Brandon's Eagle Project Works on Flagpole and Flagpole Area
September 2019
Dayton, Tn -- Brandon Phillips a recent Rhea County High School graduate recently completed all the requirements to become an eagle scout. Brandon has been with local troop 150 for the last 13 years. The last requirement was a community project and Brandon chose to enhance the flag pole and surrounding area of the flag that many Rhea County residents pass on a daily basis as it sits on the hill overseeing the old Walmart Shopping Center.
For more information about scouting you may visit the two links listed below. Cub scout link is under the boy scout link.
Brandon choose to do a project that required a lot of sweat and effort for a flag, flagpole and fenced in area that people will never see. But Brandon's efforts were not for recognition but to help out those who have to mow in the area and to address the normal maintenace that needs to be done to keep the flag and flagpole area good and lasting for years.
The flagpole was erected in 1995 with the follwing inscirption on a marble momumnet at the bottom of the flag. "Dedicated to the men and women who served in the armed forces of the United States. June 14, 1995. Brady Williams Post 100 American Legion." The post is located at 378 first avenue in downtown Dayton.
Brandon began his project back in June of this year and worked through the hot summer to complete the project around the end of June. Brandon replaced the rope, painted the flagpole, mowed the area, used weed killer in the area where astroturf was installed. The fence was taken town to facilitate the work and then reinstalled.
Brandon has been a scout since he began as a cub scout at age five. To become an Eagle Scout, Brandon had several hurdles to pass. He had to earn a minimum of 21 merit badges. Brandon has earned 56 merit badges. He had to complete six months of leadership to earn "Eagle Scout" rank. Brandon has attended scout meetings almost every week for the last 13 years.
Boy Scouting has seven ranks: Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life and Eagle. There are badges required for each rank as scout moves up the rank from scout to eagle. The 2014 statistics form an online scout magazine shows the percentage making eagle scout at around 6 %. This number is up from the early years when it was much lower(less then 1 % in 1948).
Brandon's boy scout leader the last five years has been Curt Urani. Curt said, "We have had two other scouts earn the rank of Eagle Scout during my time as scout leader here in Dayton.
Brandon earned his merit badges in many different ways. Some of the more interesting badges were badges for citizenship. He had to type up letters for congressmen. He also had badges for hiking, cooking and similar outdoor things. His favorite badge was for fishing.
Brandon said, "I hope to be involved in boy scouts in the future."
Boy scouting in Rhea County is down right now. The local troop out of the Dayton United Methodist Church in downtown Dayton is the only one in the area. There is a decent size cub scout troop, that meets on Tuesday nights at the church. Cub scouts begin at around five until eleven, when they can move into boy scouts. At present only a couple of cub scouts are within two years of moving up to boy scout.
There is a requirement to earn merit badges as you proceed up the ranks before becoming an Eagle Scout. Some of the required merit badges include core of camping, citizenship in the community, citizenship in the nation, communication, cooking, emergency preparatedness or livesaving, enviromental science or sustanability, first aid, swimming or hiking or cycling, personal management, personal fitness and family life, plus eight others.
Some of the merit badges earned by boy scouts are: Agriculture, angling, archery, architecture, art, anatomy, athletics, automobile safety, aviation, beekeeping, blacksmithing, bugling, business, camping, carpentry, chemistry, citizenship and man other.
Some of the merit badges created in the last decade include. American heritage, animation, astronomy, auto mechanics, chess, cooking and fingerprinting to name a few.
There were 57 merit badges created back in 1911. Many of the original still exist today and some have been discontinued. Today there are a total of 135 merit badges.
