The youth of our community simply astound me with their compassion and concern for others. As a member of the District Advancement Committee for the Boy Scouts, I have the opportunity to work with young men who seek the rank of Eagle.
In addition to fulfilling the troop leadership and merit badge requirements, an Eagle candidate must “plan, develop and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school or your community.”
Lower ranks, merit badges and troop leadership are approved by the troop. The service project, however, must be approved in advance by the District Advancement Committee, and a committee designee must attend the troop Board of Review and participate in the review of the project report and the decision to award the Eagle rank. It has been my privilege to serve in this capacity on many occasions.
Nate Stricklin is an example of the young men I have worked with during the past several years. Nate came to me in September 1993 for approval of his Eagle project. His planning was done and he was ready to lead a project to benefit the Ronald McDonald House.
Ronald McDonald House provides housing for children with terminal diseases and their parents. Nate’s plan was to record more than 50 stories, including “The Three Bears” and others on audiotapes for use by the children, their parents and the staff.
My reaction was “Wow, this is a great Eagle project, but are you sure you want to spend the time that it will take to provide the leadership that will be needed to have others read these stories?”
Nate said yes.
My next question was, “Nate, who will be in charge of quality control?”
His response: “I will.”
At that moment, I knew Nate would have to spend a lot of time getting commitments from volunteers to read the stories on tape and more time following up to be sure they fulfilled their commitments and even more time listening to the tapes himself in order to complete the project.
I was thinking this is a wonderful project, but it is too ambitious – Nate is a great kid, but this is way too much to expect of a fun-loving young man who will be a junior in high school with social and other activities. If it had been any other scout, I probably would have rejected the project and sent him back to his Eagle advisor with a suggestion that the project be modified to make it more manageable, but I knew that if anybody could do it, Nate could.
Nate is one of those very energetic young men who is always right in the middle of everything. He was one of the younger boys in the same troop with my son when I first met him. I watched him grow and mature, and it was an honor for me to work with him on his Citizenship Merit Badges.
It took almost a year, but Nate came back with a report that his project was complete. I met with the Troop Board of Review to check Nate’s records, examining his project report and interviewing him on the responsibilities that come with the award of the Eagle rank.
We found that Nate produced 18 cassette tapes containing 76 stories. The stories were read by seven fellow scouts, two teachers, five neighbors, four friends and his sister. Some of the stories were read in Spanish, and the books for many of the tapes were donated to Ronald McDonald House with a cassette player.
Nate wrote thank you notes to Sam’s Club and Best Buy for donating the cassette tapes, to Jesuit College Preparatory School for donating the books and to all the volunteers who worked on his project. He donated the cassette player himself. The way Nate presented himself to the adults serving on his Board of Review made it clear that Nate’s labor for others came from his heart. There can be no doubt that Nate has earned the rank of Eagle Scout and that he will bear the responsibilities that come with being known as an Eagle.
Nate’s story is remarkable, but it is only one of the many stories that can be told about members of this coming generation who are involved in Boy Scouts and service clubs. Just ask around your church, your school and other organizations in our community. These stories are legion.
