to research sites around the globe as part of the NESA World Explorers Program; it was the largest group since the program launched in 2012. Here’s an overview of what they accomplished. Visit nesa.org and check out NESA’s Facebook page to learn about upcoming NESA World Explorers opportunities.

NESA Eagle Scout Galápagos Biologists LOUIS PENROD, Harrisonburg, Va.; COLBY SCHINDEL, Bradford Woods, Pa.

Colby Schindel (left) and Louis Penrod traveled to the Galápagos Islands, where they helped tag sea turtles to track migratory patterns, a job that isn’t as simple as you might think. “The mechanics of tagging are not always easy,” Schindel says. “The turtles weigh between 60 and 200 pounds, use their fins as a defense and, by the way, have teeth like hacksaws.” The trip was a success, however, and the two budding biologists enjoyed rubbing shoulders with scientists, natives and a huge array of wildlife on San Cristobal, the island where Charles Darwin did much of his groundbreaking research.

NESA Eagle Scout Arctic Marine Biologist JOHN WILKEN, Mountain View, Calif.

John Wilken traveled above the Arctic Circle to help scientists and Inuit hunters harvest and catalog a female narwhal as part of a genetic study. The biological samples the team collected will become part of the Global Genome Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution. Wilken’s after-action report shows how hard the work was: “Armed with only chest waders, long-sleeved shirts and latex gloves, Winston [Kuo] and I knelt in two feet of Arctic water and completed the 35 measurements. The procedure took about an hour to complete because of our reduced movement speed from the bitter cold, wet conditions.”

NESA Eagle Scout Amazon Biologists LIAM HUBER, La Crescenta, Calif. RICHARD VAERWYCK, Tarentum, Pa.

NESA Eagle Scout Paleoanthropologists CALEB SEDAM, Logansport, Ind. FRANK ZONA, Hinckley, Ohio

Richard Vaerwyck (left) and Liam Huber spent a week at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station deep in the Amazon rain forest. Their mission: to assist researchers with a camera-trap program and to experience the incredible fauna of the rain forest, including peccaries, parakeets, scorpions, nine monkey species, and countless birds and spiders. They also had plenty of other experiences. Among the highlights Huber listed in his after-action report: playing with a tarantula, licking ants for lunch and using termite guts as insect repellent.

Caleb Sedam and Frank Zona spent a week in South Africa working with Distinguished Eagle Scout and National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Lee Berger. They excavated fossils, looked for undiscovered caves and traveled deep into the Rising Star cave system where Berger discovered the species Homo naledi in 2013. The discovery was announced after they returned. The caving trip was scary and exhilarating. “They had no reservations about taking me into some of the tightest, darkest, most nerve-wracking squeezes and crawls I have ever been privileged to experience,” Sedam says. “Many of these areas scared me almost to death. But I am glad they took me!”

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MEMBERS // Super Bowl Eagles / NESA Committee Spotlight

Two Denver Broncos got their start in Scouting.

Aaron Brewer

urns out, it is possible to excel in both Scouting and sports. Having already earned the top honor in the Boy Scouts of America, two Eagle Scouts have now earned the top honor in football. Denver Broncos long-snapper Aaron Brewer and center Matt Paradis are Super Bowl champions. Brewer, who earned Scouting’s highest honor as a member of Troop 1201 of Fullerton, Calif., is in his fourth season with the team. His role is highly specialized. He must snap the football a long distance — between 7 and 15 yards — for punts, field goals and extra point attempts. You’ll probably hear the name Aaron Brewer only if he messes up with a misplaced snap. Fortunately, that doesn’t happen often, according to a story in The Denver Post. Brewer has turned a “niche skill into a science. On punts, he grabs the laces. On field goals, he grabs the back of the ball, a grip that creates the ideal number of rotations and velocity.” Broncos punter Britton Colquitt, a frequent recipient of those skillful snaps, praises the Eagle Scout’s calm demeanor during the pressure of an NFL game. “A lot of (specialists) can be very mental,” he told the Post. “I am not jinxing

this, because I tell him all the time. He’s never given me a bad snap. He’s so calm and relaxed.” Brewer became an Eagle Scout on May 21, 2008. He got a scholarship to play football at San Diego State University. And now, he’s making $1 million a year. Paradis, the team’s starting center, earned Scouting’s highest honor in 2008 as a member of Troop 319 of the Boisebased Ore-Ida Council. For his Eagle Scout service project, he renovated and enlarged a long-jump pit and shotput area. As an offensive lineman, Paradis spent a lot of time protecting quarterback Peyton Manning, and the five-time MVP says Paradis is great at his job. “He is smart. Matt is a tough guy,” Manning told SB Nation. “He is a guy you like having in front of you. You know he is going to fight for you.” Sounds like an Eagle Scout to us.

Matt Paradis

Paradis and Brewer aren’t the only Eagle Scouts to win the Super Bowl. A few others: Jordan Devey (XLIX, Patriots lineman); Peter McLoughlin (XLVIII, Seahawks president); Dennis Pitta (XLVII, Ravens tight end); Ken Whisenhunt (XL, Steelers offensive coordinator) and Emery Moorehead (XX, Bears tight end).

NESA Committee Spotlight:

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Hawkeye Area Council Cedar Rapids, Iowa

New Eagle Scouts in the Hawkeye Area Council deserve recognition. Now, thanks to the council’s 3-year-old NESA committee, they’re getting it in three ways. First, to leverage the power of the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams Eagle Project of the Year Award program, the committee recognizes the top Eagle project in each of the council’s three districts at district dinners. The Scouts who completed those projects are then invited to the council recognition event, where the council winner is announced. “It really appears that we’re getting better-quality Eagle projects now than what we’ve seen,” says committee chairman Steve Rose. “[Judging] was harder this year than it was last year and the year before.” Second, the committee has created an Eagle Scout of the Year Award that’s modeled after a similar award in the Mid-Iowa Council, as well as honors like the NESA Outstanding Eagle Scout Award. The first award was given at this year’s council recognition event. Finally, through the generosity of the Iowa City Masonic Foundation, the council funds NESA memberships for all new Eagle Scouts (taking advantage of NESA’s special $20 fee for new members). Besides connecting new Eagle Scouts with NESA, this initiative makes them eligible for NESA scholarships. To get new Eagle Scouts signed up, the committee created a special application that includes the standard NESA application, the local chapter application and survey, and information on both organizations. District volunteers ask each Scout’s

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STEM Scouts / NESA Legacy Society // MEMBERS parents to complete the application during their son’s board of review. Although much of the committee’s focus is on young Eagle Scouts, longer-tenured Eagles aren’t left out. The committee began presenting the NESA Outstanding Eagle Scout Award in 2014, the same year it recognized its first council-level Adams Award recipient.

Science + Scouting = Success

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How STEM Scouts changes the game.

or more than a century, Scouting has taught values, outdoor skills and a surprising amount of science and technology. Long before STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) became a buzzword, Scouts were earning merit badges in aviation, chemistry, conservation, inventing and other STEM topics. In the last few years, Scouting has increased its commitment to STEM education through merit badges like Robotics, through the special Nova and Supernova awards and — most recently — through a pilot program called STEM Scouts. Developed in the Great Smoky Mountains Council (Knoxville, Tenn.), the program has spread to 12 more test councils across the country.

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RECONNECT AND REAP SAVINGS Are you a Scouting alumnus? Whether you were a Scout as a youth or are currently involved in Scouting as a registered adult volunteer, you qualify as a Scouting Alumni Association member. Registration is free, but if you spring for the Pathfinder level membership ($35), you gain access to special discounts, including:

Liberty Mutual discount on auto and

home insurance (amount depends on individual quote) A one-time 10 percent discount at Scout shops or scoutstuff.org 15 percent off oil changes at Firestone 25 percent off entire purchase at Papa John’s Pizza Register and find more info, including a complete list of discounts, at scouting.org/ alumni.

NESA LEGACY SOCIETY MEMBERS Randall J. Becker, Connecticut Rivers Council David Dignam, Southwest Florida Council Gregg Harkness, Central Florida Council Laron A. Johnson, Golden Empire Council James Hoover Lynch, Alamo Area Council John W. McBurney, Heart of America Council Milton O. McDougald, Northeast Illinois Council Andrew Miller, Daniel Webster Council Dr. Edwin B. Morrison, Longhorn Council George R. Ripplinger, Lewis & Clark Council Keel Ross, Transatlantic Council Robert A. Stuart Jr., Abraham Lincoln Council

JOIN THE NESA LEGACY SOCIETY 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.) Visit nesa.org/PDF/542-121.pdf to make a contribution. 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.

FROM LEFT: MARK J. REBILAS/USA TODAY (2)

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What is STEM Scouts? It’s the program Robert Baden-Powell might have created if he had been a scientist or inventor instead of a military officer and outdoorsman. Groups of 10 to 20 boys and girls form labs led by a lab manager and work on four- to six-week learning modules. But they do more than perform experiments. Values, leadership training and personal growth are built into the program, says Eagle Scout Trent Nichols, who directs the program with April McMillan. He cites the example of a girl with Asperger’s syndrome who overcame communication challenges as she worked with other lab members on a project. “By having the open-ended exploration that we encourage in STEM Scouts, it forced her into a situation where she had to learn to communicate,” Nichols says. “We were told by her mother that this was a breakthrough for her daughter.” The program might also get some young people to give traditional Scouting a second look, says McMillan, pointing to one STEM Scout who went on to join a Boy Scout troop. “He saw that some of the things he thought were intimidating to him before weren’t so intimidating now that he’d been exposed to them,” she says. “We expect that to happen more as the program grows.” In the meantime, there are plenty of kids to go around. “The BSA is reaching 8 percent of the kids,” Nichols says. “We’re trying for a part of that other 92 percent; so far it looks like we’re being successful.” Visit stemscouts.org for more.

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COMMUNITY // Eagle Scout Projects

Autism Action

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Mikey Dominguez receives the 2015 Southeast Region Adams Award.

HOW HE GOT INVOLVED: Mikey’s dad, Eddy, chairs Latino Leadership’s board of directors. When President and CEO Marytza Sanz shared her dream of opening an autism center, he pitched the idea to his son. Mikey has several friends with autism, so the project seemed perfect for him. “The autism center helps not only people with autism, but people who cannot get autism therapy because they either speak Spanish or it costs too much money,” Mikey says. “So it was a good chance for a lot of people to get autism therapy.” WHAT HE DID: Once the project was approved, Mikey worked with Sanz to research paint colors, plan design elements and choose furnishings. He solicited $5,000 in donations and then recruited members of Troop 128 to paint walls, clean floors Mikey incorporated design elements like a giant sensory wall and colorful hallways to help youth with autism feel at home when visiting the Santiago & Friends clinic — a far cry from the typical doctor’s office.

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Eagle Scout Mikey Dominguez’s service project designed and furnished an Orlando-area clinic serving children who have autism and their bilingual parents.

FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF THE DOMINGUEZ FAMILY (5); COURTESY OF SIDHARTH MADHU

n autism diagnosis brings with it an alphabet soup of jargon and abbreviations: ADOS and ASD, perseveration and prosody, FAPE and floortime. The terms are confusing enough to parents who speak English — and incomprehensible to those who speak only Spanish. Thanks in part to Eagle Scout Mikey Dominguez, dozens of families in the Orlando area now receive bilingual services at Santiago & Friends Family Center for Autism. A local nonprofit organization called Latino Leadership launched the clinic last April, and there’s already a waiting list to get in. Some families travel 45 minutes to reach the center. A contractor built out the space, but Mikey and his volunteers designed, decorated and furnished it. For his efforts, Mikey, who turned 13 after finishing his project, was named the 2015 Southeast Region winner of the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award.

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Eagle Scout Projects // COMMUNITY and assemble furniture. “We had a fantastic group of middle-schoolers just kind of inundate our center,” Sanz says. “They went above and beyond in making it pretty and making sure the kids would feel comfortable and at home; we didn’t want it to feel like a doctor’s office.” WHAT THE CENTER DOES: Santiago & Friends offers applied behavior analysis and speech and occupational therapy. In addition to several therapy rooms, there’s an art and music space where clients use different art media to work on behaviors and receive therapy. “Mi Casitya” is a life-skills lab where clients learn essential independence skills such as dressing, self-care, cooking and housekeeping. Mikey’s favorite feature is the sensory wall, where clients can manipulate beads, keys, Lego boards and other items. “From what I’ve seen, the autistic children really love that wall. Every time I’ve been there, they’re always playing with it. It’s really fun to watch,” Mikey says. ABOUT THE NAME: The center is named for Sanz’s 5-year-old grandson, who gets therapy at the center. “We’ve been working with him and his behavior so when he gets to school he can do better and learn more,” Sanz says. “He’s been excelling incredibly since he’s been here.”

FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF THE DOMINGUEZ FAMILY (5); COURTESY OF SIDHARTH MADHU

SPREADING THE WORD: The project has an unexpected beneficiary: the BSA. Last fall, Mikey told his story at the Central Florida Council’s Hispanic Heritage Luncheon. “I actually convinced so many people to donate to the Boy Scouts that we broke the record for the most donations,” he says.

Click Start

Illinois Eagle project gives computers to needy families.

n the digital age, computers are an essential part of daily life. We use them to pay bills, do homework, read the news, find jobs, watch movies and stay connected with distant loved ones. But 16 percent of U.S. households don’t have computers, according to a 2013 U.S. Census Bureau report. This puts them at a serious disadvantage. Among that group are the families

Eagle Scout candidate Sidharth Madhu met at Chicago’s Northwestern Settlement House a couple of years ago. “It was especially tough for the kids,” he recalls. “If the kids had to type up an essay or had to do some online research, they had to go to their school library or to their public library and work from there.”

OTHER NOTABLE EAGLE PROJECTS CALEB VANDEN EYNDEN, LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, OHIO

Lakota East High School has a nationally known marching band that earns superior marks in competition. But it fell short in one area: the director’s tower on its practice field. “You could see it shake when it got real windy,” sousaphone player Caleb Vanden Eynden says. For his Eagle Scout project, Caleb fixed that problem. Over a four-month period, he and his volunteers spent more than 800 hours building a new 14-foot-tall tower. The structure’s 12-by-8-foot platform holds up to seven staff members and is accessed by a staircase instead of a ladder. “The day we put the stairs up, I ran up and down the stairs a dozen times,” Caleb says. “But the best feeling of all was when band camp started, and I got to witness my project being used by the directors.”

Eagle Scout Sidharth Madhu makes some last-minute checks on the donated computers before leading a computer training workshop at Northwestern Settlement House.

For his Eagle Scout service project, Sidharth did his part to close the digital divide. The Kenilworth, Ill., teen donated 32 desktop PCs and laptops to Northwestern Settlement House clients. “I believe that one cannot be successful without access to a computer and without some computer literacy,” he says. “That’s why I chose my Eagle project to be about computers.” Sidharth convinced two local companies, Kaufman Hall and Sun Trading, to donate the used computers, but that was just the beginning. He trained a group of Scouts to refurbish the machines, a 12-step process that included reformatting the hard drives; installing Windows, Microsoft Office and other basic software; and activating license keys (which often required a call to Microsoft tech support). Then, before handing over the computers, he trained the recipient families on skills like basic computer operation, Internet security and avoiding cyberbullies. Northwestern Settlement House’s motto is “Opening Doors of Opportunity.” Thanks to Sidharth’s project, they’re opening windows of opportunity as well.

SCHUYLER CAFFREY, BRANCHVILLE, N.J.

During his freshman year at High Point Regional High School, Schuyler Caffrey noticed plenty of plaques, displays and trophies in the hallways that recognized academic and athletic achievement. But something was missing. “There wasn’t anything specifically for students that had graduated and gone to the military,” he says. For his Eagle project, Schuyler created a brick plaza at the school, complete with an obelisk bearing the emblems of each branch of the military. Schuyler tracked down graduates who had served, and many bought engraved pavers that helped pay for the project. Schuyler has since graduated, but says he’ll sometimes see the obelisk in a student’s photo on Facebook — often when that student is celebrating his or her entrance into the military.

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LIFESTYLE // Boys’ Life Illustrator

Back to the Drawing Board

Pedro has a new handler: Eagle Scout illustrator Stephen Gilpin.

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hen he was attending New York’s School of Visual Arts in the 1990s, Eagle Scout Stephen Gilpin found himself drawing the sort of single-page comic strips he had once enjoyed in the pages of Boys’ Life. He recalls his strips being funny, fun to draw — and totally unmarketable. “My heart was in doing these full-page gag strips, and there was nowhere that you would place anything like that,” he says. In the years since, the Hiawatha, Kan., artist has illustrated more than 30 children’s books for such publishers as HarperCollins, Random House and Scholastic. He has supplied illustrations to the Wall Street Journal and has won the Comstock Read Aloud Book Award. This January, his career came full circle when he began writing and illustrating Boys’ Life’s “The Wacky Adventures of Pedro,” which follows the magazine’s famous mail8

burro as he explores the galaxy, escapes from strange creatures and tries to get back to his corral in time for lunch. Gilpin replaced Tom Eaton, the strip’s creator, who has retired. In selecting a new artist, Boys’ Life Design Director Eric Ottinger says he wanted to find someone who could both write and draw and someone who could keep Pedro’s look familiar while allowing the character to evolve. “We were looking for someone with a style that wasn’t too young and wasn’t too sophisticated,” he says. “We weren’t looking for manga or anime or something like that.” Ottinger wasn’t necessarily looking for someone with a Scouting background, which is a good thing, because Gilpin didn’t mention that he’s an Eagle Scout and former Boys’ Life reader until after he landed the assignment. Gilpin’s omission might seem counterintuitive, but he wanted to win the job on his merits, not his merit badges. “If I needed to mention

all this stuff that didn’t have anything to do with art, then I kind of fell short,” he says. “The award itself really doesn’t mean nearly as much as the person that you become.” So how has the mailburro changed in Gilpin’s hands? Although he’s a little less angular and a little more organic, Gilpin’s Pedro looks a lot like Eaton’s version, making the transition nearly seamless. And Gilpin’s first strip picks up right where Eaton’s last strip left off — with Pedro being trapped in the inescapable clutches of the Ruby Moon of Doom. Where Pedro goes from there depends entirely on his new creator’s imagination. Says Ottinger: “I look forward to seeing what he’s going to do with Pedro.” Same goes for all of us — the young and the young at heart.

Check out the new Pedro comic at go.boyslife.org/pedro.

STEPHEN GILPIN

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Scout Heroes // LIFESTYLE

New Book Celebrates Scout Heroes Distinguished Eagle Scout Michael Malone’s new book honors the bravery of more than 170 Scouts.

irst responders are famous for running toward danger while others run away. They aren’t the only ones. Countless Scouts have risked their own lives to save the lives of other people, and many of their stories are recounted in Running Toward Danger: Real Life Scouting Action Stories of Heroism, Valor & Guts (WindRush Publishers, 2015). Written by Distinguished Eagle Scout Michael S. Malone (author of the Eagle Scout book Four Percent), the book tells the stories of more than 170 Scouts who’ve received the BSA’s Honor Medal and other heroism awards. It also recounts the history of the awards and the BSA’s efforts to encourage both heroism and the safety of would-be heroes. Some of the stories cover familiar ground — rescuing a child from a burning house, for example — but others are quite unusual. Among the heroes in the book are Lee Elmer Garver, who donated 50 square inches of his

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skin to a burn patient, and the Scouts who became both survivors and heroes when an EF3 tornado devastated the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in Iowa in 2008. All told, fewer than 300 Scouts and Scouters have received the BSA’s Honor Medal With Crossed Palms since 1928, when it first was awarded posthumously to Charles Edward McKnett. The award goes to those who save or attempt to save a life at great risk to themselves, while more than 13,000 have received lower-order awards. Publisher David C. Scott estimates that 3 to 5 million people are alive today because a Scout saved them, their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents. “No volunteer lifesaving program — much less one conducted largely by young people — has ever had such an impact on a country,” Scott says. For more information, visit runningtowarddanger.com.

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Over the past decade numerous companies have tried to make a replica of this famed pump-action rifle originally made by Colt. Working with Davide Pedersoli of Italy, famed for their high-quality replica firearms, the Navy Arms Lightning features stocks made from hand-selected, fully checkered Grade 1 American walnut. The receiver and furniture are bone charcoal color case-hardened in the United States, accented with nitre blued screws and a high-polish blued full octagonal barrel. A unique coil-spring extraction system that ensures fast, high ejection of spent cartridges, unlike other makers’ systems. Semi-buckhorn rear and gold-bead dovetail front sights. The upper tang is drilled and tapped for the Marble Arms peep tang sight. Available in 20” and 24” bbl lengths and in both .45 Colt and .357 Magnum. Only Navy Arms, the company that founded the replica firearms industry, has produced a Lightning combining perfection in function and superior fit & finish. For more information on the Lightning and all Navy Arms products, go to www.navyarms.com. 54 Dupont Rd., Martinsburg, WV 25404 ph - (304) 274-0004 info@navyarms.com

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“I think back to the Boy Scouts and think that learning respect for other people and learning how to get along with people certainly helped me a great deal in my career.”

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By Mark Ray

In a life of Scouting and scouting, the Philadelphia Phillies’ Pat Gillick has shown he’s a true winner.

FROM LEFT: COLIN LENTON; JIM M cISAAC/GETTY IMAGES; ISTOCK BY GETTY IMAGES (2)

n 1977, their first season, the Toronto Blue Jays were the worst team in Major League Baseball. They had won 54 games and lost 107 — 45 ½ games behind the New York Yankees, the division rivals who won their 21st World Series championship that October. But the Blue Jays were about to unleash their secret weapon: first-year general manager Pat Gillick, the Yankees’ former coordinator of player development. Knowing he couldn’t rely on the sort of marquee, high-dollar talent that filled his former team’s roster, the then-39-year-old Eagle Scout and his staff worked to recruit and develop rookies with potential. They also looked for experienced players passed up by other teams. The Toronto Star put the team’s opening day payroll at $303,000 — about one-fifth the Yankees’ $1.495 million payroll that year. Not surprisingly, it took time for the Blue Jays to become contenders. They had their first winning season in 1983, beginning a streak of 11 consecutive years with winning records. During those years, Gillick became known as “Stand Pat” for his reluctance to trade many players. But

to-back World Series championships in 1992 and 1993. He retired — for the first time — before the 1995 season. “His ability to project talent into the future was one of his greatest strengths,” Gord Ash, Gillick’s successor in Toronto, told Canada’s National Post in 2011. “He has that ability to see what others couldn’t.” In the same article, then-general manager Alex Anthopoulos called Gillick “the best GM of all time.” Brian Cashman, general manager of the Yankees, called him “the architect of all architects” in a 2001 New York Times interview. Those accolades accompanied Gillick’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011. He was just the fourth general manager inducted — and the first Eagle Scout. “I didn’t think I’d have an opportunity,” he says of joining the Hall. “I was completely surprised and humbled and very grateful.”

Pat Gillick stands with his plaque at Clark Sports Center during the 2011 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y.

FROM THE PITCHER’S MOUND TO THE FRONT OFFICE

he surprised the baseball world at the 1990 winter meetings by ending a 608-day trade drought to acquire Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter and Devon White, three players who would help lead the Blue Jays to back-

Baseball players have dreams of getting called up to the big leagues — and nightmares of being sent down to the minors. Most base-

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A START IN SCOUTING Conventional wisdom says kids have to choose between sports and Scouting. That wasn’t the case for Pat Gillick, who was a Cub Scout, a Boy Scout, an Explorer and an active member of the Order of the Arrow. A member of Troop 30 in Van Nuys, Calif., Gillick became an Eagle Scout in 1951, just before he turned 14. He attended the 1953 National Scout Jamboree at nearby Irvine Ranch and the 1954 National Order of the Arrow Conference at the University of Wyoming. Between baseball games, he continued to participate in Walika Lodge events, becoming a Vigil Honor member just a few months after winning the College World Series. Gillick remembers the horned frogs Texas Scouts used as trading material at the jamboree, and he remembers spending two days in the desert when his lodge’s NOAC-bound bus broke down. Most of all, however, he remembers learning to get along with people of all different backgrounds. “I think back to the Boy Scouts and think that learning respect for other people and learning how to get along with people certainly helped me a great deal in my career,” he says. In May 2015, the BSA’s Cradle of Liberty Council presented Gillick with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. At the same event, he was inducted into the council’s Eagle Scout Hall of Fame — the fourth hall of fame the legendary GM has joined.

SCOUTING FOR TALENT — AND CHARACTER

Scouting talent was the role Gillick was born to play. Even in his minor-league days, he had mentored younger players, some of whom thought he knew more about baseball than their manager. What’s more, he had an encyclopedic memory, so much so that people nicknamed him “Wolley Segap” (a name that makes sense when you read the words backward). Gillick showed his recruiting prowess

FROM LEFT: COLIN LENTON; MILO STEWART JR./NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME; L. REDKOLES/GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY OF CRADLE OF LIBERTY COUNCIL (3); JEFF GOODE/TORONTO STAR VIA GETTY IMAGES; RON BULL/TORONTO STAR VIA GETTY IMAGES

For Eagle Scout Pat Gillick, his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame recognizes 27 years spent as the general manager with four major league clubs (Toronto, 197894; Baltimore, 1996-98; Seattle, 2000-03; and Philadelphia, 2006-08). His teams advanced to the postseason 11 times and won the World Series in 1992, 1993 and 2008.

ball careers are a constant journey between bright lights and small cities. Gillick knows that life. In 1956, after two years at Los Angeles Valley College, he traveled to Alberta — hitchhiking part of the way — to pitch for the semi-pro Vulcan Elks. The job paid $65 a week, which he supplemented with a $6-a-day job at a local grain elevator run by right-fielder Harvey “Swede” Robertson. Midway through a season in which he hadn’t won a game, Gillick traveled even farther north to play for the Granum White Sox in Calgary’s Medicine Hat Tournament. The left-hander pitched a no-hitter to get the team into the finals and then tossed a four-hitter that won the tournament. From Vulcan, Gillick returned to his home state, where he played for the University of Southern California in 1957 and 1958. USC won the College World Series his senior year. Undrafted out of college, Gillick was considering law school but decided to give baseball another chance. He traveled back to Alberta to play semi-pro ball in the Western Canada League, doing well enough to attract the attention of the Baltimore Orioles. From 1959 to 1963, he played for a string of minor-league teams in the Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates farm systems. Gillick’s playing career ended in Rochester, N.Y., the victim of nagging arm issues and a self-imposed five-year deadline to make it to the majors. Graduate school beckoned again, but then Eddie Robinson, who had scouted him for the Orioles five years earlier, recruited him to become assistant farm director for the Houston Colt .45s (which became the Astros in 1965).

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season (116). He won his third World Series with the Phillies in 2008 before retiring for the fourth time. All told, his teams won 2,776 games during his 27 years as a GM. Since 2008, Gillick has continued to serve the Phillies as a senior adviser, interim president and president. When Andy McPhail took over as president after last season, Gillick became a special adviser to the team. He spent this offseason scouting a half-dozen college players ahead of June’s amateur draft, as well as supporting the team’s international director in Latin America. Lately, the Phillies have been far from their World Series glory. But just like those early Blue Jays teams, the Phillies have a secret weapon: Hall of Famer Pat Gillick. And he knows a thing or two about building champions.

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Left: Baseball isn’t the only Hall of Fame to recognize the legacy of Pat Gillick. The Distinguished Eagle Scout was inducted into the Cradle of Liberty Council’s Eagle Scout Hall of Fame in 2015. Above: Gillick, then-vice president of baseball operations for the Blue Jays, appears pleased with the club’s draft selections in 1983. Then, in 1989, the Blue Jays’ general manager celebrates with the team’s manager, Cito Gaston.

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during a 1967 trip to the Dominican Republic for the Astros, where he called on outfielder César Cedeño. When the Astros’ local scout warned Gillick that the St. Louis Cardinals were also in the hunt, Gillick outbid them, acquiring a player who would record 2,087 hits and 199 home runs during a 17-year career. And that wasn’t even his best find of the trip. At his Santo Domingo hotel, a Pan Am flight attendant named Doris Sander asked for his help with a customs form that was written in Spanish. A year later, the couple got married, beginning a union that continues 47 years later. Perhaps his background in (capital-S) Scouting made a difference in his (lowercaseS) scouting, because character always factored into his decisions. Even today, Gillick looks at intangibles like a player’s work ethic. “You have to have somebody you feel is going to be able to stick to the program, is going to be able to show up every day, is going to be able to give their best effort,” he says.

HONORS FOR PAT GILLICK 1951: Becomes an EAGLE SCOUT 1958: Wins COLLEGE WORLD SERIES with University of Southern California

Character cuts both ways. In a 1994 interview with Baseball America, Blue Jays pitcher Dave Stewart said, “Pat is straight with you, he’s caring, he’s approachable and he has no secrets. You always know where you stand with him.” And Wolley Segap has never forgotten the importance of scouts to a team’s success. “I think what made us successful in Toronto was the fact that we hired the right people, we gave them the support they needed, and they went out and did their job and selected the right players for our team,” he says. Today, Gillick serves on the board of the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation, which raises money to support scouts facing medical or financial challenges.

1958: Becomes VIGIL HONOR MEMBER of the Order of the Arrow 1992: Wins WORLD SERIES with Toronto Blue Jays 1993: Wins WORLD SERIES with Toronto Blue Jays 1997: Inducted into CANADIAN BASEBALL HALL OF FAME 2002: Inducted into TORONTO BLUE JAYS’ LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE 2008: Wins WORLD SERIES with Philadelphia Phillies 2011: Inducted into NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME 2013: Inducted into ONTARIO SPORTS HALL OF FAME

ENCORE PERFORMANCES

When Gillick left the Blue Jays in 1994, his retirement didn’t last long. He served as general manager of the Baltimore Orioles from 1996 to 1998, the Seattle Mariners from 2000 to 2003 and the Philadelphia Phillies from 2006 to 2008. His Baltimore and Seattle teams made the playoffs two years each, with the 2001 Mariners tying a 95-year-old record for the most wins in a

2015: Receives DISTINGUISHED EAGLE SCOUT AWARD 2015: Inducted into CRADLE OF LIBERTY COUNCIL EAGLE SCOUT HALL OF FAME

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Making Great Stride Scouting continues to shape trail runner Luke Nelson’s path.

Imagine traveling

from New York to Los Angeles. On foot. Every year. That’s about what Eagle Scout Luke Nelson has been doing in his eight years as a professional trail runner, amassing nearly 3,000 miles a year. Sometimes he logs 4,200 miles in a calendar year — roughly the equivalent of running from Key West, Fla., to New York to Los Angeles. Oh, and did we mention that most of Nelson’s running occurs at higher elevations? In September, for example, he competed in the Bear 100, an ultramarathon in the Wasatch and Bear River mountain ranges with 22,518 feet of climb and an average elevation of 7,350 feet. Nelson has accumulated an impressive record that includes winning Wyoming’s 50-kilometer El Vaquero Loco seven times, logging the fastest ascents and descents of all nine of Idaho’s 12,000-foot peaks in a single push, and completing the fastest recorded

time from car to summit to car on Idaho’s highest peak. His record is even more impressive given that the 35-year-old ran his first marathon just 10 years ago. Prior to that marathon, his only real running experience was on the crosscountry team in high school for one season. “Given the depth of training I did not have, I did OK,” he says. “The only race I did very good at was one that was in the mountains.”

FINDING HIS CALLING

The mountains, it seems, bring out the best in Nelson. That’s no surprise, because he more or less grew up at Scout camp. His father, Steve, is a professional Scouter, and the family tagged along each summer as Steve Nelson directed a series of camps in the Western Region. “While other kids were busy with summer Little League and soccer and things like that, I was up in the woods,” Nelson says. “I was able to spend a lot of time rela-

tively unsupervised in the mountains. That’s probably the biggest single thing that turned me into who I am now.” As the camp director’s son — and later as a camper in his own right — Nelson enjoyed all the activities Scout camp had to offer. He first went rock climbing at age 4 and got into serious mountaineering and kayaking as a teen. In retrospect, he admits to being that kid in the troop the leaders always had to rein in. Fortunately, his leaders knew what they were dealing with. “I think they were that kid when they were Scouts, so they understood,” he says. “We got to have a lot of really cool adventures because of it.” The adventures continued at Idaho State University, where he earned a degree in

ON THE WEB

You can learn more about Nelson’s adventures at bit.ly/scoutnelson and on his blog, challengeofbalance.com.

FROM LEFT: BEN MOON; COURTESY OF LUKE NELSON (2) ; BRAD CHILTON; TANAE NELSON; RYAN SIMMONS

“I think the most important thing is making sure I have very good time management; that’s something I learned through Scouting.”

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By Mark Ray

outdoor education and lived as a ski bum and river guide. But the deaths of three friends — one skiing and two kayaking — coupled with the birth of his first daughter persuaded him to seek a safer outlet for his energy. He found it in trail running, where the biggest risks are turned ankles and animal encounters.

RUNNING WILD

Now as an ambassador for outdoor gear company Patagonia, Nelson helps design and test gear, much like other sponsored athletes. But he also gets to participate in activities that promote endurance sports and environmental stewardship — activities like running 106 miles through a new national park in Chile or logging 25 kilometers on and near the Great Wall of China. “Most athletes are actually just marketing billboards,” he says. “Few are involved with design and testing like I am.” Last summer, he and Patagonia supported

The outdoors serves as a source of inspiration and a place of solace for Patagonia trail runner Luke Nelson. The Eagle Scout finds time for running while working and sharing his love for the outdoors with his family, including the time he and his father, Steve Nelson, climbed Philmont’s Tooth of Time with his eldest daughter, Brynlee (third down from top).

the successful effort to create a wilderness area in a part of Idaho frequented by Scouts taking high-adventure trips. “They’re going to be able to keep doing that until their grandkids are Scouts, which is awesome,” he says. Unlike some professional trail runners, Nelson has a day job — he’s a physician assistant in Pocatello, Idaho — so he has to work hard to balance the demands of family, career and passion. “I think the most important thing is making sure I have very good time management; that’s something I learned through Scouting,” he says. So he gets up early to train, does the occasional magazine interview as he runs the 7.5 miles home from work and brings along his family — wife Tanae and children Brynlee, Chloë and (future Cub Scout) Anders — on many running trips. “They take care of me and keep me motivated,” he says. Nelson’s running and medical careers united in 2011, when he spent the summer working at the health lodge at Philmont Scout Ranch, where his dad serves as comptroller. Most days after work, he would run to the Tooth of Time and back — a 12-mile round-trip with 2,300 feet of climb. Occasionally, he would come across Scout crews on the trail who were impressed by what he was doing and discouraged by their own struggles. He always made sure to encourage them to keep climbing, both literally and figuratively. “It’s a matter of perspective,” he says. “From where I’m looking, if they’re out doing something that pushes them, that’s incredible.”

LUKE NELSON’S FAVORITE LOCATIONS FOR TRAIL RUNNING 1. GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK (WYOMING): Big mountains, rugged terrain and lots of trails.

Truly a trail runner’s dream. (It’s also a skier’s dream. Nelson skis down the “Skillet” descent of the Tetons’ Mount Moran in the second photo from top.) 2. GLACIER NATIONAL PARK (MONTANA): Similar to the Tetons, with remote and wild mountains. High probability of seeing some amazing wildlife. Just don’t forget the bear spray! 3. BOULDER-WHITE CLOUD WILDERNESS (IDAHO): The Boulder-White Clouds are also pretty close to where I live. They are very remote and with the recent wilderness designation, you will probably not see too many other people out there. 4. ZION NATIONAL PARK (UTAH): Zion is such a unique place. Running in the desert is super fun to do in the shoulder seasons (spring and fall). As a trail runner, you can see things in one day that most people won’t see in weeks! 5. SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS (COLORADO): One of the few places in the world where you can run hundreds of miles above 10,000 feet.

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ACHIEVEMENTS // Matt Moniz / Davis Dawson

Service on a Grand Scale

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Teenage adventurer honored for Nepal heroism. to work in support of the camp’s two doctors. Back in Kathmandu, Matt and climbing partners Willie and Damian Benegas saw firsthand the breadth of the earthquake’s impact and began brainstorming ways to help. They scrapped their first idea — renting helicopters to airdrop food supplies — in favor of hiring local porters to ferry food and supplies to remote villages in Nepal’s Gorkha District. “All the money we raised would be able to stay in the local economy,” Matt says. “They lost their homes; they lost everything they owned. They obviously needed as much income as they could get.” While Damian stayed in Kathmandu, Matt and Willie flew to Zurich, Switzerland, where climbing team sponsor Q-Force helped them raise $100,000 in just four days. They then returned to Nepal and spent three weeks delivering food and supplies, assisting doctors with medical care, digging latrines and playing with kids whose schools had been destroyed. “We didn’t have a shower, and the food was pretty bad, but other than that, it was a really amazing

Building Something Greater Big project hits home for Eagle Scout.

s a Cub Scout, Davis Dawson of Concord, N.C., dreamed of doing an Eagle project that had real, lasting impact. “I wanted to be able to come back to my project in 20 years and it still be there,” he says. By the time he became a Life Scout with Troop 38, he had decided to build someone a house. Even though his dad, Dene, works for Habitat for Humanity of Cabarrus County, it was a pretty ambitious plan. After all, building a Habitat house takes thousands of hours and hundreds of workers — not to mention $70,000. If Davis was daunted by the prospect of paying for and building a house at age 16, he didn’t show it. Thanks to support from the city, he had to raise “only” $35,000, although he ended up raising $43,000 in just 14

Davis was recognized with the 2015 Prudential Spirit of Community Award.

weeks — much of it from sources the local chapter had never tapped. “I applied for many grants and on multiple occasions recovered more funds than I asked for,” Davis says. He worked the phones during his lunch period at school and spent four months of Saturdays at the job site. He also coordinated the work of more than 200 volunteers (including members of the

H L E P Matt worked with locals to rebuild houses in the village of Laprak, located in Nepal’s Manaslu Valley.

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trip because the people were so happy and incredibly appreciative,” Matt says. Over the summer, Matt returned to Colorado to finish high school — he graduated in December — and continue his concurrent studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he is studying pre-med. He plans to keep climbing and explore his newfound passion for wilderness medicine. This spring, in fact, he’s taking a wilderness EMT course ahead of his next trip to Nepal. “I realized it was really hard for me to help out because I didn’t have a lot of medical experience,” he says. “When I go back, I know I can help a lot more.” Central North Carolina Council’s fledgling NESA committee) and 15 subcontractors. Just before Christmas 2014, Davis handed over the keys to the Crisco family — single mom Jazman and her four children — who had previously lived in a dilapidated trailer in a dangerous part of town. “They can have friends over now; they couldn’t do that before,” he says. “They can play in the yard and not be worried about being unsafe.” After the project was done, Davis got a couple of surprises. One was that he had been named his state’s high school winner of the 2015 Prudential Spirit of Community Award, which earned him a trip to a conference in Washington, D.C. The other was that Jazman Crisco’s sons had decided to become Boy Scouts. “A couple of months into their Scouting experience, they told their mom they want to be Eagle Scouts,” Davis says. Davis is already looking forward to volunteering on their Eagle Scout projects.

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att Moniz was 9 years old in 2007 when he first visited Everest Base Camp. Three years later, the Boulder, Colo., native became the youngest and fastest climber to reach the highest points in all 50 states. At age 16, he became the youngest person to summit Makalu, the world’s fifth-tallest peak — a week after he summited Earth’s sixth-highest mountain, Cho Oyu, both in the Himalayas. He has set records for climbing the highest peaks in Europe and the Americas. But it was a climb Matt didn’t complete last year that earned the 17-year-old the Honor Medal With Crossed Palms, Scouting’s highest award for heroism. In the aftermath of April’s devastating Nepal earthquake, Matt spent five days caring for survivors and another month caring for a country. Matt and his party had just reached Everest Base Camp on April 25 when the 7.8-magnitude temblor hit. He took shelter behind a boulder as a 200-mph blast of powder blanketed the camp, and then he spent several days putting his first-aid training

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Once an Eagle ... / Awards & Recognition // ACHIEVEMENTS

Once an Eagle ... ... Always an Eagle. NESA remembers Eagle Scouts who have passed. Recognize the life of another Eagle by completing the form found at nesa.org/ eaglegonehome. This link also provides more information on how to make a Living Memorial donation in the name of a deceased Eagle. Howard L. Cosyns, 93 Lombard, Ill. Eagle: 1937 Passed: March 2015

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Christopher Joseph Dubé, 23 Kirkland, Wash. Eagle: 2008 Passed: June 2014

Richard Laurence Fletcher, 76 Portland, Ore. Eagle: 1954 Passed: January 2015

George Hanzimanolis, 53 Bartonsville, Pa. Eagle: 1980 Passed: February 2015

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Alfred Leebardt, 71 Rutherford, N.J. Eagle: 1958 Passed: February 2015

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Thomas V. Marchanti, 37 Mount Prospect, Ill. Eagle: 1995 Passed: Sep. 16, 2014

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Garth H. Nielson, 40 Randolph, Utah Eagle: 1988 Passed: June 2014

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Robert S. Olyha, 93 Yonkers, N.Y. Eagle: 1952 Passed: March 2015 Dr. Bernard Russell Queneau, 102 Pittsburgh, Pa. Eagle: 1928 Passed: Dec. 7, 2014 Arthur Chester Reed, 84 Houston, Texas Eagle: 1944 Passed: January 2015 David A. Scott, 39 Louisville, Ky. Eagle: 1991 Passed: August 2012

Awards & Recognition Eagle Scouts shine, even after reaching the top honor in Scouting. NESA celebrates the achievements of the Eagle Scouts shown below. Recognize the success of another Eagle by completing the form found at nesa.org/eaglemagawards.

David L. Bohmfalk Corpus Christi, Texas IUniverse has released the first novel of David L. Bohmfalk, NESA Class of 1978, The Crossbow and the Beret. It is available for sale in paperback and ebook from iUniverse, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Bohmfalk, a disabled veteran and former police chief, will be scheduling book-signing tours during the coming year.

Daniel L. Coberly Huntsville, Ala. The Distinguished Eagle Scout was one of two retired soldiers recently inducted into the 2014 U.S. Army Public Affairs Hall of Fame during ceremonies at the Army-Navy Club in Washington, D.C.

George T. Cooper III Little Rock, Ark. Received a Bachelor of Science in physics from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., in May 2015. Inducted into the Sigma Pi Sigma national physics honor society; has been accepted to pursue a doctorate degree in physics.

Matthew R. Hartford Springfield, Vt. Elected and sworn in as vice president of the University of Tampa Student Government for the 2015-2016 academic year.

Scott Jimenez Big Spring, Va. Awarded a doctorate of ministry in May 2015 from Nazarene Theological Seminary. His published dissertation was titled “PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A Study of the Spiritual Effects and Relation of Combat PTSD to Recovery.”

Thomas Kubicki Liverpool, N.Y. Awarded the Distinguished Technology and Engineering professional designation by the International Technology and Engineering Education Association, one of the highest honors for professional achievement in technology and engineering education. Consideration for the award is based on documented evidence of leadership/ management skills; continuing participation in association education programs; and demonstration of leadership in association, community and personal activities.

Matthew Landry Pierre Part, La. Graduated cum laude and with honors from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La., with a Bachelor of Science in nutritional and food sciences and a minor in agriculture. Is a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin.

Daniel Luckenbaugh Grand Rapids, Mich. Graduated magna cum laude from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich., with a degree in political science and history, in addition to honors in Pi Sigma Alpha and Phi Alpha Theta. Attained the dean’s list five times, served in student senate and was an officer of the History Club.

Justin S. McHenry Chula Vista, Calif. The California State Park peace officer/ lifeguard received the Silver Medal of Valor on April 23, 2015, for heroic actions in rescuing a woman in dangerous ocean conditions.

Rob Nelsen Irvine, Calif. After being awarded the prestigious Dr. George A. Stevens Founder’s Award, a $10,000 educational cash grant awarded by the United States Achievement Academy, and more than $285,000 in college scholarships, the former Orange County Council NESA president was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Orange County for 2014 by the Orange County Register. Played the character of Robin Hood on National Geographic’s show Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout? Attends Chapman University on a U.S. Army Cadet Command full-tuition, four-year scholarship and is a member of the men’s basketball team.

Justin D. Peters Boise, Idaho Received a Natural Resources Conservation Leadership award from his troop, in recognition of his persistent commitment to improve the natural environment in Montana and Idaho communities. His tireless efforts from 2010 to 2014 resulted in significant enhancements in soil and water conservation, forestry, fish and wildlife habitat improvement, and pollution abatement.

Daniel Ryan Rios Delmar, N.Y. Graduated from Sacred Heart University in May 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in sports management and a minor in business administration.

Martin F. Smith Jr. McLean, Va. Received his master’s degree in science and thesis award from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in May 2015. Earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Virginia School of Architecture. Lives in Manhattan.

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ACHIEVEMENTS // For God and Country

For God and Country

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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. Recognize another Eagle by completing the form found at nesa.org/eaglegodandcountry.

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Pfc. Mark A. Baker U.S. Marine Corps

Lt. Troy Joseph Hagen U.S. Army

2nd Lt. Craig R. Roberts U.S. Army

Graduated from boot camp in San Diego, Calif., on Jan. 16, 2015. His next assignment is infantry training at Camp Pendleton in California. Began his Scouting career in Troop 1551, Fort Washington, Md., and completed his Eagle Scout rank with Troop 143 in Boerne, Texas.

Graduated in West Point Class of 2013 and branched Infantry. Stationed at Fort Benning, Ga.

Earned his Bachelor of Arts in biochemistry with a minor in chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in field artillery and will report to Fort Lewis, Wash., after 18 weeks of training at Fort Sill, Okla.

Brian R. Ballou Colorado Army National Guard Graduated from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo., with a Bachelor of Arts in photography and minor in military science. Completed the Army ROTC program at Colorado State University and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Adjutant General’s Corps, Colorado Army National Guard.

Pfc. Patrick Barre Casey U.S. Army Completed basic training and combat engineer training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. He is a combat engineer stationed in Kansas.

Sgt. Jared P. Davis U.S. Army Awarded the Army Commendation Medal for his service in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps for carrying out strategic and tactical intelligence analysis while assigned to the 782d Military Intelligence Battalion at Fort Meade, Md.

Seaman Patrick Foley U.S. Coast Guard After completing basic training at Cape May, N.J., Foley was selected to serve a two-year assignment to the U.S. Coast Guard Honor Guard in Alexandria, Va. Foley will also serve as a member of the Joint Service Honor Guard at official ceremonies around the country.

Lt. Col. Michael Glenn Hodges, M.D. U.S. Air Force Currently the 355th Aerospace Medical Squadron Commander at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz. Was recently selected for the rank of colonel, with his pin-on scheduled for September 2015. Is board-certified in family medicine, aerospace medicine and occupational medicine. Was previously stationed at McGuire Air Force Base in Wrightstown, N.J.; Ramstein Air Base in Germany; and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

Sgt. Daniel Honan U.S. Marine Corps In his five years as a Marine, has served as a mentor training new Marines stateside and in Qatar. Has been awarded the National Defense Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and two Sea Service ribbons.

2nd Lt. Philip D. Savitsky U.S. Air Force Graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in May 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in political science. Will start Undergraduate Pilot Training at Columbus Air Force Base, Columbus, Miss.

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Ensign Paul C. Stone U.S. Navy

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Graduated from Navy Officer Candidate School Newport, R.I., in November 2014. Assigned to Naval Aviator Flight School in Pensacola, Fla.

Seaman Christopher J. Wagner U.S. Coast Guard

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Serving our country on the USCGC Bertholf at the Coast Guard station in Alameda, Calif.

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Seaman William Alan Ostrow U.S. Navy Graduated from basic training and completed “A” school at the Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill. Serving aboard the USS Mason based out of Norfolk, Va.

Lt. Cpl. Dylan A. Place U.S. Marine Corps Graduated boot camp at Camp Pendleton in California as private first class and, while on leave, was married. Left three days later for combat training and has now been promoted to lance corporal. Is living with his wife in San Clemente, Calif.

1st Lt. Robert (Alexander) Walcott U.S. Army Graduated from West Point in 2011 with a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern studies. Received a bronze star for his service in Afghanistan, where he commanded a forward operating base.

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EAGLES’ CALL

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Family Affair // ACHIEVEMENTS

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. Recognize the Eagles in your own family by completing the form found at nesa.org/eaglefamilyaffair.

Ashton Family Easton, Pa.

Cieslewicz Family Wantagh, N.Y.

Dworkin Family Allendale, N.J.

R. Kline Ashton Sr. (1947), Robert K. Ashton III (2011), Ryan J. Ashton (2014) and R. Kline Ashton Jr. (1974)

Joseph T. Cieslewicz (2009) and Thomas P. Cieslewicz (2012)

Jonathan Dworkin (2009), Gregory Dworkin (2012), Fong Chin, Eric Dworkin (2014) and Marc Dworkin (1975)

Boone-Conklin Family Pinehurst, N.C.

Robert Boone (1972), Ed Conklin (1933) and Robert Boone Jr. (2013)

Clark Family Birmingham, Ala.

Eberly Family East Petersburg, Pa.

John B. Clark (2012), Charles R. Clark II (1996), Dick Clark, Carolyn Clark, Seth D. Clark (2014), Paul Clark (2007) and Trevor W. Clark (not pictured; 2003)

Dennis Eberly (1973) and Jeremy Eberly (2014)

Ferren Family Oklahoma City, Okla.

Doole Family San Diego, Calif.

Brow Family Bowie, Md.

Braden Ferren (2013) and Davin Ferren (2011)

Flora Family Wilmington, N.C.

Richard Brow (1974), Roger Brow (1980), Robert Brow (1977), Greg Brow (2014), Andrew Brow (2009) and Ben Fritter (2014)

Brown-Scheps Family Houston, Texas William Doole (1948), Jordan Doole (2013) and Bruce Doole (1980)

Dunn Family Wilmette, Ill. Trader Flora (2014), Dr. Mark Flora (1969) and Dr. Walter Flora (1934; not photographed, deceased)

Fox Family Cleveland, Ohio

Philip Scheps (1958), Rob Brown (2013), Kathleen Brown (Gold Award, 2012) and Jeff Brown (1986)

Chrislip Family Shelton, Conn. Robert Dunn (1943), Mark Dunn (1974), Keith Dunn (1979), Matthew Swartwout (2011), Joshua Dunn (2012) and Justin Dunn (2013) Kenneth Fox Jr. (1982), Robert Fox (1986), Matthew Fox (2013), Kenneth Fox Sr. (1962), Chris Fox (2011), Tim Fox (2013) and Floyd Fox (1932; photo inset, deceased) Gary Chrislip (1972) and Patrick Chrislip (2014)

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SPRING 2016

2/10/16 2:03 PM

ACHIEVEMENTS // Family Affair

Eagle Scouting Is a Family Affair

Gerrells Family Parker, Colo.

Howard Family Austin, Texas

Kassam Family Evergreen Park, Ill.

Tim Gerrells II (2004), David Gerrells (2009), Tim Gerrells, Michael Gerrells (2011), Stephen Gerrells (2012) and Pete Gerrells (2013)

John L. Howard Jr. (1977), John L. Howard III (2014) and John L. Howard Sr. (1951, Silver Beaver)

Farzaan Kassam (2009), Nabeel Kassam (2013) and  Al-Faraaz Kassam (2006)

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Hurley Family Glastonbury, Conn.

Leverenz Family Rocklin, Calif.

Edward D. Hurley (1956), Brad Hurley (1982), Spencer Hurley (2014) and Peter H. Hurley (1956)

Eric Leverenz (2011) and Austin Leverenz (2012)

Max Mur

Headley Family Jesup, Ga.

Robert Headley (1963), Lucas Headley (1993), Dr. William Headley Jr. (1980), William Headley III (2014), Matthew Headley (1988), Mitchell Headley (1983) and William Headley (1950)

Jaeger Family Northbrook, Ill.

Linkowsky Family Nazareth, Pa.

Holbrook Family Oregon City, Ore.

Craig Holbrook (1979), Jake Holbrook (2013) and Ed Holbrook (1956)

Matt Jaeger (1973), Ryan Jaeger (2015) and Mark Jaeger (1974)

A.J. Linkowsky (2010), Kathy Linkowsky, Michael Linkowsky (2013), Andrew Linkowsky (1979) and Frank Linkowsky (not pictured, 1978)

Tyle Pom

Jones Family Apex, N.C.

Loeliger Family West Chester, Pa.

Austin Jones (2012) and Adam Jones (2014)

Benjamin Loeliger (2007), Kevin Loeliger (2009), Austin Loeliger (2014) and Darrin Loeliger (2014)

Eric Rob

McClellan Family Springfield, Va.

Ethan McClellan (2014), James McClellan (1983) and Connor McClellan (2011)

Dav Ros

Holomshek Family Mount Sinai, N.Y.

Joseph Holomshek (2008), Patrick Holomshek (2012) and Andrew Holomshek (2014)

Justine Family Chiang Rai, Thailand

Hooley Family East Petersburg, Pa.

Judah Paige Justine (2014) and Levi Jaron Justine (2014) Francis Hooley (1948), Keenan Hooley (2014), Connor Hooley (2008), Collin Hooley (2010) and Thomas Hooley (1974)

EAGLES’ CALL

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Munnecke Family Chicago, Ill.

Shadid Family Oklahoma City, Okla.

Sterrett Family Noblesville, Del.

Will G. Munnecke (1959) and Will Thompson (2013). Not photographed: Robert C. Munnecke (1920)

Andrew Farha (2002), Christopher Farha (1998), Sam Shadid (1946), David Shadid (1984), Paul Shadid (2004) and Peter Shadid (2007)

Michael Sterrett (2011), Peter Sterrett (1973), Zach Sterrett (2014), John Sterrett (1944), Travis Sterrett (2014) and Patrick Sterrett (1983)

Sharkey Family Glen Head, N.Y.

Thomson Family Oconto Falls, Wis.

Christopher Sharkey (2011), Robert Sharkey (2014) and Charles Sharkey (2009)

Jared Thomson (2010), Adam Thomson (2012) and  John Thomson

Sheagren Family Burlington, Iowa

Toomer Family Corinth, Miss.

Joel Sheagren (1972), Craig Sheagren (1967), Eric Sheagren (2012), Adam Sheagren (2014), Roger Sheagren (1978) and Connor Sheagren (2009)

Joshua Denzel Toomer (2012) and Elijah Morgan Toomer (2014)

Murray Family Round Rock, Texas

Maxim Murray (2014), Shawn Murray (1988) and Kirill Murray (2014)

Pomposelli Family Chicago, Ill.

Tyler Pomposelli, James Pomposelli (1986) and Andrew Pomposelli (2013)

Robinson Family Nashport, Ohio

Wesner Family Fort Wayne, Ind.

Shores Family Omaha, Neb.

Eric Robinson (2005), Spencer Robinson (2011), Curtis Robinson (2013) and Jared Robinson (2014)

Ross Family Orleans, Ind.

Scot A. Wesner (1976), Steve J. Wesner (1953), Robert L. Punsky (1926; photo inset, deceased), Harrison G. Wesner (2014) and Christopher R. Wesner (1983)

Dillon Shores (2014), Michael Shores (2006), Pamela Shores, John Shores (1984) and Kevin Shores (2009)

Wick Family Bowling Green, Ohio

Simon Family Overland Park, Kan.

David Ross (2009), Matthew Ross (2014) and Andy Ross (2010) Benjamin Simon (2012), Richard Simon (1982) and Jacob Flekier (2013)

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Zachary Wick (2008), Sawyer Wick (2010), Logan Wick (2012) and Levi Wick (2014)

SPRING 2016

2/10/16 2:06 PM

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