by KATHLEEN HARRINGTON
Correspondent
WESTFIELD – Visitors to Amelia Park Children’s Museum find a manicured landscape and brightly painted picnic tables thanks to the efforts of Boy Scout Liam Sheehan. On Sunday, his efforts, hard work, organizational skills, and leadership earned him the rank of Eagle Scout.
Sheehan along with brothers Matthew and Steven Cole were awarded the highest honor in Scouting in a ceremony at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Westfield.
All three were responsible for planning, coordinating and executing community service projects to benefit the community. Matthew Cole’s service project was to clean up and paint the front of Fort Meadow School. Steven Cole’s project restored more than 40 headstones in the Old Burial Ground Historic Cemetery and included a cleanup with landscaping improvements.
Before a crowd of family, friends, Boy Scouts, and invited guests, the Eagle Court of Honor revisited the young men’s scouting careers.
The ceremony included a symbolic walk, accompanied by their parents, to showcase their years with the scouts.
All three began as Tiger Scouts with a Cub Scout troop at Munger Hill School. Their journey included numerous camping trips including one to the International Scout Center in Switzerland. Also along the way, the boys each earned at least 21 Merit Badges.
The ceremony continued with the Eagle Scouts reaffirming the scout oath and promising to do their duty to God and country. It is a pledge taken to heart for these young men. Eagle scouts go on to successful careers in patriotic service, public service, and leadership roles in business. According the BSA figures, only two of every 100 boys involved in scouting will earn the rank of Eagle.
Scoutmaster Joe Muto presented the trio the rank of Eagle telling them, “People will look up to you.”
He went on to say, “ I challenge you to be among those who dedicate their hearts and hands to common good.”
The ceremony continued with each scout paying honor to his parents for their years of support.
The new Eagle Scouts received letters of congratulations from State Senator Don Humason and State Representative John Velis, the governor, and the City of Westfield.
