What happens to an Eagle Scout once he becomes an adult and perhaps moves away from his hometown?
Many things, most likely, but the Eagle Scout rank’s relevance is often superseded by more immediate achievements. For the men who achieved that rank, it is still a source of pride, though they may not have the opportunity to talk about it much.
“Traditionally, people become Eagle Scouts and that’s the end of the road,” said Rudy Escalante, who lives in Wilton but earned his Eagle rank years ago in Chicago. He is involved with a group of men who want to set up an Eagle alumni association. They want to become involved with young men working on their Eagle projects as mentors and talk about what was important to them. They also enjoy the camaraderie social gatherings bring.
About 30 men attended the first meeting of the Wilton, Westport, Weston chapter of the Connecticut Council Eagle Scout Association on Jan. 13 at Cobb’s Mill Inn.
“What we are doing now is trying to identify people. We think there are several hundred Eagles in the area,” Mr. Escalante said. “We’ve only identified about a third of them. … there’s no directory you can go to.”
Some people contributed names. Former pack masters identified some, he said, but the list is “nowhere near complete.”
The group sent a mailing to 600 email addresses and got about 200 click-throughs. “The reaction people had was that no one had asked them that for 20 years,” Mr. Escalante said.
The new chapter expects to meet about three times a year. “There’s an Eagle recognition dinner in June for our council, which covers most of Fairfield County and part of New Haven County,” he said. “We have a dinner where we honor all the kids that have earned their Eagle rank in the last year. We want Eagles of past years to come as well.”
Although the chapter specifies Wilton, Westport and Weston — they liked the alliteration — the group is happy to have men who achieved Eagle rank from anywhere..
Information: rudy.escalante@icsasoftware.com or Boy Scout Yankee Council at 203-876-6868, ctyankee.org.