Eagle Scout Court of Honor
I wanted to write after witnessing my first Eagle Scout Court of Honor and record my feelings before they flit away. My heart was full listening to the scout leaders, Congressman Poe, and the five young men receiving their Eagle Scout Award. A lot was said about the young men becoming the future leaders of our church, our city, our state, our nation… Words to describe them reflected the Scout Law—like courage and honor. Congressman Poe, who was a judge for many years, stated that in all 25,000 of the criminal cases he oversaw not one of the offenders was an Eagle Scout. He believed it to be a testament to the good of the Boy Scouts of America program. The boys are just too busy doing other things to get into any trouble. When he was done speaking, he presented each Eagle Scout with an American flag that had been flown over the White House along with a certificate of authenticity.
As each of the young men stepped up to the podium to say a few words—all of them were grateful to their parents, scout and church leaders, coaches or some particular person who pushed them to earn this award—I looked at my oldest son wearing his Webelos uniform and imagined him achieving Eagle Rank. I thought every boy in the room is dreaming about becoming an Eagle Scout and every mother in the room wants her son to live up to the Eagle Scout ideals. I couldn’t see my husband sitting in an “Eagle’s Nest” on the stand, but I thought of him and what it must have felt like for him when he got his Eagle. Both of his brothers are Eagle Scouts and his dad was their Scoutmaster for many years. The fathers of the five boys each had a chance to speak and a few got choked up while expressing their love for their sons. There were jokes about being tired, being literally pushed, and reference was made to Philmont Camp when someone lost the food on the last day. So much work went into getting those boys to set goals and then achieve them.
So much work went into the Court of Honor. One of the moms expressed to me how much like a wedding it felt in the way of preparing for it. The building was exquisitely decorated with pictures of the scouts, pictures of eagles, statues of eagles, banners reflecting the Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared”, American flags, little evergreen trees and other patriotic memorabilia. Afterwards, they served food catered by Chick-Fil-A. They added to the brownies and cheesecake with Blue Bell ice cream and cake. I got to help serve the cake. I was instructed to give one piece per person unless it was one of the five new Eagle Scouts. They could have seconds if they wanted. A lot of work went into setting up the event and lots of work went into cleaning up after the celebration. I took the kids home while Josh helped take stuff down and set up the building for church tomorrow. When he got home, Josh reported that it was awesome being a part of the clean up crew, too, because everyone helped. Scouts know and do their duty.
I know it’s going to be a lot of work getting my boys ready to go out into the world and lead successful lives. I’m glad that we have the Scout program to help them learn to set goals and then get that awesome feeling when they have achieved them. I’m glad that we were able to attend the Eagle Court of Honor so that my boys could catch the spirit of scouting and my Webelos could continue to work hard to get his awards. Seth will get his uniform next month and he is very excited to be a new Cub Scout—even more so now that he has attended an Eagle Scout Court of Honor.
Posted on November 14th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Church, Family, Scouts
What a beautiful write-up. Thank you for sharing that experience. My memories of all three sons and their father during their scouting years are all good. And, of course, now I am so proud of their Eagles. I look forward to watching Zack and Seth progress. Did they know that their Great-Grandpa Johnny is also an Eagle Scout?
LYMY,
Grandma Niki
Thanks Grandma Niki! I did not know that Grandpa Johnny was an Eagle Scout. It’s not surprising in the least. Does he have any of his old awards? It would be cool to show the boys when we come for a visit. There’s something so reverent about these kinds of ceremonies. Congressman Poe said that when they meet they always do two things: first, they pray; second, they say the Pledge of Allegiance; and then they start arguing with each other. (He was very funny and we had more than one or two laughs when he was giving his talk.) He mentioned that when you see the American Flag behind the Speaker on TV you never see the words above it “In God We Trust” which motto was adopted to show that God comes first, and then our country.
aww, such a good blog to read, thought you should know though, the flags didn’t fly over the white house, they flew over the capitol building of Texas in austin.
and the best part of chick-fil-a catering is that they donated 100% of the food, over $500 worth!!
love chick-fil-a!!!
Great post Trish!
I have attended 3 court of honors this year and they were awesome! I am so thankful that my boys were able to see them and re dedicate themselves. Calvin just finished his webelos and arrow of light. It was a busy year, but he has an awesome scout leader! Tyler was called as Stake Young Men’s President and will be in charge of scout camp…he is super excited.
Thanks for sharing!
@Susie – Huh. I thought he said the flags were flown over the capitol of the nation. He is from Washington DC. I didn’t know they did it in Austin, too. Oh, well, still cool to get a flag. And yes, Chick-Fil-A rocks!
@Amanda – Good job Calvin! Awesome scout leaders are like gold. I really appreciate the time and energy they sacrifice for the boys. Congrats to Tyler! That’s a big job and I’m sure he’ll do great.
hey trish, he lives down the street from us. he is actually from here. he has to go to washington here and there for work, but his main office is in kingwood. he was our local judge for 25yrs ish…maybe a little less then that before becoming our congressman.
you can log on his website and order a flag, and for an extra charge, have it flown over the capitol (the texas capitol) in austin. if you read their certificate it says that it was flown over the texas state capitol.
it is still way cool to get a flag, seriously if you want one, order it!!!!!
oops my bad, he was a judge for 30 yrs…
OK….here are the deets….
the Texas flag that was on the boys’ chairs was flown over the Texas State Capitol.
The American flag that they received folded up was flown over the Nation’s Capitol Building. (Not the White House) . Sorry, I thought they had a certificate for the Texas flags too…but Joe said they only had certificates for the American flags…flown over the Nations Capitol building.
There….sorry, I was mixing up the Texas and American flags….woops! But you can still order one.
no matter where it’s flown it’s still way cool!!!
the whole night was cool and i just hope they can always pull off an event that nice for years to come, you know!
i already know who joe has in mind to speak at next years….i’m not tellin!