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Wellesley Boy Scout Troop 185 held their Winter Court of Honor on Monday, February 6, 2017 at the Italo-American Club. Since the last Court of Honor in the summer of 2016, 42 Scouts earned a total of 138 Merit Badges, 33 Boys advanced a total of 35 ranks and 17 Scouts earned special awards. Jarrett Huddleston earned the most merit badges with 9 (Archery, Climbing, Indian Lore, Leatherwork, Moviemaking, Photography, Reptile & Amphibian Study, Shotgun Shooting, Textile & Wood Carving).
The Troop also welcomed ten new scouts to the troop; Theodore Bida, Carter Blessing, Colin Byrne, William Edmonds, Jack Ellis, Michael Hunter, Leo Morelli, Luca Nikolewski, Robert Perron and Hayden Sumner.
Two boys have now earned the most important badge, the Scout badge – without Scout, there is no fun of Scouting or earning Eagle Scout. Ross Rosen and Paris Fotiadis both earned the Scout badge.
Parents joined their sons on stage while they received recognition for their rank advancement. Tenderfoot was awarded to Jay Butler, Jason Cannistraro, Jonathan Chiu, Ty Cronin, Benjamin Gordon, Grayson Houghton, Patrick Lin, Henry MacKinnon, Gary Martin, James McCurley and Mac Munro. Second Class was awarded to Connor Duffy, Henry MacKinnon, David Maggiacomo, Marc Maggiacommo and James Pearson. The First Class scout rank opens the opportunity to be more involved in running the troop and starting service projects in the community; Connor Bruce, Connor Duffy, Noah Janchar, Sam Manglapus, Edward Ryan and Thomas Nielsen all reached this rank. Benjamin Mirick became a Star Scout and now has the opportunity of joining Sage Lapides, Joseph Monagle and Fletcher Smyth as Life scouts. All continuing Scouts received Service Stars for their number of years in the Troop, ranging from one to seven years.
Jarrett Huddleston earned Eagle Palms, receiving his 4th Silver and 5th Bronze Palms – representing 86 merit badges. He now wears the Silver and Bronze palms on his Eagle ribbon or badge.
Mr. Fortini briefs the Troop leaders.
Scoutmaster Fortini then announced that Jarrett Huddleston was to be presented with the Venturing Leadership Award and Brendan Sullivan will be presented with the Knox Trail Council Eagle Scout Project of the Year award.
Upcoming Troop events were presented; camping at Nobscot reservation in March, the annual Camp Resolute fishing derby at the end of March, the Memorial day AMC hut trip to Zeland Falls and Galehead Huts and in June a zip-line/mountain biking trip to Loon Mountain. The annual summer camp at Camp Resolute is planned for August 6-11. Mr. Fortini mentioned that the “Friends of Scouting” campaign was an important source of support for these fun and educational activities and that scouting families should consider making a donation.
He also thanked the assistant scout masters for their contributions. Stephen Maire, Matthew Hornung, Tom Huddleston, Jarrett Huddleston, Yvette Lavin, Paul Sullivan and David Hosykins were all recognized, as well as all those who worked with the Scouts on merit badges throughout the year.
The Troop meets on Monday evenings from 7:30-9:00 p.m. at St. John’s School in Wellesley. The next meeting will be after the February break on Feb. 27. Boys currently in fifth grade to age 18 are welcome to join. Boys and girls age 14 or in 8th grade through age 21 are welcome to join the Troop’s associated co-ed Venture Crew 42, which meets monthly on Saturday evenings.
To join, contact Scoutmaster Fortini at john.fortini@Scouting.org.
