by James Barbato
Three Sterling teens, William Roseberry, a senior at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School, Michael Kush and Colin Smith, seniors at Wachusett Regional High School, were awarded the rank of Eagle Scout at a ceremony on Sunday, March 27, at the First Church in Sterling (sponsor of Troop 1), by their scoutmaster, Brian Toohey. Eagle Scout is the highest award a scout can earn. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) have strict criteria for this award. Each of the recipients must earn 21 merit badges and complete a final community service project. Of the 21 required merit badges, 13 are from a required list that includes camping, cooking, swimming (hiking or cycling), citizenship in the community, citizenship in the nation, citizenship in the world, communications, lifesaving or emergency preparedness, environmental science or sustainability, family life, first aid, personal fitness and personal management. The remaining eight required merit badges may be selected from an additional 123 available choices, depending on their personal interests of each individual scout. When Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1911, there were only 57 possible merit badges. Today that list has grown to 136, encompassing the many areas of science and technology that have developed since 1911.
Each Eagle Scout is also required to complete a final community service project whose goal is to give something back to their community. Each scout proposes a project which undergoes review and input from the scout leaders and approval from the various town boards or agencies whose areas their project will impact.
For his community service project, Colin Smith replaced a deteriorating mailbox post in front of Conant Public Library with a granite post. In addition, he planted trees and shrubs on the library’s front lawn. Michael Kush’s community service project entailed building raised planting boxes for the seniors to use at the Sterling Senior Center. William Roseberry’s project was to scrape and paint yellow a series of fire hydrants along Pratts Junction Road and Route 12. Although these hydrants are in Sterling, the yellow color (instead of red and white) denotes that they are the property of the town of Leominster.
According to Roseberry, Kush, and Smith, they gained valuable leadership skills because they needed to acquire materials, assemble volunteers to help with the physical labor, and manage their projects from start to completion.
Roseberry will attend the University of Massachusetts Lowell in September, and intends to major in civil engineering. Smith has been accepted at the University of Vermont. He has not yet decided on a major, but is leaning toward mathematics and business. Kush will attend the Colorado School of Mines, where he will major in civil engineering.
Sterling Meetinghouse News congratulates our new Eagle Scouts for their achievement.