Canton’s Newest Eagle Scout
By Guest
By Russ Polsgrove, Assistant Scoutmaster
It started with a phone call, “Would you be the Tiger Cub den leader? Don’t worry, you’ll only have seven first grade boys, but they will have a parent with them.” I figured how hard could it be? Nine years later, my Spencer has 140 nights camping — from battleships to winter shelters, in eight states from Maine to D.C. — nine weeks of summer camp, 51 merit badges, myriad community service hours, and an untold number of meals over the fire. The sum total is Troop 77’s newest Eagle Scout. And at only 15, there are plenty of tents to be pitched, rivers to run, and summits to climb before turning 18.
In the first years of scouting, cubs are drilled simply to “Do Your Best.” As a Boy Scout, it becomes “Be Prepared” and “Do a Good Turn Daily.” When Spencer became a Webelo, the cubmaster handed each member of his new patrol a scout coin in a quiet ceremony. The coin read, “Secretly transfer me to your right pocket each day after your good turn has been done.” The coin lies in a drawer now, the lesson well learned.
The last hurdle for any prospective Eagle is to perform as project manager and carry out an approved service project benefiting his school, church or community. Spencer chose to remodel the garden shed adjacent to the newly reclaimed English garden at the Museum of American Bird Art at Mass Audubon in Canton. As the Scorpion Patrol Leader, Spencer and company had worked with Steve Landry, property manager at the museum, on several occasions after school — moving brush piles and dirt piles, marking and clearing the trails, and assembling picnic tables. The shed renovation fit the bill. Built from a kit in the 1950s, it was overgrown, rotting in places, and had broken flower boxes and windows panes. Perfect for a makeover — Boy Scout style!
On a brisk Saturday morning in October, Spencer directed 20 scouts and six adults from Troop 77 as they cut away the overgrowth, built lattice skirts, removed rotten wooden gutters, re-laid the stone thresholds, re-glazed the windows, replaced rotten trim, and applied two coats of paint. At one point, one of the helpers sent dad to the lumber yard for two more sheets of lattice, only to find that the Eagle candidate had planned correctly and they would not be needed. The day ran smoothly because Spencer was prepared.
This summer Spencer will return to the Old Colony Council’s Camp Squanto in Plymouth for his second year on staff as a lead scout. He will do his best and share his love for the outdoors and of scouting with those younger boys following their path to Eagle.
The three pillars of scouting are character development, citizenship training, and mental and physical fitness. Troop 77 meets weekly at St. John the Evangelist on Washington Street in Canton. To join or find more information, go to www.cantontroop77.com.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=18830
Posted by Guest
on Feb 6 2013. Filed under Photo Gallery.
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