Cooking steaks in the midst of the outdoors not to mention the strong 30 mile per hour was but one of the tasks that was required for senior Parker Volpe to complete in order to attain the high ranking title of Eagle Scout.
“I remember my mom handing me a letter and telling me to read it,” Volpe said. “My jaw dropped. I was officially an Eagle Scout. A sense of pride was brought upon me. This was everything I had been working for since kindergarten and I finally had it.”
Thirteen years later, Volpe said he is proud to have achieved this title and to reach his goal. However, getting to this point required the earning of more than 31 merit badges that he says were difficult to obtain and required him to complete tasks that he said were outside his comfort zone.
“I am not a big fan of blood or any medical procedure,” Volpe said. “Taking the emergency preparedness merit badge required me to see some disturbing pictures. That was hard for me to do but I got through it. ”
Although Volpe said the badge was difficult to obtain, he said that he was proud to have completed the task. In addition, Volpe said he is proud to have endured his first summer camp which he said was not easy.
“My least favorite experience was my first summer camp,” Volpe said. “It was my first time being away from my parents for a week. I got really homesick and almost quit scouts after.”
Volpe’s homesickness did not stop him from his goal to become an Eagle Scout. Volpe worked through his feelings of homesickness with the help of one of his scout masters who Volpe said was there for him during this rough time.
“He helped me get back on track. Without him I would not be an Eagle Scout,” Volpe said.
To earn the Eagle Scout award, Volpe also had to lead his own service project- building computers for CITY House, a runaway shelter for kids.
“In order to do this I had to have a family fundraiser to get the money,” Volpe said. “Thankfully, I was able to do my project around Christmas time so when buying the parts for the computers I usually got really good deals. Once I got all of the parts I had to make a manual on how to build a computer. That is kind of hard to do when you have never built a computer before. My dad helped me build a manual and we tried it out. It was successful and became one of the most important parts of my project. Since my dad works for Microsoft he was also able to get the latest version of Office and Vista for the computers. I carefully watched everything to ensure it was a great project.”
Volpe said becoming an Eagle Scout has improved his life, helping him gain more leadership skills and confidence in himself and his work.
“I enjoy being an eagle scout because of what it means,” Volpe said. “Not everyone can be an Eagle Scout and it is not easy to earn this rank. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication.”
