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| Seventeen members of Boy Scout Troop 223 received their Eagle Scout awards at a banquet with their parents on November 25 at St. Matthew's. Scoutmaster Mike Lanning is at far right. |
December 04, 2008
By TERESA DAVID
Special to the Palisadian-Post
Seventeen members of Boy Scout Troop 223 received their Eagle Scout award during a ceremony at St. Matthew's Sprague Center that included a dinner and multimedia show on November 25.
To gain Eagle Scout status, a boy must be in a troop at least five years, attend weekly meetings, monthly campouts and education sessions, several summer trips, perform community service, and attain merit badges.
Troop 223 community service projects require a minimum of 100 man-hours by the Eagle Scout candidate and his Scout volunteers. Following are the new Eagle Scouts and their projects:
Todd Bertorelli and Andrew Notaras helped dig out and create a tiered picnic area next to the St. Matthew's Parish Center. Ryan Tipton leveled and laid 360 sq. ft. of flagstone on the ground around the picnic area. Charlie Montgomery installed a stone walkway next to Sprague Center, Will Hookstratten worked on a retaining wall at the school, and J.J. Nelson installed a retaining wall above the pool.
Wyatt Bertorelli built shelving for a computer area at the Westside Food Bank and Sam Cortese created a landing for storage of food barrels and collected canned goods. Brian Cheung coordinated the painting of agricultural bins at the Downtown Women's Center on L.A.'s Skid Row.
George Economou painted benches at Corpus Christi Church and Kyle Kolligian made and planted two organic vegetable garden boxes at the school.
Graham Gallaher completed several major projects for the Veteran's Administration's garden and Isaac Margulies built a storage area for the Upward Bound House. Michael Mazzarella designed and constructed four large storage boxes for toys, equipment and other items for the Neighborhood Youth Association in Venice.
Mitchell Oei built a portable stage for performance for pre-schoolers attending the St. Joseph's Center for Early Development and Michael Schem designed and built three planter boxes and bench seats in front of the Palisades YMCA.
These 17 projects totaled 2,240 service hours to complete, and on each project an Eagle Scout was assisted by about 20 other Scouts.
Troop 223, which has 110 Scouts, is celebrating its 57th year in Pacific Palisades. Scoutmaster Michael Lanning has led for 55 years, and has produced 598 Eagle Scouts, a record number for Boy Scouts of America.
Unlike many troops, Lanning encourages his Scouts to have earned their merit badges by the age of 15, not the typical age of 16 or 17. This allows a Scout time to accomplish his Eagle Scout community service project before he is a sophomore in high school when academic or sports demands may deter the young man from his goal.
Troop 223 will travel to the Philmont High-Adventure Base in New Mexico and Emerald Bay on Catalina this summer. There will be an open house on Tuesday, December 9 from 7 to 9 p.m. at St. Matthew's Sprague Center. Call Mike Lanning at (310) 820-1600, Ext. 223.
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