A couple weeks ago we celebrated Drew’s accomplishment of earning Eagle Scout. Rob and I really wanted to make it special, so we spent a great deal of time. I hope to write some posts about Eagle Scout Ceremony planning, etc. in the future. Planning this Eagle Court of Honor was much like planning a wedding, so many little details. Our day kinda went like this; 8am church, 9am went to Golden Corral for a big breakfast since we weren’t going to eat lunch, 10am head back home so guys could pick up uniforms and any last minute things we remember (luckily we had already loaded the cars with everything since it was raining), 11am get to church and start unloading. We couldn’t start decorating and reorganizing room until church/Sunday School let out at noon. At noon, it was full force ahead. Everything went smoothly.
We added more chairs and got table situated so I could put up the display stuff. Alex set up their computer, which showed a slide show of Drew’s Eagle Scout project and displayed the notebook with his project workbook inside.
We had another table set up with all of Drew’s scout memorabilia (patches, neckerchiefs, pinewood derby cars from cub scouts, etc.) On the large screens at the front of the room was a slide show of pictures of Drew through his scouting career.
This is the area outside the room we had the ceremony in, where we were having the reception.
Drew had to make a trip back home for his neckerchief and then got back to the church and realized he had forgotten his belt too. His car wasn’t at the church and he doesn’t like to drive my car, so I volunteered to go home and get his his belt. There were about 35 people involved in the program and they were asked to get there at 1:30 for directions and going over program. Rob and Mr. B did a great job preparing everyone. The room started to fill up and I was still running around handling last minute details.
A little before 2pm, I handed over my camera to Mr. T who graciously volunteered to take pictures during the ceremony with my camera. We waited a few minutes after 2 to start, for any last minute stragglers.
The ceremony was a great success, because of all of the wonderful people that took part in the program. Here’s one of Drew’s friends telling a funny story about their time together at summer camp as Star Scouts.
Lots of funny stories and memories.
Troop 50’s Scoutmaster talks about Drew’s leadership.
Drew got a standing ovation at one point. Truly a proud parent moment.
I pinned Drew’s Eagle medal on.
Rob removed Drew’s neckerchief slide and put his Eagle Neckerchief slide on.
Then, Drew pinned a Mom and Dad pin on us.
After pinning them on us both times, we had the peanut gallery (Mr. B and Mr. T) telling Drew to “Hug Your Mom” or “Hug Your Dad”. Little funny memory.
Mr. B and Mr. T presented Drew with certificates, a NESA Membership, and letters of recognition.
The next part of the ceremony was what I had anxiously been waiting to hear. It was Drew’s turn to get up and talk, thank people, and give out mentor pins.
Here you see him pinning the first one he gave out, which was to Mr. P who was his Den Leader and Cubmaster in Cub Scouts.
He also gave one to Mr. T, who was always there to help him out.
Of course, he gave on to Mr. B, Scoutmaster, who Drew worked with closely during his 2 terms as SPL (Senior Patrol Leader) as well as countless campouts, trips, and their Philmont adventure back in 2013.
Lastly, Drew gave one to Rob, stating he has been his biggest fan, always pushing him to do more and to strive to be the best.
Our Associate Paster, BC, closed the ceremony in prayer.
After the ceremony, Drew got pictures with a few of his favorite people.
The reception was nice. People hung out and ate and talked until it was time to clean up and get out of the way for evening youth events.
More pics on flickr:
Eagle Court of Honor::Nov. 1, 2015
Here’s the troop’s very thorough account of the afternoon: ‘Trail to Eagle’ concludes with walk down memory lane for new Eagle Scout Andrew. At some point, we will have a video of the entire ceremony, which I’m really looking forward to seeing and sharing with y’all.