Eagles take flight at Troop 49 ceremony

Posted 6/30/15

It is not common for a Boy Scout to rise through the rigorous ranks of scouting to achieve the prestigious rank of Eagle, but last Saturday not one but eight Warwick young men were honored with the …

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Eagles take flight at Troop 49 ceremony

Posted

It is not common for a Boy Scout to rise through the rigorous ranks of scouting to achieve the prestigious rank of Eagle, but last Saturday not one but eight Warwick young men were honored with the highest award in scouting.

In a nostalgic morning, Troop 49 Lakewood Scouts Joseph W. Chehy III, Joseph A. Borges, Russell Lambert, Sean Morris, Nicholas J. Masse, Connor N. Devine, Matthew Parente and Andrew G. Allen all attained the Eagle Scout rank at Lakewood Baptist Church.

The Court of Honor began with a ceremonial dubbing stick that was actually created by the boys many years ago when they were in the Cub Scouts, the stage before Boy Scouts. The stick, signed by all of the boys, is based off an Indian totem pole and was used to dub the boys when they advanced in Cub Scouts and Saturday was used to dub them into their last rank in all of scouting.

Bill Devine, Scoutmaster of the troop, along with Andy Thresher, master of ceremonies, spoke highly of the boys and their dedication to bettering themselves and their community. The boys received honors and awards from dignitaries from across the state, including citations from Mayor Scott Avedisian, Senator Jack Reed and the Warwick Police Department.

 “This is, in all of my years of scouting, close to 55 years, the largest Eagle Scout ceremony in terms of numbers that I have ever attended and it really speaks to the leadership of Troop 49 and also the quality of scouting.” Joseph McNamara, District 19 representative, said. “But nothing says it better than what these Eagle Scouts have contributed to our community. They are community leaders now, there is no doubt about it.”

Rhode Island State Senator Michael McCaffrey said, “This is the most Eagles at any one court of honor that I have ever been to and it is very impressive and the troop really deserves a round of applause...Becoming an Eagle is something they can take with them wherever they go and whatever they do, whether it’s in school, whether its employment or life itself. Someone is going to look at an application and say he’s an Eagle Scout, he’s held to a higher standard, he’s the type of person I want to be here with me.”

One of the newly awarded Eagles, Andrew Allen, spoke on behalf of all of the Eagles being honored.

 “Naturally, it feels like the end of something, but it is the exact opposite. Let this day mark our beginning; our jumping off point into the world in our venture into the dawn of manhood in which we were sculpted through scouting,” Allen said. “I can say with confidence that we are better people than we were because of scouting, and it will forever have its mark on our lives. Wherever I go I will be proud to know that people look at us with a different perspective, knowing that we have worked hard to finish something we started and that in us they can find things that money can’t buy: manners, morals and respect.”

All of the new Eagles took part in a gathering before the Court of Honor, where they were able to talk to family and friends and watch a slideshow displaying pictures from all the way back to when they first joined the troop over seven years ago.

The eight young men shared their post-high school and scouting plans: Sean Morris currently attends Western University where he is majoring in forensic biology; Connor Devine will be attending the University of Rhode Island majoring in biotechnology; Nick Masse is currently working full time at Tasca Automotive Group; Matt Parente will be attending Rhode Island College initially, with plans to transfer to the University of Rhode Island to pursue a career in engineering; Jay Chehy is going into the U.S. Army for military police; Joey Borges plans to attend the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to major in chemistry;  Russell Lambert plans to spend the next couple of years working and eventually pursue a career in video game design at Full Sail University; lastly, Andrew Allen is entering into his sophomore year at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, planning to became a licensed ship officer.

Editor’s note: Reporter of this story, Josh Estrella, a junior at Rhode Island College who recently completed an internship at the Beacon, is an Eagle Scout.

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  • tellitlikeitis

    Congrats to them, but they deserved to have separate ceremonies.

    Wednesday, July 1, 2015 Report this