Braving It Through Boy Scouts

Walking through the halls, the football and basketball players are in their identifiable uniforms and jerseys. Boys that are a football players because they wear their jersey on game day. What one can’t see is freshman Jack Furla’s Eagle Scout rank, one that is not common among boys his age.

Freshman Jack Furla survived Scouts for eight years–in the process learning how to survive a campout, how to cook a steak and how to dodge snide comments from fellow students.. He joined Cub Scouts as a first grader. With his mom as Scout leader, he was influenced to stick with it. As Jack got older, his peers began to make jabs and taunt him about being in Scouts. This only made him more determined to earn the Eagle Scout rank.

The average boy will become an Eagle Scout between sophomore and senior year. Jack points out that his troop works at an exceptionally fast pace, which is why most of his troop members finish the process fairly early.

The process of becoming an Eagle Scout was a long and particular procedure. Jack moved on from Cub Scouts to become a Boy Scout. There, he earned each of the rankings that lead up to Eagle Scout, the final and most prized rank. Each is associated with outdoor and leadership skills that Jack learned.

To rank-up, one must earn a certain amount of merit badges: an insignia worn on the uniform representing a special achievement. To contend for the Eagle Scout rank, the boy must earn 21 of these badges. Jack’s troop will go on campouts to farms around the area to earn badges. Each individual one comes with a booklet listing approximately 20 requirements that must be completed before earning the badge.

“[Boy Scouts] definitely showed me to persevere, and keep on going, especially regarding the making fun of part,” Jack said. “It also taught me a lot of outdoor skills, like when I go camping with my friends–I actually know what I’m doing.”

Jennifer Furla, Jack’s mother, and former Cub Scout leader says that nationwide, less than four percent of all boys who become Scouts make the Eagle Scout rank.

“It’s not necessarily about doing the badge work and sticking with the program, it’s kind of about bucking the peer pressure,” Jennifer says. “I’m proud that Jack chose to see it through.

Once all required badges are earned, the next and final step to become an Eagle Scout is the project. Each boy is to select a project that will in some way benefit the community, an organization or a church. A total of 100 hours from all volunteers are required.

Jack chose to repaint and touch up a game room at City Union Mission; the largest non-profit homeless shelter in the metropolitan area. Since childhood, Jack has donated all of his old belongings to the mission. Alongside that, his mother was a fundraising consultant for the mission and helped them raise money to build a new part of their building. He mentioned that the end result looked great, and that it was a success.

“You make announcements and invite other kids from the troop to help you, but I mostly–to show my friends that it’s actually cool– I had my friends come help me,” Jack says.

After Jack’s friends helped at the mission and saw the congratulation gifts that he received, they realized that Scouts is much more than they expected and started to respect him more.

“I got used to [the jokes], and now I never get made fun of,” Jack said. “My friends don’t make fun of it anymore, because I got all this cool stuff after I got my Eagle Scout.”

He was given a signed letter from the President of the United States. Alongside that, his cousin living in L.A. as a voice actress had Gary Sinise, Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, wrote Jack a letter of congratulations alongside a picture of him as Dan.

The final step in the process is the board of review meeting. Three adult leaders from the Jack’s troop plus one non-troop adult will review everything the he has done as well as ask questions about his future and what he has learned. It is not as much as a test, more of a celebration of what the boy has accomplished. The child presents them with a manifest of what they have done from their project, which has to be done accurately.

Jack walked away from the ceremony an Eagle Scout. He is just an example of one boy who has worked hard for this achievement. Jack joined the hundreds of thousands of other boys across America who can say that they made it all the way. He will now carry the rank of Eagle Scout for the rest of his life.

“I think Scouts is a positive influence on kid’s who internalize it,” Jennifer says. “Learning how to go places, and do things, and hang out and learn from a variety of different adults is positive; but I also think the kids who stay in Scouts are oriented in a positive way to begin with.”