By Dawn Burleigh

The Orange Leader

 

Bryce McAllister is joining a small percentage of Boy Scouts with the completion of his Eagle Scout project at West Park in Pinehurst.

Since the inception of the Eagle Scout award in 1912, 2.01 percent of eligible Scouts have earned Scouting’s highest honor, according to Scouting Magazine.

To become an Eagle Scout, a Boy Scout must meet several requirements; such as earn 21 Merit Badges, 10 more than what is required for Life rank.

Part of the process is competing an Eagle Scout Service project.

For Bryce, it was building two park benches and two trash receptacle covers.

He, with his parents Mike and Maureen McAllister, delivered the handcrafted items to West Park in Pinehurst on Friday afternoon.

Pinehurst Public Works employees were on hand to help install the benches.

“I took my time with the project,” Bryce, 17, said. “The project had to help publically, and the park did not have much at the time when I started the project.”

Bryce, along with his father, Mike, his grandfather and Boy Scout Troop 1, worked on the benches and trash receptacle covers together.

“First thing, I learned how to make benches,” Bryce said. “I also learned how to be a better leader and to take good advice when you hear it.”

It was a proud moment for the young man as he saw the benches become part of the park.

“I still have some paperwork to do before I am an Eagle Scout,” Bryce said.

Maureen McAllister, the mother, has seen him grow as he went from Cub Scout to Boy Scout and now, unofficially, an Eagle Scout.

“It’s very exciting and rewarding to see this day,” Maureen said. “Of course, it is the ultimate goal when one starts scouts, but a very small percentage get this far.”

Boy Scouts of America 9.0.2.0 The Eagle Scout Service Project states: While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community. The project must benefit an organization other than the Boy Scouts of America. A project proposal must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your unit leader and unit committee, and the council or district before you start.

“We allowed him to do this on his own,” Maureen said about the project. “He would schedule work days for the Troop and invite them to the house to work on it. An Eagle Scout project is not a one person project.”