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| Gary Exelby photo Steven E. Kent, Jr., Troop 200's newest Eagle Scout, lights candles to commemorate each part of the Scout Law as scout master Robert Martin reads the law during Kent's Court of Honor on Saturday. |
The Eagles just keep on hatching.
Steven E. Kent, Jr. of Boy Scout Troop 200 is the newest Eagle Scout, installed in the highest Scout rank in a Court of Honor last Saturday at sponsoring First United Methodist Church in Dexter. Kent, the 16-year-old son of Steve and Stephanie Kent, is the third Eagle Scout installed in Troop 200 since May and one of five currently in the troop.
En route to the top rank, Kent has earned 39 merit badges, well over the 21 minimum to be considered for Eagle Scout. Of the 21, 12 had to be in specified areas, as required for the rank.: Camping, Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in the World, Communications, Emergency Preparedness, Environmental Science, First Aid, Swimming, Financial Management, Personal Management, Personal Fitness, Family Life.
As reported previously in the Daily Statesman, Kent also completed a community service project posting signs identifying some 30 species of trees on the nature trail at Lake Wappapello State Park.
But that's not all. "Steven has served in every leadership position there is in this troop," said Scoutmaster Robert Martin. "He was always leading, and he was always there."
Martin added Kent had even filled in for him on a recent trip to the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. "I didn't go to summer camp," he said, "so you acted as senior patrol leader."
And such leadership, Martin continued, is only as it should be. "You are a marked man," he told Kent as he administered the Eagle Scout oath to him.
"You have become a guide to other scouts, and if you falter it will reflect upon not just upon you but upon Scouting."
Martin continued by saying, however, that he was always confident that scouts would always rise to the leadership challenge. "It never surprises me to see the older scouts helping the younger ones," he said.
Kent, who entered scouting as a Tiger Scout in 1996, made the transition from Cub Scout to Boy Scout by earning the Arrow of Light in February 2001.
According to information made available by the troop and also posted on the Boy Scouts website, only about one scout in 50 achieves Eagle Scout rank. Currently Troop 200 has five such top-ranked scouts: Kent, Tyler Gillespie, Greg Ulm, Steve Ulm and Wesley Rogers.
Famous people who were once Eagle Scouts include President Gerald Ford; astronauts Neil Armstrong, James Lovell and William McCool; Wal-mart founder Sam Walton, filmmaking legend Steven Spielberg, and Superman author Jay North.