Reflective Essay: Achieving Eagle Rank In Boy Scouts

In order to satisfy the requirement of leading a project to achieve Eagle Rank in Boy Scouts, I took on an uncommon venture in which I gained substantial life skills. Seeking out a unique project, I came across the overwhelmingly neglected Gleason Cemetery, a burial ground for early settlers in Oregon which clearly required restoration. I recruited friends, family, and fellow scouts to assist me as my weed-pulling arsenal. Along with delegating tasks, I labored alongside each worker. In between sessions of removing ivy and blackberry bushes, I created a map of the cemetery, recording the names of all 21 residents in order to assist the local historical society acting as my project’s beneficiary. Under my guidance, a forest of invasive flora was restored back into a memorial for those who passed away many decades ago.
During the 11 months in which I spent restoring the abandoned pioneer cemetery, I learned what it took to mobilize a team, lead by example, and work meticulously to produce outstanding results. At the University of Oregon, I plan to use these abilities to take control of my education, help others in their studies, and act as a significant changemaker on campus.
The heavy snow didn’t prevent the band of helpers from working to make the holiday season more enjoyable for two hundred families in my community.
A long line of cars waiting to make deliveries circled around my school’s parking lot. Gladstone’s Adopt-a-Family program made it possible for struggling members of my town to provide their children with toys and food, allowing them to put aside their financial troubles and focus on more important things. My role in the annual event, like most others, was a small one in which I sorted toys and carried boxes of food out to volunteers’ cars. However, when over 50 enthusiastic people carry out large feats such as this one, great things can easily be
accomplished. This event serves as an inspiration to me, as it highlights my community’s willingness to improve the lives of both friends and strangers, no matter the circumstances. It demonstrated the influence a large group of dedicated people can use to assist others. I hope to use the memory of events like these as a driving factor in my post-academic life, whether I am leading helpers, acting as a public servant, or taking part in volunteer efforts close to home.
Throughout my academic career, individuality and self-guidance were never preached by those in charge, as I had to work under a strict agenda. During my junior year, though, an opportunity to become both the teacher and student of a course opened up. My Independent Study of Art allowed and motivated me to succeed through experimentation with different mediums and techniques. With an art room stocked full of canvasses, colored pencils, paints, and other tools, I wielded the ability to learn on my own for the first time. My initial attempts at creating a masterpiece came short of my expectations. I saw so much potential in every possible idea that I dove right in and failed due to a lack of originality. However, my mood toward my abilities evolved when the subjects of most of my works became a twisted version of people and places important to me; faces of friends morphed into birds, Bernie Sanders as a campfire, and familiar locations under alien skies all found themselves conveyed in different mediums. In the end, by teaching myself, I learned to use creative methods to resolve artistic conflicts and improve my skills as both an artist and a student overall.
After a long day of school, I make my way over to my car, take a deep breath, and crank up the volume on National Public Radio. Keeping up with the news and current events is not only a passion of mine, but a gateway to volunteering for important causes, making connections, and excelling in debates. While the Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign was in its infancy, I rushed to volunteer and was able to act as a proponent of the movement due to my knowledge of his and his competitors’ policy proposals. In my daily life, courses like AP U.S. History and Senior Advanced English are made easier and more enjoyable due to the parallels I’m able to draw between affairs of the past and those occurring now. Furthermore, as a gay Boy Scout in a troop composed of individuals with values opposite to my own, I’m able to support my argument for subjects such as LGBT rights with facts and relevant information. My fascination with the news stems from my desire to absorb as much information as I possibly can and use my knowledge to shape the world into one in which humanity can be proud of.