In the United States, only about four percent of all Boy Scouts go on to become Eagle Scouts. These Eagle Scouts live their lives by the Scout Oath and Law during their daily lives. An Eagle Scout has the twelve characteristics listed in the Scout Law, some of which are trustworthiness, loyalty, thriftiness and helpfulness. To work through the ranks of Boy Scouts and eventually become an Eagle Scout takes dedication and hard work.

A number of students at Revere have taken on the challenge through their years in school to work towards the honor of becoming an eagle.

Senior Eric Dye, an Eagle since 2017, summarized a part of the process a Scout must go through in order to become an Eagle Scout.

“You have to earn twenty-one merit badges, eleven of which are Eagle required, and then ten other miscellaneous badges. Then you have to complete a big service project benefiting some sort of charity, nonprofit, school or church and you have to come up through the ranks. [The ranks include] Scout, tenderfoot, second class, first class, star, life, and then eagle, and for each of those ranks you need to have a certain number of merit badges and a certain amount of leadership time,” Dye said.

Eric Matheny, Scoutmaster of Troop 385 in Bath, went on to explain the service Eagle project and the remaining section of the process, getting approved to become an Eagle Scout.

“You come up with a project that you want to do and you work it through from the idea phase to planning, to completion, and implementing it. You have to show leadership during the project, so it’s not just doing the whole project yourself, but you have to involve other people and lead them. Then you have a Scoutmaster’s conference, where you reflect back on your experience and then you have an Eagle board of review, which is an adult group of volunteers who talk to you about your life aspirations and all of the work you’ve done as a Scout. [After that,] you’re an Eagle Scout,” Matheny said.

Senior Dylan Kostar, an Eagle Scout since August of 2018, explained the process of completing the Eagle Scout project includes planning, fundraising for materials which can only be purchased with donations, getting permission to carry out the project, and doing the labor to complete the project of the Scout’s choice along with volunteers.

For his Eagle project, Junior David Warburton, a one-year Eagle Scout, rebuilt the sandbox and horseshoe pits at Bath Community Center. He explained the manual labor during the project took about five hours, but the preparation for the project ended up making the total time put into completing the project equal about seventy hours.

Warburton shared how being an Eagle Scout has influenced him so far.

“It’s a badge of honor that a certain group of people share. Once you know they’re an Eagle Scout, you know they work hard and that they’re respectable and honest. . . . Being an Eagle Scout gave me a ton of opportunities and scouting, in general, was very influential on my life. I got to meet a ton of interesting, new people [such as] the Chief Justice of Ohio, both senators of Ohio, the Secretary of State, and the guy who invented Purell,” Warburton said.

Matheny mentioned what he would say to someone working to achieve the Eagle Scout name.

“It’s not easy, but it’s something that if you put your mind to it, then it’s definitely achievable and it’s something that you will be glad you did for the rest of your life,” Matheny said.

Matheny talked about how being an Eagle Scout could potentially benefit an individual while looking for a job.

“[Being an Eagle Scout] really does set you apart from other people. Typically, if we see that someone is an Eagle Scout on a resume, that’s going to set them apart. I’ve interviewed and hired hundreds of people throughout my career and I can attest that if I see Eagle Scout applications or a resume, I am definitely going to take a strong look at that person and I’m going to assume that they have high moral character,” Matheny said.

Senior Cameron Crouse, an Eagle Scout since July 31, 2017, Cameron Crouse discussed his Eagle project, a camp for all Revere and local youth  lacrosse players, and talked about his hope to inspire the youth lacrosse players to continue the sport throughout high school.

“Most people choose to build something for their project, but I chose to do something close to my heart. I chose to set up a three-day lacrosse camp for the youth club at Revere, and any other kids that were interested in playing. My hopes were to encourage kids to stick with lacrosse throughout their middle school and high school careers,” Crouse said.

Crouse explained why he wanted to become an Eagle Scout and also touched on the fact that being an Eagle Scout continues after eighteen.

“Being an Eagle Scout doesn’t stop once you turn eighteen, you will always hold the title of Eagle Scout throughout your life. It also is a great thing to put on a resume,” Crouse said.

Senior Alex Papouras has been an Eagle Scout since February 2019. He is in troop 385 and was the Senior Patrol Leader for six months; he mentioned what he did for his Eagle Scout project.

“For my project, I built a picnic table and benches for the Sree Venkateswara temple in Richfield,” Papouras said.

Papouras explained the various lessons that Boy Scouts can teach someone. Papouras also mentioned that he did not always plan on becoming an Eagle Scout, but as he aged he realized the importance of the award.

“Boy Scouts teaches you a lot of valuable skills, such as leadership skills, first aid, and survival skills. At first, I did not want to be an Eagle Scout and was fine with just camping and hanging out with friends. As I got older, I realized that Eagle Scout was a very prestigious award and that I would be letting myself down if I did not achieve it,” Papouras said.

Although the percentage of Eagle Scouts out of all Scouts is low, millions of Scouts have worked their way up to the Eagle rank with dedication and by showing leadership. A number of Revere students have earned this ranking as they completed their duties and continuously stayed motivated Eagle Scouts are expected to be brave, courteous and obedient, and live by the Scout Law every day of their lives.

Eagle Scouts at Revere include Dylan Kostar, Eric Dye, David Warburton, Cameron Crouse, Alex Papouras, Nick Dye, Dan McAlister, Noah Vongratana, Michael Tomechko.