In late September an Eagle Court will celebrate a tight-knit group of nearly a dozen Harvard young men who have earned the honor of becoming Eagle Scouts; it is one of the largest groups of Scouts in town history to attain Scouting’s highest rank.
In coming weeks, the Press will be spotlighting each candidate and their project in a series of vignettes. This year’s candidates, 11 in all, are Mike Arata, Jack Babcock, Christian Lancellotti, Sawyer Madison, Tucker Madison, Alex Myles, Scott Patuto, John Wilkins, John Zobbi, Matt Zobbi, and Tim Zobbi. A separate ceremony was held in June for Michael Bretz, who earned the rank of Eagle Scout earlier this year.
“You don’t typically see this many [Eagle Scouts] coming up all at once, but these kids have been all together in the program for about 10 years now,” said Gary Madison, scoutmaster of Troop 1 in Harvard, adding that most of the Scouts joined in first grade. “It’s pretty exciting for a little town like Harvard to be doing something like this.”
To earn the highest attainable rank of Eagle Scout, each candidate is required to complete an extensive service project that benefits the community, a school, or a religious institution. Eagle Scout candidates must have earned 21 merit badges, including 14 required merit badges, such as first aid, cooking, and citizenship in the community.
Scoutmaster Madison said the purpose of the Scouts’ projects is to “put them in the position of learning to lead in a program management capacity and leave with the satisfaction of knowing they made a lasting impact on the community.” Some projects can take up to one year to complete.
This year’s group of candidates produced a variety of projects spanning different interests and needs. Tucker Madison invested 102 hours in building dog beds for Buddy Dog, a humane society facility in Sudbury that cares for and places homeless dogs and cats. Alex Myles designed and built a new paddle board rack system for the town beach, and Matt Zobbi created a series of navigational signposts at the start of several conservation trails in town.
“A lot of what we try to find in each project is something the individual Scout feels very passionate about,” said Scoutmaster Madison. He explained that part of Scouting is to “test out different careers and fun things they enjoy doing in life, and see how they can start applying that to be prepared for their broader role in the world.”
The Eagle Court of Honor will take place Sept. 24 at the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall. Scoutmaster Madison said he expects several Bromfield teachers to be in attendance, as they have been an integral part of each Scout’s learning and preparation for life.
