By Dan Domsic
According to a national statistic from the Boy Scouts of America, when a boy signs up for a Boy Scouts program, there is only a one in 20 chance that he will reach the highest rank it offers – Eagle Scout.
But last year, local Troop 199 beat those odds. Fifteen of the troop’s 120 scouts attained the Eagle Scout honor.
To achieve Eagle Scout, a Scout must earn a number of merit badges, climb five ranks, spend time in a leadership role and complete a service project.
“The fact that we had 15 Eagles this year really represents the program that these guys (the Scouts) developed works,” Scoutmaster Bryan Spellman said.
Much of the troop’s meetings are run by the Scouts themselves, moving from station to station in groups.
Venture outside of the troop meetings and involvement can be seen in those needed Eagle projects.
They’re located all over Fishers and in other locales in central Indiana – like Ritchey Woods Nature Preserve, Hamilton Southeastern High School, Come to Me Food Pantry, Northview Christian Church and Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville – to name a handful.
The projects include an element of leadership in organizing people, with twenty or thirty volunteers being typical of some of the projects.
One of last year’s Eagle Scouts, Adam Hoernschmeyer, built concrete launching platforms for Northview Christian Church’s Frisbee golf course.
He said learning how to coordinate and assign people to do the jobs they were best at was the biggest lesson he learned through the project.
Spellman said the Scouts in Troop 199 had the ability to take advantage of different opportunities through the troop’s district that give them the chance to learn and teach skills, as well as service opportunities and activities from the troop.
“If they come to Scouting and want to be here and take advantage of all those opportunities, they can’t help but achieve their goals,” he said.
Info Box: Troop 199 Eagle Scouts, class of 2012
Peter Flockenhaus, Andrew Pensinger, Griffin Hobson, Mark Schulte, John Erickson, Justin Edens, Andrew Becker, Jacob Lebrock, Andrew Batdorf, Alex Brinker, Adam Hoernschemeyer, Kendall Mason, T.J. Faulconer, David Ratts and Kyle Pratt