Vista Troop 101 Hold Court of Honor Ceremony at Vista Fire House To Advance Scouts and Award New Badges Earned; Several Scouts Are Working Towards Eagle Scout
Surrounded by friends, family, scout leaders, and fellow scouts at the Vista Fire House, Vista Troop 101 Boy Scouts were awarded new badges earned this past summer during scout camps at Read Boy Scout Camp in Upstate New York. The ceremony is known as The Court of Honor and takes place twice a year to award the scouts new badges earned.
The Scouts presented the Color Guard and all in attendance said the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and scouts recited the Scout Oath and Scout Law. Scout leaders John O’Dwyer, Vinny Aceste, Joel Smith, Randy Samuelson, Jay Graygor, Gil Castellon and Brent Nyitray stood by ScoutMaster Bernie Kuehl, who presented each scout their merit badges as his last official act. After he spoke about his time as ScoutMaster for seven years.
“It’s been a privilege and an honor to be your ScoutMaster. I have a lot of great memories with all of you and I’m so proud of you all and the number of Eagle Scouts we’ve been able to achieve in our Troop. Of course, I’m so happy for my son Alex Kuehl who made it all the way to Eagle Scout. Something I fell short of when I was a Boy Scout, but impressed my son made it all the way.” He then announced his retirement as ScoutMaster and the new incoming ScoutMaster Tom Fuller.
Mr. Fuller said, “I’m going to have some tough shoes to fill, but I look forward to all the great activities we are going to do together and the new memories we are going to make. It has been really special to be a leader with you all, including spending some great time with my son Will and the lasting memories we have already.”
ScoutMaster Fuller reviewed the many activities of the scouts over the last several months including volunteering to set up an obstacle course at the South Salem Library Fair for cub scouts and the public to have some fun and learn about the scouts, as well as most recently serving hot meals and making deliveries to Veterans in our town for Veterans Day, along with a ceremony and flag planting. The Troop participated in the Lewisboro Garden Club planting of 4000 daffodil bulbs at the new town and police offices at former Lewisboro Elementary School on Bouton Road in South Salem. On December 15, the Troop will be taking a trip to Chinatown in New York City.
The Boy Scouts and their Merit Badge Awards are as follows:
Logan Aceste earned his Citizenship in the Community, Communication, Emergency Preparedness, Public Health, Swimming, and Welding and advanced to Life Scout; Patrick Bates earned his Golf and Personal Management; Tejas Chimata earned his Emergency Preparedness, Indian Lore, Rifle Shooting and Welding; William Fuller his Camping, Emergency Preparedness, Environmental Science and Public Speaking while advancing to Star; Ty Graygor his Astronomy, Camping, Environmental Science, First Aid, Orienteering and advanced to First Class; Jack O’Reilly, his Environmental Science and Kayaking; Ryan Parker his Environmental Science, Family Life, First Aid and Lifesaving and advanced to Star; Nathaniel Rendo his Camping, Climbing, Rowing and Shotgun Shooting; Seth Samuelson his Citizenship in the Community and Communication and advanced to Life; Joseph Smith his Environmental Science, First Aid, Geocaching, Geology and Public Health; Neel Sood his Archery, Geocaching, Rifle Shooting, and Shotgun Shooting. He is already an Eagle Scout and is working towards earning his Eagle Palms; Niles Sood his Environmental Science, Geocaching, Mammal Study, Nature and Wood Carving; Matt Visconti his Climbing, First Aid, Kayaking, and Swimming and advanced to First Class; Max Wasserman his Chess, Leatherwork and Toting Chip and advanced to Scout; Benjamin Wiles his Chess, First Aid, Rifle Shooting and Woodwork.
The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. The BSA vision is that The Boy Scouts of America will prepare every eligible youth in America to become a responsible, participating citizen and leader who is guided by the Scout Oath and Law.
Scouting’s purpose is directed toward helping youth become happy, healthy, positively contributing citizens. Through recreation, Scouting achieves its purpose of helping young people develop physically, intellectually, socially, and spiritually. Scouting is all about building confidence and self-esteem, learning important life skills and leadership skills, team building, outdoor adventure, education, and fun! Scouts learn how to make good choices and to take responsibility for their actions so that they are prepared for their adult life as independent persons.
The Vista Fire Department is the Charter Organization of both Troop 101 as well as the Vista-Lewisboro Cub Scouts Pack 101. This is an all-volunteer fire department. Both local scout groups, as well as the firefighters, thank Vista and Lewisboro residents for their kind contributions to their efforts.
For more information on Vista Troop 101 contact Tom Fuller at https://vista101.mytroop.us
For more information on the Westchester Scouts, visit: http://www.wpcbsa.org