With intensive requirements entailing hundreds of hours of service and leadership, attaining Eagle Scout status is a great feat and a major goal of many members of the Boy Scout community. It’s by no means an easy process to reach this level, but a handful of students, such as Charles Logan ’22, earn the rank every year.

Logan has been a member of a Grosse Pointe scout chapter, Troop 96, for the past six years, and throughout his time in the program, he focused on climbing through the lower ranks in hope of one day reaching Eagle Scout.

“The complex process to become Eagle begins with attaining all lower ranks,” Logan said. “The lower ranks have an emphasis on outdoor and life skills. The higher ranks emphasize leadership.”

Beyond working through the ranks, Logan emphasizes the importance of merit badges and an Eagle Scout project. According to Logan, there are 21 required merit badges earned throughout a scout’s career that cover a wide range of skills, however, he notes that these are more straightforward than the required project.

“The project is specified as anything that demonstrates leadership and benefits the community,” Logan said. “Scouts can do anything from building birdhouses, to collecting and distributing school supplies, to building a climbing wall (or) instrument cabinets.”

Logan admits that the project seemed daunting at first, as there is a copious amount of preparatory work to complete before officially beginning the operation.

“The scout must work with their beneficiary, or project sponsor, and create a plan, before getting approval from the regional district advancement committee,” Logan said. “After your project is approved, you carry it out, keeping track of everything and leading your work crew in the execution of your project.”

For his project, Logan was encouraged to support a cause that he felt personally drawn and connected to which was advice that Logan said led him to his decision to support the orchestra program.

“Everyone always told me to pick something I’d be passionate about,” Logan said. “To that end, I thought of Mr. Gross and the orchestra program. I’ve been in orchestra since fifth grade and outside of scouting, it probably defined me as a person the most. I knew it was a program I wanted to give back to.”

According to Logan, for his project he and a team of 26 scouts created three storage shelves for the Pierce Middle School music program to use for much needed instrument storage.

“We constructed three storage cabinets, each containing 20 cubbies for the band and orchestra program at Pierce,” Logan said. “These cubbies will be used for instrument storage. I wanted to create something sturdy, quality and lasting.”

According to orchestra teacher James Gross, this project was a point of pride for Logan and the orchestra program which desperately needed new storage as they recently received 300 new instruments.

“This project was a source of joy and pride for Charles who also has been a member of the South High School Orchestra these past four years, and the Brownell Orchestras during middle school,” Gross said. “We needed the storage and Charles had the inspiration and idea to give back to the GPPSS Music program.”

Upon finishing this project, Logan qualified for Eagle Scout status and he said he is overjoyed to reach this level in the program as it has been his long term goal and solidifies him in the scouts program which has played a key role in shaping him as an individual.

“Scouts provides boys with a way to mature in a healthy way, you get to camp all the time, meet all sorts of new people, and try all sorts of new things,” Logan said. “The people in the program are wonderful. My closest friends I met through scouting, and I’m happy to be part of this program for life.”