THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 14, 1996 TAG: 9604100040
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 157 lines
FELT COOL as a cucumber, he said later.
Didn't look it. Ramrod straight, Will Wyndham snapped to attention. His notebook, Boy Scout manual and cap were crushed in one white-knuckled fist. The other hand was jammed behind his back. Rows of badges on a sash across his olive green shirt heaved with every breath.
Then came the words he'd waited six years to hear: ``Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you William Wyndham. I highly recommend him for the rank of Eagle Scout.''
A last test for Will Wyndham: His Eagle Scout Board of Review.
It was a rite of passage for one young man, nearly old hat for Troop 417, a unit that turns out Eagles faster than you can say, ``On my honor.''
Eight of the troop's 25 members will make Eagle, scouting's ultimate honor, this year. Five have already claimed the title that marks them as leaders and high achievers. Three, maybe four more plan to follow in the next few months.
It's a remarkable feat, considering the national average - for every 100 boys who register in Cub and Boy Scouts only two will reach this pinnacle.
This Virginia Beach troop's rate of advancement sounds like a novelty even to the leadership at Boy Scouts of America Tidewater Council. About 4,000 Boy Scouts are members in 185 Boy Scout troops in this area. The council encompasses Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Norfolk and seven counties in North Carolina.
``About 85 Eagles a year is the average for this area. So this troop would have 10 percent of the Eagles this year,'' said Rick Fessenbecker, the council's assistant scout executive. Fessenbecker, an Eagle Scout himself, has been involved in scouting professionally for 14 years. ``I don't think I've ever heard of eight in one year out of one troop making it.''
The flight to the top begins simply enough.
Lured into scouting by the tantalizing idea that they would get to sleep in the woods in a tent, many boys got their start like Chris Searfino did when he was 11.
``Camping was the big attraction,'' recalled the 16-year-old. ``And they told us we'd get a free knife.''
There was camping. And backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. Caving, rock climbing, canoeing in Maine and Canada. Skiing, summer camps and badges to work on that covered every topic from archery to home repairs to citizenship to environmental science.
Then there were manly tests like the Order of the Arrow, a scouting ordeal that takes you into the woods, alone, to work all day in silence and eat bad food in the rain with nothing but a sleeping bag.
Stuff like that builds character, cements friendships, makes men out of boys and leads them to set their sights on Eagle rank.
By then only the most determined are left. The distractions of the teen years have already sifted wheat from chaff.
``From age 12 to 16, boys change,'' said Gordon Faison, whose son, Tripp, is an Eagle in the troop. ``Their interests change. Perfume and gasoline come into play.''
To reach Eagle, boys need both a clear focus and lots of help. Scouting can be a long commitment - the trip from Cub Scout to Eagle can take eight years.
Troop 417's scoutmaster, Tom Haddaway, says reaching the elite rank begins at home.
``It goes back to the old story of the family unit,'' Haddaway said. ``As long as you have parental support, these kids have all the opportunities and can get ahead.''
Parents like Haddaway see a long-term benefit to the leadership skills Scouts learn.
``It's that early achievement in scouting that will be important in their future,'' he said. ``You'll read about these kids, that they'll be in the upper levels of society. The leaders of tomorrow, they'll be these kids.''
Troop 417 is full of boys who are already standouts in their schools and communities, a trait fairly typical of Eagle Scouts. Their interests - competitive swimming, membership in other scouting organizations, school clubs - added to the activities in the troop, means keeping gas in the family car.
``Most parents have to be involved,'' agreed Larry Adler, whose son Josh is leader of the troop. Just providing transportation to and from activities, said Adler, can be a hefty investment of time.
Fessenbecker suspects positive peer pressure and a closeness in this troop might be pushing its members toward the prize.
It's true, said DeWitt Davis, who has known many of the boys for a dozen years and was their scoutmaster before stepping down a year ago. ``It's kind of like a cohort, like in traffic, a group that all moves together through the lights.'' Many of the boys in Troop 417 have been together since starting Cub Scouts in elementary school.
Davis' new position is district advancement chairman and the Boy Scout council's representative for all Eagle Board Reviews. It's given him a glimpse of other troops in action. The difference, he says, is that members and adult leaders in Troop 417 emphasize advancement.
``We were always working on a merit badge or two as part of the program. Most kids earn their merit badges at camp, but these guys got their swimming badges here and when they got to camp, went on to their canoeing badges.''
The Monday evening Wyndham's six-member board met on the floor above them, this clutch of boys gathered like always in a social hall of St. Andrews United Methodist Church in Virginia Beach's Kempsville section.
Some new Eagles in the troop knew exactly what was happening upstairs in this final meeting between Wyndham and a panel of Scout officials and adult professionals who make up the review committee.
``You really sweat it out,'' said Nathan Haddaway. The 14-year-old high school freshman is the present scoutmaster's son. ``It's basically like a big test.''
And once the questions are over, questions that affirm a candidate's leadership ability, his willingness to admit his shortcomings, his ability to assess his strengths and weaknesses, there is the wait for the decision the panel makes behind closed doors.
``They took 15 minutes for him,'' said Tripp Faison, 16, nodding at Haddaway. ``They took 30 for me.''
To get to this point, there's a final test - the Eagle project, an exercise in leadership, project planning, management and volunteerism.
For his, Josh Adler designed and installed a nine-station exercise course at the Southeastern Virginia Training Center in Chesapeake. Chris Searfino, 16, designed a greenhouse and is organizing its installation at the same state facility for people with disabilities.
Even after pulling off man-sized jobs, Scouts aren't necessarily overly popular at school.
Tyler Cooke, a sophomore at Kempsville High School, has a chest full of badges, 40, the most in the troop. But, said the Eagle Scout, his classmates aren't impressed.
In fact, said Tripp Faison, ``We get looked down upon.''
``They still think it's the help the grandmother across the street thing,'' said Michael Pariser, 15. A freshman at Norfolk Academy, he plans to make Eagle by summer's end.
Not until he says he's an Eagle does he get any respect. He figures he knows why.
``Eagles have a reputation for being the elite few and you want to be a part of the elite few,'' said Haddaway.
Upstairs, Wyndham was about to enter the exclusive club. Slouched on the floor in the hall, he waited while his board conferred behind closed doors. They'd asked their questions and examined his project book - documentation of landscaping he designed and installed at Kempsville Meadows Elementary School.
Finally, an hour after first entering the room, he was called back in and congratulated.
The board agreed to recommend him for Eagle Scout.
The fifth Scout this year in Troop 417 to soar to the top. ILLUSTRATION: BILL TIERNAN Color photos
William Wyndham of Troop 417 waits anxiously for his Eagle Board of
Review to begin. It was his final test before he became an Eagle
Scout.
Members of Troop 417 in Virginia Beach recite the Pledge of
Allegiance to begin their meeting at St. Andrews United Methodist
Church. From left are Chris Applebach, Chris Searfino, Tripp Faison,
Tyler Cooke, Richard Gold, Michael Pariser, Phillip Fredette and
Kelly Stewart.
Photo
BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Chris Searfino, left, saws a pipe with the help of his friend, Paul
Fortin. As his Eagle project, Searfino was building a greenhouse for
the residents of Southeastern Virginia Training Center.
by CNB