As per West Ridge Academy, receiving the Eagle Scout is the highest rank that can be bestowed by the Boy Scouts of America. In order to gain such an honor, a scout must be able to demonstrate outstanding achievements not only in scouting but more importantly through serving his community while exhibiting traits in leadership, organization, management, commitment, etc.
Dedication and commitment are required from an aspiring scout as it is never easy to become an Eagle Scout. Some of the prerequisites are 21 Boy Scout merit badges, and scout spirit excellence through an active and personal involvement in school, church or community-based service projects. Upon completion of the above mentioned requirements, the aspiring scout will be endorsed to a board of review which will deliberate if he can be given the Eagle Scout award or not.
An aspiring Eagle Scout should also be able to perform well in the following areas: camping, first aid, family life, personal fitness, personal management, citizenship in the community, citizenship in the nation, citizenship in the world, communications, emergency preparedness or lifesaving, environmental science, and cycling or hiking or swimming.
It is estimated that only about 2% of all boys who start the Boy Scouts program are able to earn the Eagle Scout award since it was first given out in 1912 by the Boy Scouts of America. In this regard, the 60 Eagle Scout awardees produced by West Ridge Academy from just the past five years alone is a very outstanding milestone for any school to achieve.
West Ridge Academy is a therapeutic boarding school which aims to help wayward teens with the introduction of the school's moral and spiritual values which are designed to initiate true inner conversion among their students, as opposed to superficial temporary changes in behavior.
In addition to their scouting program, West Ridge Academy also utilizes sports, academics, and other innovative approaches in order to treat mental, physical and spiritual issues of teens and their families.
It is noted that most Eagle Scout awardees continue to become outstanding leaders in their respective fields of interest later on in life which can be attributed to their earlier training as role models as an Eagle Scout.
Some of the outstanding Eagle Scout recipients who went on to make a mark for themselves in their respective careers were: Nobel Prize laureates Dudley Herschbach, Peter Agre, Robert Coleman Richardson and Frederick Reines; Neil Armstrong and forty other astronauts, including 10 of the 11 Apollo mission astronauts who have set foot on the moon; businessmen Sam Walton (founder of Wal-Mart), J.W. Marriott, Jr. (Marriott International Hotels CEO), and Michael Bloomberg (founder of the Bloomberg media conglomerate); American President Gerald Ford; Academy Award-winning film makers Michael Moore and Steven Spielberg, among others.
With the rate that West Ridge Academy has been producing Eagle Scout awardees over the past five years, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we will see one of their alumni be included in that prestigious list in the very near future.
