Staff Report
Four Boy Scouts from Troop 42 recently earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest honor in Boy Scouting.
Darian Hall, Desi Valle, Zachary Seaman and Zachary Gundrey were honored Jan. 26 at an Eagle Court of Honor held at St Mark’s-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church in Los Olivos. The event was attended by many family members, friends, fellow scouts and scout leaders.
After completing a community project of their choosing and an Eagle application, each went before a review board to receive the final approval to become an Eagle Scout. The application includes the scout’s involvement in the troop over the years and a statement on their life ambitions and goals.
To earn the honor, each scout is required to give back to the community by planning, executing and reporting on an Eagle project. To complete this project, each had to use the skills, tools, and communication and leadership skills learned through their scouting years to complete the project.
Darian helped renovate the playground at the Crossroads Church in Buellton. He led a group of scouts to restore a treehouse deck, the treehouse itself and the playground. This project made it safer and cleaner for the young children who played there. When asked what he got out of doing his project, Darian said, “a chance to apply all that I had learned prior about leadership and organization.”
Darian has been in scouting for 4 ½ years, first in Bizbee, Ariz., and then in Troop 42 of Buellton. His memorable scouting activities include completing two 50-mile backpacking trips. He has earned 26 merit badges, the Eagle Bronze Palm and served as the troop scribe.
Desi helped to clean out and organize the storage building at the Crossroads Church in Buellton. The scouts, led by Desi, emptied the storage building and went thought the contents with advice from church members. Then they cleaned the building out, secured the shelving and organized the church items as they put them back into the building. When asked about his project, he said, “It took a lot of people to move everything out and clean inside but the results turned out better than predicted. I learned how to handle the stress of leading a group of people to do a job effectively.”
Desi has been in scouting for 12 years in Buellton. He started in Pack 42 as a Tiger Cub Scout and has been in scouting ever since. He is a senior at Santa Ynez Valley High school.
His most memorable activity was attending the National Scout Jamboree in the summer of 2017. He has earned 36 merit badges, the Eagle Bronze, Silver and Gold palms, and served as troop quartermaster and patrol leader.
Zachary Seaman led fellow scouts to build library boxes for the city of Buellton. These boxes will be placed around town to encourage people to read more and interact at the boxes. His project taught him “better leadership skills and … how to help lead people on a building project.”
He has been in scouting since first grade. He joined as a Tiger Cub in Pack 42, crossed over to Troop 42 and earned the Arrow of Light. He is a senior at Santa Ynez Valley High School.
During the summers as a scout, he enjoyed going to camp with his friends and fellow scouts. He has earned 27 merit badges, the Bronze Eagle palm and served as a patrol leader and senior patrol leader.
Zachary Gundrey chose as his project to build a storage shed for the Santa Ynez Valley High School Baseball team. This shed houses the tractor used to care for the field as well as other equipment. He completed this project and became an Eagle Scout in June 2016. Since then he has been studying geology at Santa Barbara City College.
He officially received his rank at this Eagle Court of Honor. At the Court of Honor he talked about how he has “had some experience to use this in my life.” He said that scouting has been “learning a new form of lifestyle that I think is admirable.”
He also joined scouting as a Tiger Cub with Pack 42 in Buellton. He also crossed over to Troop 42 and earned the Arrow of Light. He went on many hikes, camp outs and attended summer camp annually during his 12 years of scouting. He was active in the troop as a Patrol Leader and Senior Patrol Leader. He has earned 25 Merit Badges.
Senior Patrol Leader Christopher Gundrey welcomed the guests to the Eagle Court of Honor and led the Troop 42 Color Guard. Sean Harris sang the National Anthem a cappella.
The Master of Ceremonies was Troop 42 Scoutmaster John DeLeon, an Eagle Scout. Vickie Sorensen, the District Advancement Chair, officially opened and closed the Court of Honor. The benediction was given by the Rev. Randall C.K. Day, also an Eagle Scout.
For more information about scouting, go to BeAScout.org or email locally to Santaynezvalleyscouting@gmail.com.
