Benjamin's Eagle Scout Court of Honor

We finally made Benjamin's eagle rank official.  There were 10 scouts in his troop that attained the rank of eagle during the last two years, but who couldn't have an official ceremony (called a "court of honor") due to Covid.  So, now that things have settled down, we all got together, divided into groups of 5, and planned two outdoor ceremonies.  I loved having others with whom to plan because, truth be told, I never wanted a court of honor.  Benjamin didn't either.  Only Kelly wanted one and insisted we do it.  He felt that it made it official and meaningful and helped Benjamin to see how the rank of egale wasn't just an accomplishment to be forgotten, but a charge and a duty to live true to those ideals forever.  However, in his mind, the court of honor would be how we did it in the church - simple, cheap, quick.  In the non-Mormon world of scouting, an Eagle court of honor is a HUGE deal and he quickly realized what he'd roped me into and appologized repeatedly.  I had to attend 12 one-hour-long planning meetings, spend $600, and spend countless hours of prep to pull this thing off.  In the end, it was fabulous and Benjamin admitted he enjoyed it and felt pretty awesome.

Kelly was the only father who was an eagle scout, so he got to lead the boys in the Eagle oath - the pledge to live true to the ideals of eagle throughout your life.  He came down with a wicked migraine that morning and had spent the day in bed, so we weren't sure he'd make it.  I was there hours earlier setting up and he ended up driving to the wrong park and arriving very late, but luckily he made it in time.

Kelly put on Benjamin's eagle neckerchief and, as Benjamin's mom, I got to pin on his eagle pin.

Then he presented me with my traditional mother's pin, which meant even more to me since I'd also been his cub master for 4 years.

Then Kelly got his father's pin.

Then the troop presented all the eagles with their plaques - each one unique - showing the first 21 merit badges they earned as a scout.  21 is the number required to attain eagle, although all the boys had earned more than that.

Then every eagle had to give a speech and present mentor pins to those who were crucial in their path to eagle rank.  Benjamin was terribly nervous about his speech and it ended up being the shortest of all of them.  However, he was very poised and mature, and despite his brevity (which is very Benjamin in any circumstance) he didn't seem nervous at all.  All the other boys were 18-20 years old, yet he held his own very well.

He presented a mentor pin to his former scout master, David Reiche.  He wanted to also present a pin to Michael Edwards, the assistant scout master, but he is undergoing chemotherapy and was unable to attend.

The ceremony also included various other elements which I didn't photograph because Benjamin wasn't directly involved - speeches by other scout leaders, the candle ceremony involving the wooden mountain you can see on the left in the picture above, etc.  We also had the memory boards along the back wall where photographs and memorabilia from the eagle's time since cub scouts was displayed.  That darn board took me so many hours.  I will include a picture of it when I remember to take one.

We also had the whole event catered.  To save money, we provided some of the sides and we served it ourselves.  I enjoyed that because I got to see each and every person who attended as they came through the line.

Finally, in the end, we had 5 smiling eagles - Alex Czajka, Andrew Czajka, Benjamin, Joe Dlugos, and Andrew Wozniak.  As Joe's grandpa put it, "4 Polacks and a German."

Christian asked me afterwards if I regret doing it or if I'd do it again.  I hated the process all the way through because I felt like Kelly had forced me into it and everything the others wanted was just so over the top and unnecessarily fancy and expensive (ie. $150 for the special cake decorated to look like a scout shirt!!) but once the whole thing was done, I have to say, I'd do it again.  I loved the others in the group.  They are wonderful people and I'd never have gotten to know them so well if it hadn't been for this ceremony.  Also, seeing Benjamin honored publicly like this and seeing his smiling face and seeing how proud he was, was heart warming, to say the least.  It was emotional when the whole audience of 100+ people stood and clapped for him and the other scouts.  I would do it again for that.