Ten young Lafayette men are now Eagle Scouts.
During a Court of Honor ceremony at Our Lady of Fatima Church today, the scouts receive the highest rank achievable in the Boy Scouts Program.
This is the first time in years there have been so many young men become Eagles in one ceremony.
Achieving the Eagle Scout ranking requires that one earn 21 badges, undergo several years of training and commitment and spear-head a large final project.
“I re-striped the parking lot at KC, knights of Columbus, for Fatima. Our parking lot was just deteriorated so I just re painted the lines. I added to handicapped parking spots to bring the building up to code and meet ADA standards,” said Christopher Chase, an Eagle Scout.
On Sunday, Chase, along with nine other Scouts aged 13 to 18, took on one of their last adventures in Boy Scouts: officially becoming an Eagle.
“There’s just little things that you don’t think that you would need that I’ve learned that I’ve been able to help people with,” Chase said. “Like tying up a hammock at the horse farm, to starting a fire when its raining with my buddies at a camp, tying up a boat, there’s just so many things that you don’t think about until you need it. I’m happy to say that I know what I’m doing.”
Billy McCarthy, Scoutmaster Troop 446, said it’s a rewarding adventure for the adults as well.
“You start out with them to where they might be homesick on a camp out and not doing that well,” he said. “They cut their fingers… then they get to the point to where they handle themselves and they’re actually working with you to make things a success, and then you’re really proud at that point ”
McCarthy says that, on average, four out of every 100 scouts receive the Eagle Scout rank. So having 10 in one ceremony is exceptional.
“It’s determination you gotta want to finish,” Chase says. “You gotta strive to be– it’s a very select group and its hard but at the same time you just have to put time into it. You got to love it.”
