A Class of Their Own
Eight Eagle Scouts from one troop graduate in a challenging year
By Kathy Knotts
Scouts BSA Troop 853 of West River doesn’t know if it’s a record or not, but they don’t really care. They are proud just the same. Eight young men in the troop, all 2021 graduates at Southern High School, earned the rank of Eagle Scout this year.
A remarkable achievement any time is made even more remarkable considering these Scouts did it during a global pandemic and at a time when even meeting with their Scout troop came with significant challenges.
Seniors Justin and Cody Tice, JP Cullember, Colby Pokorski, Caden Marshall, Nathan Sumpter, Hugh Donnelly and Kenny Ferguson reached the highest rank available to Scouts, an achievement that only 8 percent of Scouts ever accomplish. The Scouts must earn 21 merit badges, demonstrating a variety of skills, serve in a troop position and complete a service project that benefits the community somehow.
It is the culmination of a journey that began in elementary school as Cub Scouts for most of the Eagles. Three even attended daycare together.
Twins Cody and Justin Tice began as Cubs, with older brother Josh leading the charge. Josh earned his Eagle in 2019, the last time an in-person ceremony was held by the troop. “I’m pretty proud,” Cody Tice says. “Especially since all three of us were able to complete. I’m just glad that I started something and got all the way finished with it.”
Scouting is a family affair for the Tices. Mom Deana and dad Joey were leaders within the troop while running the family farm, and staying involved with 4-H, the Future Farmers of America and the Anne Arundel County Fair. So, it comes as little surprise that each Tice sibling spent time working on the fairgrounds as part of their service projects.
Cody constructed animal holding pens for the fair and Justin rebuilt a deck and entryway. “Our older brother, Josh, had done his project at the fair and still had things he needed help with, so I figured I’d help with that,” said Cody. “I wanted to give back to the fair … previously people had to borrow pens so I thought it would be nice for them to have their own.”
“I rebuilt the deck at the fair office,” said Justin. “I chose to do that because it needed to be replaced—a lot of fair members are older volunteers, over the age of 60 and a lot of them were having trouble getting on the deck. It was a safety hazard and I wanted to give them something nice.”
The Tice brothers admit a little sibling competition helped them cross the finish line. “It was a given,” says Justin. “You don’t want to be the one (brother) that didn’t get an Eagle.”
Working at the same location meant being able to help each other out, too, says Cody. “I’m glad we weren’t working on projects at the same time, diverting resources. Once mine and Josh’s (projects) were finished, we could help Justin with the porch.”
Pitching in to help Eagles with their service projects is part of the troop’s support. Other Scouts are expected to lend a helping hand.
“My project, which was building wood duck nesting boxes for Patuxent River State Park, could not have been completed without the help of the entire troop,” says Colby Pokorski, “which I feel best exemplifies the bonds between Scouts and what they can do together.”
Pokorski says that while becoming an Eagle was “an arduous journey and definitely difficult,” he didn’t find it as challenging as he expected. “My feelings about becoming an Eagle Scout are mainly relief that it’s finally over, pride in my accomplishment, and gratefulness for those who helped me along the way. The members of Troop 853 have been my friends for nigh on six years, a whole one-third of my life. I have made unforgettable memories.”
JP Cullember created swallow nesting boxes for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to install on Poplar Island. “I didn’t even know how to build one at first, so we did two prototypes in my garage and had to change them a little bit,” he says. “The hardest part was deciphering the schematics on how to build them.”
Service projects range from helping animals to helping other young people in their community. Nathan Sumpter built benches and racks for day packs at the climbing wall at West River Center. Hugh Donnelly rebuilt bridges in the Cedarhurst community of Shady Side. Kenny Ferguson built two “buddy benches” for Shady Side Elementary School.
“The benches are meant to promote inclusion” said Ferguson. “The idea is that they are long enough for multiple people, so multiple children can sit on them at one time. I thought it would be a cool idea and the school wanted benches so I thought it would make it something positive for the kids.”
For a small troop—currently 22 members—graduating a large number of Eagle Scouts is especially meaningful for Scoutmaster Ron Thompson. “This is the first time in my tenure, well over a decade now, that we have had such a high number in a short time,” he said. “We are a small troop now, so the sucess ratio is even a greater story. [It’s a] great cohort of boys and what an amazing story.”
Annually, The Baltimore Area Council (serving Baltimore City and the five surrounding counties) sees roughly 500 young people earn the rank of Eagle Scout, says field director Brendan Canale. “These Scouts have overcome not only the difficulty of the rank advancement but all of the additional barriers to success caused by the pandemic. In 2020 our Eagle Scout Service Projects averaged 118 hours per project. These projects provide great benefit to the communities in which our Scouts live,” said Canale.
Eagle ranks must be completed by each Scout’s 18th birthday. For Donnelly, the pandemic presented a major obstacle in his timeline. “I was on track until COVID happened.”
Donnelly, like many of his classmates, was relying on finishing merit badges at summer camp. “And then the pandemic closed camp, so I had to do them all on my own.”
Troop 853 regularly meets at the West River Center, its chartering organization. Caden Marshall, who lives on the property with his family who manage the camp, picked a service project within walking distance of his home. “My project is called Eagles Rest, it is a pergola structure with a 500+ sq ft paver patio, six custom built porch swings, a campfire pit, custom concrete countertop, and a solar string light fixture.”
Marshall, who will attend St. John’s College in the fall, says he is honored to join the ranks of Eagle Scouts. “The value of Scouting isn’t able to be determined, it changes boys into men and allows for the molding of character.”
“I don’t know that being an Eagle has changed much for me,” says Cullember. “It’s not the badge that ‘made’ me. It’s more the experiences I’ve had that did that.”
The Eagle Scout rank can be an advantage on college applications, says Pokorksi. “I plan on going to Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. I also received a large scholarship … There’s not definitive proof, but I believe that I got accepted and received the scholarship in large part due to the fact that I am an Eagle Scout.” Donnelly is heading to the University of New Orleans.
Even for those not going to a university, they find value in the process. “I plan on getting an apprenticeship in electricity and I hope to take the skills I learned from constructing my Eagle project, such as carpentry and leadership, with me, along my road to eventually becoming a journeyman electrician,” says Cody Tice. Ferguson will head to North Carolina for the NASCAR Training Program. Cullember expects to enter community college in the fall.
Justin Tice plans on going to college to study IT or networking but wants to stay in touch with his troop. “I want to be an example and tell the boys who are about to Eagle or getting close in next few years, just to give them an extra push they need … I don’t want others to miss out on it, it’s a good accomplishment and makes you feel very proud.”
Next month, the group of eight (plus two members who earned Eagle rank in 2020, Chris Kyle and Tyler Sumpter, when ceremonies were canceled), will be honored at a group celebration in July.