When Mona and Jeff Campbell moved to Teller County with their
sons three years ago, neighbors told them there were no Boy Scout
Troops in the area.
Of course, it didn’t take long to find out scouting had been a
part of Teller County since 1912. Troops 25, 230 and 43 hold
meetings every Tuesday evening in Woodland Park. The Cripple Creek
troop is in the process of being re-organized.
“Scouts just aren’t very visible,” said Mona Campbell.
However, they’re more visible than most people might suspect. As
part of the process of becoming Eagle Scouts, teen-age boys up to
age 18 have to plan and perform an Eagle Project.
These projects, which are all designed to help the scout’s
community, include the audio-visual enclosure in the Woodland Park
City Council Chamber, trail work, park improvements, painting,
re-modeling and other work. While the workers aren’t all that
visible, almost everyone has seen the work, sat on it, leaned on it
or benefited from it in some other way.
To make Eagle, a scout must already have a minimum of 21 merit
badges. Only about 2 percent of all Boy Scouts become Eagles. The
first in Teller County was George Miles, Cripple Creek, who became
an Eagle Scout in 1931. Since then almost 70 other boys have become
Eagles.
Troop 25 Scout Tyler Campbell, now 18, recently finished his
Eagle Project, which must be completed by a scout’s 18th birthday.
He made six wooden benches for Woodland Park and installed 300 feet
of fence on top of a retaining wall in Meadow Wood Sports
Complex.
Part of an Eagle Project includes contacting local officials to
see what is needed.
“I talked to David Buttery at the city of Woodland Park and he
gave me a list of public works suitable for a scout to do,” Tyler
said. “One of them was to paint a room at city hall but inside work
isn’t for me. I went with the outside work.”
He wrote a proposal to Buttery, which was approved after a few
changes were made, and then the real work started.
Once a project is chosen the prospective Eagle has to coordinate
all aspects of the project from planning and finding volunteers to
completing the work. Every step must be documented. In all, more
than 30 people helped Tyler with his project, which took a total of
295 hours to complete. Tyler and his group of volunteers built the
benches in the Woodland Park High School shop, using plans
submitted by the city public works department.
“I talked to friends, lined up help and took a lot of photos,”
he said. “In the final report I had to talk about what changes were
made during the project, what things could have been done better
and how long it took.”
The final report has to be received by the Pikes Peak Council
before the scout’s 18th birthday.
“It took me a month or so to set things up,” Tyler said. “I
started the project on Dec. 27 and finished the work on Dec. 30.
The paperwork had to be turned in by Jan. 4. I kind of waited until
the last possible minute.”
Shop class members finished the painting later because of
weather delays.
“If a student didn’t do an assignment, the shop teacher handed
him a brush and said get busy,” Tyler said.
Once the paperwork is accepted by the local council, it is sent
to a board of review, which asks the scout questions and decides if
the project qualifies. Then the paperwork is sent on to the BSA
national headquarters, which issues a certificate. An Eagle Scout
induction ceremony is then held.
Tyler’s induction will take place soon, his mother said. Tyler’s
younger brother, Chase, 12, is a Webelo Scout.
Four other scouts have made Eagle in the last few months –
Alexander Haase, Benjamin Naples, Scott Ostrowski and Colin
Bornmann, all of Troop 230.
For more information about scouting call the council at
634-1584.
The following information is available from the Pikes Peak
Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
Scouts account for:
* 64 percent of Air Force Academy graduates
* 68 percent of West Point graduates
* 70 percent of Annapolis graduates
* 85 percent of FBI agents
* 26 of the first 29 astronauts
What happens to a Scout? For every 100 boys who join scouting,
records indicate that:
* rarely will one be brought before the juvenile court
system.
* two will become Eagle Scouts.
* 17 will become future scouting volunteers.
* 12 will have their first contact with a church, synagogue, or
mosque through scouting.
* one will enter the ministry
* five will earn their faith’s religious award.
* 18 will develop a hobby that will last through their adult
life.
* eight will enter a vocation that was learned through the
merit-badge program.
* one will use his scouting skills to save his own
life.
* one will use his scouting skills to save the life of another
person.
(From “The Eagle Court of Honors” by Mark Ray).
The scouting Arrow of Light is the only civilian honor that can
be worn on a military uniform.