Six Santa Monica teenagers will be awarded the highest rank one can earn in the Boy Scouts on Jan. 27.
Kalon Cheung, Ari Max Friedman, Joshua Robert Lappen, Isaac James Nemzer, Qian Tan, and Maxwell Eliot Payson Ulin will be honored with the rank of Eagle Scout at the Troop 2 Eagle Court of Honor to be held at First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica.
All six eagle candidates are high school seniors (Cheung, Friedman, Nemzer, and Tan at Santa Monica High School; Lappen at Harvard-Westlake and Ulin at Crossroads).
The Eagle rank honors exemplary effort, leadership, and service.
Only two percent of Boy Scouts achieve the rank.
In addition to demonstrating proficiency in first aid, citizenship, camping, swimming, emergency preparedness, and many other skills, Eagle candidates must coordinate and complete a community service project that demonstrates significant leadership abilities. Each of the scouts being honored led a major project to improve quality of life in the community.
Cheung and Lappen each worked with the City of Santa Monica’s arborist on an urban forestry project: Cheung organized tree planting in a residential area of Santa Monica, while Lappen coordinated planting of native California Sycamores, rehabilitating a dilapidated strip of asphalt overlooking the 10 Freeway.
Friedman and Tan each led a landscaping/beautification project in the community: Friedman at Westminster Elementary School in Venice and Tan at the Church on Pearl in Santa Monica.
For Nemzer and Ulin, their Eagle Scout service projects involved creating or restoring outdoor murals at local schools: Nemzer restored a U.S. map mural at Grant Elementary School in Santa Monica, while Ulin created two painted works in and near the playground of Broadway Elementary School in Venice.
Dozens of Troop 2 scouts contributed to each of these community service projects.
Troop 2 is one of the oldest and largest Boy Scout troops in the Western United States.
In its 65-year history, Troop 2 has graduated 301 Eagle Scouts and traveled to scout camps and high adventure destinations throughout the United States. Troop 2 Scouts are known to have saved at least 56 lives.
