Few attain Scout’s highest ranking

Only 4 percent of boys who enter scouting rise to Eagle Scout, according to Boy Scouts of America statistics.

By the time they go to high school, many boys catch the “fumes disease,” joked Dale Peters, a senior executive in the Boy Scouts’ Grizzly District, which encompasses troops in Spokane Valley.

Those “fumes” are gas fumes and perfumes, which can easily distract boys, he explains.

Scouts must through the ranks, advancing from Tenderfoot, to Second Class, First Class, Star and Life Scout before they can apply to be Eagles.

They must earn 21 merit badges along the way. A dozen are required. They include: first aid, citizenship, environmental science, fitness, camping, personal management and family life. Nine are electives.

Completing the prerequisites and then pulling off a large-scale community service projectrequires fortitude, willpower and people skills.

“Eagle is not the ultimate goal,” Peters said. “The trail to Eagle is just as or more important. There are many boys who go through the scouting program who do not make Eagle but benefit from the experience.”

Last year, out of 2,000 Boy Scouts in the Grizzly District, 36 attained Eagle status, he said.