Boy Scout Troop 73 commissions another Eagle Scout
Maclean Spurling joins the ranks
MACLEAN SPURLING
On Sept. 19, Spurling, a member of Boy Scout Troop 73 sponsored by Norris Religious Fellowship, became an Eagle Scout, the Boy Scouts’ highest rank.
Requirements for Eagle include earning a minimum of 21 merit badges. Each merit badge is based on learning basic skills and information about a certain topic. There are more than 100 merit badges offered on a variety of topics from American Business to Woodwork. Of the 21 merit badges necessary for Eagle, a total of 14 specific badges are required, some dealing with such Scouting skills as camping, cooking and first aid. The remainder of the 21 are up to the individual scout. Since 1912, more than 2.5 million young men have become Eagles, including such notable figures as President Gerald Ford, astronaut Neil Armstrong, WalMart founder Sam Walton, Marriott International CEO W. J. Marriott Jr., Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Spurling has been involved in scouting since he was a Cub Scout in the first grade. He was urged on by his father and his older brother, who were both Scouts. His brother before him made Eagle. “I’m not going to let my brother show me up,” was Maclean’s motivation for making Eagle. He went on to say that it was also something he wanted to do on his own to help the community.
Spurling credits his scoutmaster, Dennis Curtin, with helping to make him a good leader. Each troop is broken down into groups of six to eight scouts, called a patrol. As he came up through the ranks, Spurling served as patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader and senior patrol leader. He also served as troop guide, an older scout who works with a patrol of new scouts.
Each Eagle candidate must complete an Eagle project, which consists of planning a community service project, organizing the work and supervising others in completing this project. Spurling’s Eagle project dealt with improving the wetlands at Norris Elementary School. He said that the runoff that goes into the wetlands contains harmful chemicals that can affect the health of the wetlands and carry silt, which can fill up the wetlands. The project consisted of making chicken wire baskets and filling them with rocks to filter out chemicals and silt. Spurling said it ended up being a lot harder than he imagined. For one thing, he had to remove a 60-foot pine tree that had fallen into the wetland between the time he initially surveyed the project and the start of construction. Spurling supervised 10 to 12 boys and eight to 10 adults. The entire project from planning to finish took about 100 hours over a three-month period. Among other things, he had to arrange for the delivery of truckloads of rock donated by an Oak Ridge quarry.
Spurling has earned a total of 55 merit badges. He said some were harder and some were more fun. The most-fun merit badge was Pulp and Paper. He learned how paper was made by making recycled paper and visiting a paper plant.
“I am proud of my physical merit badges like swimming, hiking and cycling,” Spurling said. Over an eight-day period that included sightseeing in Washington, D.C., he cycled the 184.5 mile tow path of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park between Cumberland, Maryland, and Washington. Spurling believes his Eagle will help open the door to acceptance at a military academy. He has already applied to the Coast Guard Academy and plans to apply to the Merchant Marine Academy.
“He has developed a wide array of skills and he manages people well,” Curtin said of Spurling,“When he first came here you could hardly tell he was here. He was out front hiking and canoeing, but then he blended into the crowd. By the time he earned Eagle, he was a clear leader.”
In a few weeks, Spurling will turn 18 and will no longer be able to be a Boy Scout. But he plans to serve his troop as an assistant scoutmaster. When asked about what he will miss most when he leaves the troop, he replied, “The pure adventure of being able to do things like caving, hiking, cycling and canoeing.”
In addition to Scouting, Spurling is involved in football, wresting and NJROTC at Anderson County High School. He plays on the lacrosse team at West High. School since Anderson County does not have a lacrosse team.