The Johnson's: October 2013

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Sam's Trail to his Eagle...

Eagle Court of Honor

Samuel David Johnson

October 27, 2013

Sam's Trail to his Eagle...

Sam's experiences with Scouting started when he was just a toddler. We moved to Sandy in 2000 and shortly there after I was called to be the Wolf Den Mother. I was shocked, what was I going to do with 6-8 eight year olds? I had two babies at home and NO experience in Scouting. It wasn't long until these boys became part of our lives and Sam thought he was one of them. I would later become the committee chair and Jeremiah was the Cub Master and Sam was right there with us at pack meetings, ceremonies and the dreaded luminary fundraiser. He was a Scout before he was even old enough. Finally the time came for him to join the troop, he was ecstatic. Sam loved Scouts from the minute he became a Bobcat and has loved every minute since.

Just about a year later we made the big decision to move to St. George. Everything in our kids lives would change, well all but two things. We could promise our kids two things, the Church would be the same where ever they went and Scouts would be the same too. Sam spent his year as a Bear in a huge troop in St. George. He had great leaders there who encouraged his love of Scouting. One of the things the boys loved was earning belt loops, it is a long time between earning your Wolf, Bear and Webelos badge and being able to earn “bling” kept the boys motivated.

A year later, we found ourselves moving again, this time we ended up here in Murray. Sam would finish out Webelos here, including a 2^nd place Pinewood Derby finish. With the Troops from the area combined he was able to meet new friends and Scouts was again something he could count on. As an 11 year old he joined Russ DesPain's group. In 11 year old Scouts he discovered he loved to camp, something his parents don't do, and also that he loved fire! Russ quickly moved Sam, and the other boys through their Tenderfoot, 1^st Class and 2^nd Class ranks giving them a jump start on their Boy Scout years.

And then there is Troop 1235! We can't say enough about the boys and men involved in this Troop. Steve Gibson is an amazing Scout Master, if a boy comes into his Troop and wants to succeed he will do everything to make it happen. We give him much of the credit for Sam attaining his Eagle. The boys in this Troop are also amazing. Sam has many great friends from this group, but we are especially grateful for the friendship he has found with Blake, Josh and Brandon. Theirs is friendship that will probably last a lifetime. We are grateful to Ben Pike and all the Scout and Young Mens leaders who have spent hours of their time making Sam's Scouting experience great. Especially anyone who has spent a week at Bear Lake or High Adventure Camps with a bunch of stinky boys!

Lastly, we want to tell you about Sam's Eagle Scout Project. Sam and his Grandpa Rigby are super tight and they would talk about his project over their Saturday morning breakfast at Rose Tea. One of the things that they talked about was a shoe drive and that is when we thought of our friends the George's non-profit Cleats for Feet. Cleats for Feet is an organization that takes used cleats, basketball shoes and gym shoes and gives them to local groups of kids who don't have proper shoes for sport or play. Sam has never been an athlete but he could understand kids needing shoes to run and play. He met with Danielle George and he was on his way. He organized drop offs at our Church, the junior high, some of the dealerships and at our home. He gathered some fellow Scouts distributed flyers and put up posters. Quickly shoes started rolling in, every time we came home he ran to check the box on our front porch and every time he found shoes it was like Christmas. For three weeks he gathered shoes. In the meantime he had work to do, each pair of shoes need to be unlaced, washed, laced with new laces and matched with a new pair of socks. I have to be honest, Sam can be a real airhead and I thought I would have to be on his case every minute, but I really didn't have to. Most nights he would wash a batch or two of shoes and and then spend sometime lacing them. We all became expert lacers, and Sam even said he should get a job at Footlocker. He had a huge batch of soccer shoes from my mom's neighbors, we had donations of socks and even brand news shoes, and Mr. Corser brought a huge bag of really big, really smelly cleats from the high school football and baseball teams. Sam learned that is really hard to get a bunch of 12 years old to buckle down and work, even if you do feed them pizza and getting 16 and 17 year olds to work isn't much easier. He learned being a leader and being in charge is not easy. In total he was able to donate 165 pairs of shoes, all freshly cleaned with a new pair of socks. Sam went with Danielle to take them to local rec centers where they would distribute them to kids who could use them. It was a great experience from start to finish.

Well, that was back in April, he turned his paperwork in shortly after and then the adults kinda made a mess out of it until he was finally able to have his Board of Review last month. He proudly announced at family dinner that day that he was the only Eagle Scout amongst his cousins and that they better finish theirs up if they wanted to catch up. As Sam's parent we are so proud of everything he has accomplished in life, he so smart and creative beyond description. But we acknowledge that becoming an Eagle Scout is something special. Only 4% of boys who start Scouts earn their Eagle, it is an accomplishment that can be put on any resume or college application, it is an accomplishment that is recognized by his Church and also by the leaders of this country. It is a big deal! We love Sam very much and we think he is a big deal!

Eagle Court of Honor...

We had a wonderful evening with lots of friends and family celebrating Sam's Eagle. I had put a lot of work into making the night special for him, there were a few glitches only I would have noticed, and we didn't get many pictures, but it really did turn out great. Sam had a huge Eagles Nest of men and young men he respects and looks up to. It included my Uncle Brad and Sam's Uncle Brent, as well as friends, Scout leaders, Young Men's leaders and some family friends. He was able to give three people mentor pins, each one meant a lot to him. He honored his 11 year Scout leader Russ Despain and his Scout Master Steve Gibson. But those most special was giving a pin to his Grandpa Rigby, who he adores. I loved that Sam invited his "friend" Dennis, our 97 year old neighbor. Our families all came including my 4 nephews in uniform. Everyone had such nice things to say about Samuel, what a good friend he his, how smart he his, what a good kid he is and mostly how unique and out of the box he is. Sam is the first Eagle in our family, something he is very proud of. His dad and I couldn't be be more proud!