But on Tuesday evening, three young men will receive the highest award Boy Scouting bestows. The honorees, Brent Layman, Harry Simons and Tyler Davis, are being recognized for long hours of community service and long years of dedication to self-improvement and leadership.
Along the way, the three have mastered such disparate skills as cooking chicken soup and apple cobbler outdoors in subzero temperatures, rock climbing through a fear of heights and mastering America's most common phobia: speaking in public. They've taken hikes of 50 miles through Olympic National Park and built platforms capable of supporting 20 people with nothing but logs and rope.
All three of the new Eagles have been in Missoula-area scouting for 10 years. They belong to Troop 1911, which has 28 members. All three are 15 and attend Sentinel High School.
A major component of the Eagle award is the personal project. Layman refurbished 16 picnic tables at the U.S. Forest Service campground in Pattee Canyon. Simons did maintenance work at the Poverello Center. And Davis rebuilt 14 picnic tables at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. Each project used up about four weeks of free time, they said.
"I always liked going to the fort for school field trips and I noticed the tables were in bad shape," Davis said. "I asked if they wanted me to do it and they said yes."
Leading up to that, each boy had to progress through the six ranks of Boy Scouts and earn a minimum of 21 merit badges. Each merit badge is like a mini research project, ranging from first aid techniques and backpacking to cinematography and entrepreneurship.
While more than 1 million boys have reached Eagle rank since scouting was incorporated in 1910, that represents barely 4 percent of the youths who've participated in Boy Scouts. Layman said most of his colleagues peaked out between the fourth and fifth ranks of scouting. For him, achieving the Eagle badge also opens doors to future goals. He plans to attend the Culinary Institute of America, one of the nation's most exclusive cooking academies.
"The Eagle puts my foot in the door," said Layman, who is famous for his Dutch-oven enchiladas on campouts. "You've got to have a high GPA and lots of extracurricular activities. The Eagle pretty much covers that."
Much of the success comes from Troop 1911's high adult involvement. Parent Janis Davis said the teachers at Meadow Hill and Washington middle schools and Sentinel made resources available for the boys to work on merit badges.
Other troop leaders contributed dozens of weekends leading camping trips, canoe floats and community service projects at places like the Missoula Food Bank and Railroad Days at Fort Missoula.
"I like the fact they have all these survival skills," Janis Davis said. "I know if they ever run off the road, they know what to do."
Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com
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