Saratoga News
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11 Boy Scouts in Saratoga troop soar to highest honor as Eagles
By Shannon Burkey
Together they have earned 231 merit badges, held numerous leadership positions, and completed more than 2,000 hours of community service. But for the 11 members of Saratoga Boy Scout Troop 535 who have attained the rank of Eagle Scout, it's all just another day of scouting.
The 11 boys are being honored this month for making Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America organization. In fact, the rank is so elite that only 4 percent of all boys who enter scouting ever make it that far, according to assistant scoutmaster Howard Miller.
"Anyone who has been in scouting knows this is unprecedented," Miller said. "And it is definitely unprecedented in the nearly 40-year history of our troop."
Typically, a troop will have two, maybe three, Eagle Scouts a year, Miller said. But at the end of 2006, Anthony Caselli, John Caselli, Max Crotty and Brian Freund all earned the rank. In the first half of 2007 Jason Beyers, Michael Byrne, Justin Jacobs, Phil Leitzell, Grant Olson, Yale Shih and James Sproch joined them.
"The achievement of this prestigious award by 11 Scouts in one troop is a testimony to the leadership of the troop and the result of a sincere and dedicated effort by each of the Scouts being honored," Miller said.
For a Scout to make his Eagle rank, he must earn a minimum of 21 merit badges, hold leadership positions in the troop and complete a community service project that entails a minimum of 100 hours of planning, organization and direct effort.
"It's a sacrifice," said Olson. "Every merit badge takes between 10 to 50 hours to complete, and the average community service project is between 150 to 200 hours."
Olson's community project, digitally cataloguing all of the graves in Madronia Cemetery, took 300 hours. But it was time well spent and through the entire process of getting his Eagle Scout badge, he said he learned how to make himself a better person.
"Eagle Scout is kind of an award that we have lived the scout oath and honor in our daily lives and gone beyond what our peers are doing," Olson said.
Many of the Scouts from Troop 535, known as the Trailblazers, who earned their Eagle Scout badge said they believe they made it to this point because of the friendships they have with each other.
Of the four Scouts who earned the Eagle rank at the end of last year, three began together when they were 6 years old and the fourth joined them in middle school. Out of the other seven, six began together as Cub Scouts when they were 7. Today, the majority of the boys are 18 and either graduated from high school last year or are graduating this year.
"A lot of these boys started together and they feed on each other--they've been at it for 10 years," said Joe Beyers, scoutmaster and father of one of the boys. "When they were in the second grade, I was hoping they would all make it this far. It takes a lot of determination, but they made it."
Jason Beyers said having his friends around him has been a huge support as they all strove for Eagle rank.
"We came in as friends, and I think our biggest driving force has been having our friends around us," he said. "It's a lot easier to push and encourage each other when you know each other so well."
As friends earned certain badges John Caselli said it would serve as a reminder to them to keep pace with each other until they all reached their ultimate goal.
"We wanted to reach Eagle Scout because we felt like we committed to it a long time ago. You put enough time in that you don't want to back out," Caselli said. "It has been one of the best experiences of my life. It's tremendous what it can do for you in terms of leadership and life skills."
