These Eagles are grounded in hard work, perseverance

Jefferson Citians among 200 Eagle Scouts honored at Capitol

About 200 Eagle Scouts gathered in the Capitol Rotunda for special recognition.
About 200 Eagle Scouts gathered in the Capitol Rotunda for special recognition.

About 200 Eagle Scouts from across the central and northeastern parts of Missouri were recognized Monday afternoon in the Rotunda of the Capitol for having attained their rank in 2016.

Eagle Scout is the highest rank achievable in Boy Scouts of America (BSA). The recognition ceremony Monday was the annual one for the BSA's Great Rivers Council, which covers an area of the state that more or less encompasses counties between Sedalia, Lake of the Ozarks and Owensville in the south, Bowling Green and Hannibal to the east, Kirksville and the Iowa border in the north and Marshall to the west.

All of the Eagle Scouts recognized Monday received a certificate and a commemorative pocket knife.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft gave the keynote speech of the ceremony. Ashcroft is himself an Eagle Scout.

"It's no easy feat to be an Eagle Scout,"
Ashcroft said before congratulating all of the young men in attendance.

Eagle Scout Brian Kirchhoff of Jefferson City said that to attain his rank "it takes a wide
variety of talents that you have to acquire." He added that it also takes qualities like hard work and perseverance - character traits people often talk about when it comes to activities like sports, but they apply to scouting, too.

Kirchhoff is a junior at Helias Catholic High School.

The mastery of acquired talents is reflected in scouting by earning merit badges. In addition to other requirements, Kirchhoff explained that it takes 21 merit badges to become an Eagle Scout - available from activities of "anything from basket weaving to nuclear science."

"The Boy Scouts has something for everyone," he added. He noted that there is a stereotype of Scouts that "you have to love the outdoors, and you're constantly going camping or fishing, but that's not necessarily true." He said the Scouts offer activities like game-designing, horseback riding, swimming - a "whole variety of different areas."

There are more than 135 available merit badges. Kirchhoff said the ones that mean the most to him out of what he's earned are climbing, lifesaving and first aid. "I'm actually wanting to go into the medical field, and those subjects were just very personally interesting."

Eagle Scout Ben Scott, of Jefferson City, explained that his favorite badges out of those he's earned are oceanography, pioneering and climbing. Scott is a senior at Jefferson City High School.

He explained that oceanography is one of the rarest badges to earn, and he got it by doing activities at an aquarium in Omaha, Nebraska. His love of knots helped him with his pioneering and climbing merit badges.

"I know a knot for every situation," he said, with a knowledge of over 100 ways to tie rope he said he always has on him.

"A lot of them take at least four hours" to complete, Kirchhoff said of the time that goes into attaining merit badges, but some take three months or more. Scouts have to document and verify all the work and communications related to attaining their badges, too.

"Anything worthwhile takes a decent amount of time," he said, adding that "it's worth the time that it takes though."

That goes for service projects, too; as another requirement in order to attain the rank of Eagle Scout, scouts have to plan, develop and lead a service project that helps a religious institution, school or other part of their community.

Scott designed and built understage storage trundles for items like chairs and Christmas decorations at Moreau Heights Elementary School. He said it took a lot of long nights, as it became "a full-on engineering project."

"I'm so glad I got to do it, nonetheless."

Kirchhoff designed and built three benches for people to use at St. Martin Catholic Church. The benches are made of stained cedar, and sit outside during the warmer months of the year.

Both he and Scott urge boys to give scouting a chance.

"Find something you like to do and pursue it in Scouts," Scott said, adding that learned skills will be useful for the rest of his life, and he had opportunities to receive leadership courses that he would have had to pay for otherwise.

Scott's younger brother Jacob was at the ceremony Monday in his Boy Scout uniform. He's an eighth-grader at Lewis and Clark Middle School, and said he's proud to have two older brothers now who are Eagle Scouts. He hopes to join them someday in the rank.

According to the National Eagle Scout Association, other notable Eagle Scout alums include former New York City Mayor and billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg, former NASA astronaut James Lovell, Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient Mitchell Paige and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield.