Duke / Ellis Eagle Court of Honor

is trustworthy SC will always tell the truth keep prises a scout is loyal the Scout shows that they care about their family friends Scout leaders in their country Scout is helpful Scout volunteers to help others without expecting reward friendly a scout is a friend to everyone even people who are very different from them Scot is cour Scout always play everyone and always has maners a scout is kind a scout treats others as they want to be treated they will never any living being without good reason a scout is obedient a scout follows orders to the rules of their family school and Scout OB law the community country as well a scout is cheerful a scout always looks on the brighter side of life they cheerfully do tasks that come to their way they try to help others be happy as they go on their Trails a scout is thri a scout Works to pay their own way they try not to be wasteful they use their time their food their supplies and their natural resources wisely a scout is brave a scout faces difficult situations with bravery they do what is they think is right despite what others might be doing or saying a scout is clean a scout keeps their body and mind to fix they help keep their home and their Community C a scout is Reverend a scout is rever toward God they are faithful and a religious students they respect the beliefs of others so there you have it Scout Law is recited don't just say it if something say it as something you mean and live it out as such thank you Sean and Jak now we will have Mr K come up and talk about the obligations of an eagle SC becoming an eagle scout is a great accomplishment being an eagle scout is a greater responsibility the obligation of an eagle scout is to Simply never stop being Scout I want to call your attention to the five key principles Comm or obligations we've mastered in scouting which will see our way just about any day-to-day living situation first an eagle scout is committed to live with honor he is somehow one of those who stands the highest he knows he's not perfect and may make mistakes but he focuses on striving to do what's right and will never give up his honor is rooted in Purity and we connect this concept to the white stri in the eagle back secondly Eagle commits himself to be loyal not only those in authority over him but to those he will lead throughout his life this Express this is expressed in many ways but we can sum it up as treating others as you would like to be treated never letting others sway you from your ideals you recognize these traits in the blue stripe of the eagle B the third Eagle Scout's commitment would be to be courageous he will face many challenges and obstacles throughout life a sh in the sa and sailing within sight of the shore is for the timid however the real courage of eagles will be to take the ship into deeper waters and Over the Horizon to find Rich Undiscovered Country Eagle's courage also assures that he will do what is right no matter what other people say or do the red of the eagle bad represents her the fourth obligation of the eagle scout is to serve others for a leader is above all else servant the practice of the daily good Beal to a lifetime of service and the vanishment of selfless of selfishness he knows that only in giving of himself does he give anything about just as it always has the SC in his badge represents service the final obligation that anle Scout is to have Vision as a leader he must now Blaze his own thre just as a bald eagle soaring high above the ground can look far to the distance so too the eag SC must look far into the future many people will follow him only with vision will he lead them in the right direction a silver eag hanging from his badge reminds us of the eagle scout and his vision to summarize these are the obligations of the eagle scout to pursue honor loyalty courage service and vision these qualities he can lead his fruit his community and his Nation towards A Better Tomorrow congratulations Conor and Owen officially e Scout today go ahead and thank you Mr K it is now time for the highlight of our program the presentation of the eagle scout award I would like to ask true 397 scout master Mr Derek Ellis to come forward to make the appropriate presentations I need a couple of honor guard for the candidates Scouts so you got have the honor guard please esort Cates all right when we begin our program tonight you joined with your fellow Scouts and repeting a scout o now you will stand and rep new o Eagle Scout I like all Eagle Scouts present to stand at this time andate themselves repeting e Scout Promise please make the Scout sign and I reaffirm my allegiance I reaffirm my Al the promises of the Scout recogn and take respons on myON I will do my best to make my training an example Rank and my influence for for ciip my my I have the honor of giving you the Eagle Scouts charge the Scouts of all Nations constitute one of the most meaningful and significant in world's history you've been judged by the Boy Scouts of America as being worthy of this honor all who know you are proud of you and rejoice in you your position as you know is one of honor and responsibility you A Marked Man as an eagle scout you assumed the solemn obligation to do your duty to God to your country to your fellow Scouts and man is a great under as you live up to your obligations and bring honor to yourself and your brother's America has many good things to give you and your children after you but these good things depend for the most part on the quality of your CI our country has had a great past you can help make the future even greater I charge you to undertake your citizenship with solemn dedication be a leader but lead only toward the best lift up every task you do and every office you hold highest level of service to God and your fellow name to live and serve that those who know you will be inspired to finer living we have two many who use their strength and their brains to explo others and being selfish I charge you to be among those who dedicate their skills and ability to build America on the solid foundation of clean living honest work unselfish citizenship and reverence to God and whatever Others May do will leave behind you a record of which every other Scout may be justif the trail has been excellent but one more thing is important the future as an eagle scout you become the guide to other Scouts you become an example in your community remember that your actions are now a little more conspicuous and people will expect more of you to falter your responsibility would reflect not only on you but also on your fellow Eagle Scouts and all of scout the torch you carry is not only yours but is also ours I now ask Mr Matt jori to come forward to present the award before the Eagle Award is bestowed upon you I'm going to ask your parents to join us the time has finally come and the honor of pinning your Eagle on your uniform rightly falls to the person's most responsible for being here your parents your mother has undoubtedly been your greatest source of inspiration and your quest for the Eagle Award I am going to ask that she pin your Eagle Award on your left pocket and you present her with the boys forgot the Roses this usually where the mom get back at the boys for anything they've done in recognition of Father fatherly advice and guidance along the trail to Eagle I will ask the eagle Scout's father to present to his son the eagle scal certificate as a symbol of what his mother has made possible the court will now ask his asked this Eagle to present his mother with this Eagle mother's pen as a symbol of what his father has made possible the court will now ask this Eagle to present his father with this with this eagle as a token of our pride in you it is my honor to present to each of you the eagle Necker chief chief SL emblematic of the all evil sculps everywhere right that for may I congratulate you and may I remind you that scouting should now become an even even greater tide between the son and parents finding you even more closely as a family to you Eagle Scouts Conor and Owen I express confidence that you will honor scouting with your life and Service as today's scouting you it gives me great pleasure to present to you our newest Eagle Scouts Conor Duke and Owen will Owen Ellis [Applause] it is now time for Owen and Conor to make their own remarks about their scouting Journeys to offer thanks um I'm presenting mine to Mr de because he need [Applause] yeah Mr K has been the scout master for me for most of the time that I've been here just to clarify not currently not currently past and [Music] future but he's been there to help me along the way and has helped me get a lot of things accomplished [Applause] so I only one was able to make it so Mr J you please come get this I some things out for you okay so Mr J helped me push through many mayor badges I remember sitting down to do citizenship in society uh with a couple other Scouts and just pushing through all the Talking Points having discussions and making sure we all got something out of that mirge and then when I moved he made sure that I got my mirror bges done by aring time to get them done over the phone and sending blue cards to Emil to get them sign another another moment that I think back on a lot is from a sub Camp trip to South Dakota we were hiking up a mountain called party PE which had which was an all day event up the death we stopped at stop lunch there was a fir out and we stayed there and just looked around um we started hiking back down after that myself and a couple other Scouts got really far ahead too quickly we stopped after a while and let everyone catch up Mr Jade had some very insightful words in that moment he said don't rush down we don't get to see this every day stop now it's pretty common saying but it's stck with me from that moment and I think about it as my life wise back so Mr J [Applause] for the other two weren't able to make it but it was Dr Royce I have things to say about him and Mr Summers he was also yellow he also wasn't able to make it so I'll start with back of R first um I unfortunately dog wasn't able to make it um but I still want to thank him for taking me in as a little fifth grader helping me to learn how not just to be a scout but to be a man and a I remember our scout master conferences sitting down and going over my Scout book looking over everything I had done making goals at the top of the page with each or with tasks to complete each R each one would have three new goals for me to try and accomplish while I Wasing my next rank he was always so involved in the tro success and everyone's individual success as Scouts and as athletes students and anything else your part he truly wanted each one of his Scouts to earn the [Applause] rank and then finally uh Mr Summers so he was basically the reason I started scouting uh coming in to talk to my first grade class trying to get some new Boys in cup SC Mr Summers has been in my scouting career from the very beginning and helped get me to this point over the years I got to know him because of have close with friends me and his son Danny once I got into Bo guys it seemed like Danny and I would work through everything all of our campouts monthly and week long summer EVS by being around Danny so much those times you come Mr Summers having with or helping with Mar Badges and rank advancements and as I got older just another person to talk to the campire one moment stuck with me is when we were at a summer camp on the border of Ohio in Michigan it was a great night for camping we had a campfire and just started talk and Mr sumers started talking about how this was most likely his last summer camp as Danny was aging out he thanked everyone there and talked about enjoying the moment like Mr J to talk about to stop his he mentioned how in the blink of an eye he watched his son grow up and how he enjoyed the experience he talked about not taking things for granted even when they seemed like it doesn't matter in that very moment in that moment who taught me every moment just want to cherish because you really don't know how fast life can fly by the blink than ey you can already be done all you have are the memories so cherish your little memories for a little moment stop and smell thees Mr J Dr R Mr Summers thank you for everything you have help me accomplish my Scout [Applause] at this time I would like to continue a troop tradition by inviting anyone who would like us to share stories about Conor or and you can you can do it from wherever you are you don't if you don't know me because I'm like four and half hours away um ji I'm from gold tro came here and kind was a really great part of our trth because it was always really entertaining when he was there um I remember this is the highlight of my first trip was it was me in the middle like a little like tiny first year who never been the so he doesn't really know what's going on then you have Conor in the front and Danny in the back and I did learn how to c siiz that weekend Conor sitting in the front and he hits Danny in the back with water not even on purpose Danny takes his pedal and just like at full force gets Conor back and then Conor gets back and then I'm in the middle I'm like dodging and then like Conor HS Danny Danny goes like half the boat like his legs are barely in the boat and then I go like slightly this way now we're in the always fun time I think that storylight all as as many I'm Mr J I'm from Troop 139 at Rockford in Rockford Illinois where counter started I'm going to share two stories well we went to South Dakota for a summer camp and some boy who I won't mention names cut his hand pretty good with the knife and the two boys who really stepped up in our troop to make sure he was taking care of and getting the emergency that he needed one was Conor the other one you've heard is Danny from that day and every other day Conor always looked after Jake and made sure he was taken care of but it showed that he cared not only about himself but about others that were around him all the time my story though with Conor comes about with fire building when we were at a camp in Ohio Connor was asked to help build a fire in the firebowl arena so he went down there that afternoon and did it and we went there and at night just this big beautiful fire that Conor said help build that he built well come to find out at our next court of honor Connor kept the secret that he did not build that fire that he had nothing to do with that fire but took credit for it for about 3 months but on the flip note every night we were at our campsite the Jenga Master as he was called called that we built beautiful Fires at our campsite for [Applause] us I'd just like to Joe would you mind walking up next to con for a second so so they joined us a couple years ago uh obviously from a distance away and I just remember the very first time that I saw them out at the camp coyote there in the the field one of the other dads said we got some some new people here a new Scout coming in and his dad's going to be a leader and I remember looking over and thinking Conor was actually the dad Joe is the kid so yeah how old are you now 30 30 it's been a pleasure knowing you guys and I'm really grateful you joined this Conor and Owen played volleyball together at Brownsburg and I played travel with some other people here as well which was nice to see you guys um Conor's uh the the best thing about Conor is his enthusiasm for everything and when he's playing volleyball for example he does this thing we call the beard Flex where you can just tell he's all in and he just starts screaming at the crowd like this and he's he's not like that aot and it took a lot for Conor to get his Eagle I think it's important everybody understands Scouts especially you guys there's a long road to Eagle when you move in the middle of school and you have to kind of start up again there's a lot of a hill to climb there and so I think it's it's extra challenging and impressive [Applause] of I do have a message from Mr Summers I know his name the family's been kind of thrown around here but uh Mr summer said a note very heartfelt so I start Bing my eyes out I apologize congratulations kind the Eagle Scout badge is a huge honor and you should be very proud I'm so sorry we can't be there to celebrate tonight I do remember the time you and your family we met um in the basement of the Holy Family having at M and you and Danny were like top AG a lot of time has passed since then of course and and I'm so glad that our families kind of became friends of all that specifically through scouting though I remember the kond Derby uh where we attended uh and there wasn't much snow so we had to push that thing around the m i remember vividly South Dakota that trip was a blast and you and Danny were in charge um I laugh every time the video I have of you um mountain boarding and face planting when we Pioneer that is tears my and then uh you know making those huge fires you did m Pioneer I remember the bike ride that we took around town that 50 m I'm still sore from that um and I remember uh an airplane skit where you came up with specific lines from the classic movie I speak and don't call me shirely and Infuse that into the skin what was and of course it'll always be burned in my brain Conor you doing the world right a favorite memory doc Roy always talk about Legacy and for me that Legacy is friendship I know that you and Danny and a bunch of other guys in the troop remain friends and probably will so for the rest of your lives and for me I made those friendships too not only with you but with your family and with the Clemen and the Jaris and Mr Brisco and royes you know that list goes on and on and on and having been out of scouting now for a couple years with even more distance between us I still remember all these memories very F so celebrate Conor and Joe and Liz and Aaron and Alex that of this achievement and and what you've accomplished uh I I hope that you will always have the legacy of friendship and always remember the ideals of scouting for this long as you [Applause] is very PG but it'll be a little bit longer than normal and I'd like to thank you for all the damage you let me do over the years I look forward to doing more um so I'll start with Connor because it's a little bit easier or the Duke as I call him and I will acknowledge uh Mr Ellis's story about day one when he came and everybody thought he was going to be the parent and not the Scout of course at the scoutm of the time everybody comes to me right away and guess what they tell me he's the paring so of course I go over there thinking wait a minute something's not right um but first of all I'm glad you guys moved to Indiana um although it's nice to talk to people who don't have an accent and I'm going to assume you're all bear fans but I think to kind of harp on the relationship that I've been hearing the last few um mention that have come up here is relationship right and it's hard to go from 4 Hour away to a new troop in high school and get this done I think probably one point you can acknowledge and talk to the rest of the crew individually U maybe you weren't going to get Evo right you had all those marit bages you got last minute I think we met up last minute to do like the second to last or the last pretty close Okay um you're still not the most last minute I've ever seen so that's okay that's good but I think part of this too isn't just the relationships you come when you come from out of to a new tro right part of this is meeting up with troop members at volleyball like Owen or um I got a tall one in the back Aon are you here sorry youve um and just kind of the influence you can have when you're not in Scouts and those relationships to stimulate other people to grow and prosper and um and do your best right Scout Law um he had a great project project was collecting American flags in a box and then burning them but keep in mind we're allowed to burn American flags so that's a good thing and then did you stay late and collect the rivets I went the next the next day so you want to explain to them what I mean by collecting the rivets and what it means so in each flag there there'ss flag up put car in it hold flag up little metal pieces they don't we metal so they just back good luck so if you want to give them away to people at the next meeting feel um we we retired over 300 Flags tonight from from his and that's not all of them that's like half what we've collected in the last six or eight months a really big service to [Applause] Owen who I've known since he came from another state to a better State um since he was smaller hasn't had as much of a shadow growth yet but we'll get there um we all know his father can look like Ken story Owen Owen Owen Owen after years of knowing Owen and you might not get this reference but you remind me of Fire Marshall Bill so feel free to YouTube that later it's a very class and Owen has taught me a lot of things and I think from scouts there's a few things you can take away there's always the positive instruction you get on how to do things correctly how to do things well and there's the negative instruction that's self-learned um but also experiences you have with other people that show you what you don't want to be okay so there's positives and negatives to all relationships um for Owen what stands out to me the most is he's definitely one to have fun he likes to hit the ground running whether it's bringing a volleyball net the camp or whether it's jumping in the canoe and and being the first one in and the last one out of the water just having a good time while you're working um he's also the only one I know who's purchased $1,000 knife um so what do I mean by $1,000 knife 1200 12200 sorry $1,200 knife from the Scout store at Scout camp um and you had have known this was coming so Owen like every good scout here who likes to go to the Scout store when you're at camp and buy things wo how many of you like to buy new knives at the scout store Owen did this one time and was shaving a little bit too close to his leg and kind of in the inside so with that there was a straight shot to the hospital which we had found just after our leisurely e adventure with Mr Ellis on our horse back R another night another night another night um in which case it's always a teachable moment so he got stitches and he came right back to camp and was able to finish it out the other thing he taught me was I didn't know hydrogen peroxide came in a spray bottle so on our second tour of Sease before we got on the 80 foot Schooner um accidentally cracked his head on the side of the pool got a big GH got stitches Staples Staples like a week SE l two days two days before SE so if you know anything about you spend all the time on the water so it's either on the boat in the land near the water or snorkeling five six times a day in the ocean so when you have a minor flesh wound um we weren't sure like what do you do how do you get in the water what if it gets infected in 3 days um so we took extra provision Provisions to make sure that he had first a treatment on the boat which included hydrogen peroxide your hair every time you went in the water h on right um but again to highlight relationships too um these guys were volleyball together it's not always being present at Scouts 100% of the time just having fun with your friends in a bunch of activities and I think going forward um what you'll you can talk to the Scouts in the eagle Nets here and even the ones from previous years you will continue to be in contact with your friends who were in Scouts it'll be it'll still be a life nice to have you Boys Scouts young men soon to be future men go to inate schools in Indiana good luck another one here uh I've said a few things about Conor not said any other one this is a tradition for our I'm grateful to be getting rid of this finally I was Owen's Den Leader here and whenever you're a den leader you get an arrow and they cross over from cup Scouts to Boy Scouts and this gets presented to the very first eagle from that group of boys and so now it's your job of keep tracking it it's been a lot of fun to watch going grow up uh in Scouts and in life and uh we've had a lot of good memories I remember the very first tiger meeting we had uh we came home and it was like a p meeting and Carrie was there own in first grade and my wife Carrie is there and she looked at me and she said you look so crisp you and know look so crisp and clean and pressed and and sharp our our uniforms were very you know crisp and clean and then we went to summer camp a few years and realized that's why it was it was new and all the other leaders that already lived in The Scouting world is why you see rles and everything else our uniforms certainly have have worn the test of time but they the memories that we've had things we've gotten to do skiing in the per as a cup Scout camping on a b a cup Scout doing all the greated [Applause] with that we now conclude our Eagle ceremony I would now like to ask everyone to please rise for Benediction I for father we thank you for the gift of these two fine young cour Ser Brothers ands attention advance salute Color Guard ret Color Guard return Great Master thank you all for coming to this Eagle court of honor for Owen and Conor uh now there will be Refreshments in the back for all of those uh wanting to partake remember guest first and Scout second uh [Applause]