Scouts hold winter Court of Honor

Wellesley Boy Scout Troop 185 held their winter Court of Honor on Monday, February 5, at the Italo-American Club. The masters of ceremony were Zane Salameh and Glen Manglapus, Troop 185's co-senior patrol leaders. They introduced the other leaders in the Troop and coordinated the awards ceremony. Since the previous Court of Honor in June 2017, the boys have earned a large number of merit badges; 47 scouts earned a total number of 169 merit badges. The Troop was pleased to welcome 12 new scouts: Spencer Briggs, Spencer Brown, Ben Cooney, Liam Furlong, William Goggin, Gabe Goodman, Ben Keiper, Alex Ma, Andrew Martin, John McCurley, Brian Mix and Dylan Reepmeyer. After taking the Scout Oath they received new neckerchiefs, slides and Boy Scout Handbook.

Parents presented the new rank badge to their sons who advanced in rank, including Scouts Nuka Shabestari, Jake Velyvis, Cole Wieland and Ray Zhang, Tenderfoot Noah Goldman, Second Class Christian Grosso, Dylan McKeever, Mac Munro and Aidan Ulian, First Class Jay Butler, Ty Cronon, Christian Grosso, David Maggiacomo, Marc Maggiacomo and James McCurley, Star Cameron McKeever, and Life Michael Grosso, Sam Manglapus, Benjamin Mirick and Eddie Ryan.

Scouts who advanced to the First Class rank received certificates from Scoutmaster Fortini. Scouts earning ranks of First Class and above pinned their mothers with special rank pins to thank them for their support. They also received the new Troop neckerchief with the latest Troop logo.

Scoutmaster Fortini presented Eagle Palm awards to Zane Salameh and Glen Manglapus; the palms are awarded in recognition of merit badges earned in excess of the requirement for the rank of Eagle. There were several other awards given, especially the “Interpreter Strip” to Tony Czubarow; this signifies the wearer is fluent in another language, in this case Polish; there are so few Polish speakers with this award that the strip had to be specially made.

Mr. Fortini also thanked the assistant scoutmasters, all the adults serving on the Troop Committee, and those who volunteer as merit badge counselors, on boards of review, at courts of honor, at fundraising events or at summer camp. He made a request of the parents of the new Scouts to become involved with the Troop, as the Troop relies on the parents to help with the running of the many activities enjoyed by the boys. He then outlined some of the upcoming activities such as skiing, camping, a “shooting, fishing and cook-off” and several hikes.

The Troop meets on Monday evenings from 7:30-9:00 p.m. at St. John’s school in Wellesley. Boys currently in fifth grade to age 18 are welcomed 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 jofortin@bsamail.org.