Job well done

Not all boys who aspire to be Eagle Scouts get the job done. Fewer than 4 percent of all Scouts make the cut. Fewer still attain Scouting’s highest achievement if they have mental or physical disabilities because Eagle Scout is about more than knots and campouts. Eagle Scout wannabes must explain the differences between national and international law, explain the six functions of government spelled out in the preamble to the Constitution, build an ecosystem in a bottle. The list of requirements ranging from citizenship to physical fitness goes on for 20 pages, and there isn’t an easy one in the bunch.

Still, Troop 427 Scoutmaster Barry Larson believed Chris Naccarato, 17, had a chance, despite having Down syndrome, despite an age cutoff of 18 that meant Naccarato would really have to put his nose to the grindstone in order to get the job done.

“Chris will make Eagle Scout,” Larson told Naccarato’s parents, Sharon and Jay. And if the Central Valley High School student faltered a bit, Larson had a backup plan, a loophole in the Scouting rules that softened requirements for Scouts with mental disabilities provided they had a doctor’s note.

Chris Nacarrato’s parents gave Larson the doctor’s letter the scoutmaster requested, but they told him their son wouldn’t need it. Chris Naccarato was a live-life-on-life’s-terms kind of guy; he’d make his Eagle Scout without any shortcuts.

“I’ve had the letter tucked away at each board of review Chris went to,” Larson said. “And at each board of review, he’d struggle, but he always got through it. Chris never needed that letter.”

Chris Naccarato was recognized as an Eagle Scout Aug. 20 in a court of honor at Millwood Presbyterian Church two months before his 18th birthday. He stood at the front doors of the church before the evening service with all 21 of the merit badges required for Eagle Scout displayed on a sash across his torso.

“Do I know you?” Naccarato would say squinting seriously at the guests approaching the entry. His vision isn’t the best and as soon as the guests came into view, Naccarato followed up his seemingly suspicious stare with explosive gratitude and a heartfelt hug. “Thank you,” he would say over and over to each guest, more than 150 times. “Thank you for coming to my court of honor.”

Inside the church, the Scouts and family members who helped Naccarato along recounted his tough journey, the campouts at which he was first to bed and first to call on the other campers to roll over and stop snoring. His grandfather, Herb McIntosh, himself an Eagle Scout since 1948, was usually the one sawing logs in Naccarato’s tent. The two tackled many of Nacarrato’s Eagle Scout requirements together.

“The Scouting program is just such a great program for teaching moral values and life skills,” McIntosh said. “It stays with you in a number of ways. You learn first aid, and that’s a life skill. You learn to be in the woods. You feel more comfortable being in the outdoors because you’ve done it. Every time I tie a bowline knot, I think of the Boy Scouts.”

Of all the requirements for Eagle Scout, including ones dealing with economics and international politics, the toughest one, Chris Naccarato said, was swimming. To qualify, he had to swim down 8 feet underwater and retrieve a 10-pound weight. It was rough, Naccarato said because he’s extraordinarily buoyant. It took everything he had to fight to the lake bottom and retrieve the weight.

Naccarato could have avoided the swimming requirement, said Dale Peters, executive for the Boy Scout’s Grizzly District of the Inland Northwest Council of Boy Scouts of America. The Grizzly District covers Spokane Valley. Hiking and biking requirements have been added to the Eagle Scout process as alternatives to swimming. In fact, Boy Scouts has gone to great lengths to make Scouting open to all boys. The annual dues are $10. And local troops even keep extra uniforms on hand for boys who can’t afford one. Boy Scouts have been tailoring requirements for members with disabilities for almost 30 years to make sure boys with disabilities find Scouting beneficial.

“It’s not only beneficial for those Scouts,” Peters said, “but it’s tremendously beneficial to the Scouts around them. It teaches them about life and that some people have to work harder to get to the same spot.”

Chris Naccarato is used to working hard for what he wants, Sharon Naccarato said. He’s a multiple medal winner in the Special Olympics, a ribbon winner in 4-H. He’s very competitive and he doesn’t take the easy way out. For his project, a requirement that benefits the community, Naccarato donated 39 laundry baskets of clothes and necessities to the Anna Ogden Hall Shelter for women and children.

“That was a wonderful project,” Larson said. “Most kids will build something. What’s neat is you’re going to hear more about Chris as his life goes on. He’s an achiever.”