Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout

Generations of scouts band together for project

Troop 342 Scoutmaster Lovett Bennett Jr., front, recruits scouts Brayan Escudero, 16, Durden Gagel, 18, and David Olson, 18, left, to play tug-of-war with some vines while clearing growth from around the old Wilson Cemetery off of Old Register Way. All three scouts are at different stages, with Olson having just become an Eagle Scout, Gagel having completed all of the requirements and waiting for his board of review, and Escudero participating when he has time between work and school.

W tugging — Troop 342 Scoutmaster Lovett Bennett Jr., front, recruits scouts Brayan Escudero, 16, Durden Gagel, 18, and David Olson, 18, left, to play tug-of-war with some vines while clearing growth from around the old Wilson Cemetery off of Old Register Way. All three scouts are at different stages, with Olson having just become an Eagle Scout, Gagel having completed all of the requirements and waiting for his board of review, and Escudero participating when he has time between work and school.

The service project is one of the key — and last — steps to earning the ultimate achievement in the Boy Scouts of America program: the rank of Eagle Scout. When Cross Womack, 16, started planning his project, it signified not only the end of the Eagle Scout process for him, but the end of a legacy and a partnership. Because Statesboro Primitive Baptist Church decided to withdraw as the troop’s sponsoring organization due to differences between the church and the Boy Scouts of America national organization, the charter for Troop 342 will end Dec. 31, and Womack is likely to become the troop’s last Eagle Scout.

Life

Life