Simsbury Boy Scout Troop 175 recently held a Court of Honor to award the rank of Eagle Scout to three young men, Noah Campion, Ethan Meskill and Jack Faulkner. With the addition of these Eagle Scouts, 100 scouts have earned the rank since Troop 175 recognized it’s first Eagle scout in 1981 at St. Mary’s Church in Simsbury.
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than two million young men.
Requirements include earning at least 21 merit badges and demonstrating Scout Spirit through the Boy Scout Oath and Law, service, and leadership. This includes an extensive service project that the Scout plans, organizes, leads, and manages. Eagle Scouts are presented with a medal and a badge that visibly recognizes the accomplishments of the Scout.
Ethan Meskill
Ethan has lived in Simsbury his entire life and attended St. Mary’s School before enrolling at Northwest Catholic High School and Scouts. He joined Scouts in the first grade as a Cub Scout at St Mary’s Pack 175.
Ethan joined Troop 175 in 2011. Some of his most memorable scout trips include the opportunity to go on Zambezi river-rafting trip to Africa this past summer, the 2013 National BSA Jamboree in West Virginia as well as several trips to Block Island, Nantucket, New York, Boston, and Mt. Washington.
For his Eagle Project, he led a group of scouts that raised funding and replaced picnic tables at St. Mary’s School. The project was important to him because he wanted to give back to the elementary school that provided him with a solid foundation. Current and future students will use the new picnic tables for outdoor activities and social events.
Ethan has completed lifeguard certification training as well as First Aid and CPR and is a proud member of the Troop 175 Immortals High Adventure Group. He worked at Camp Mattatuck Scout Camp in Plymouth, CT for the past two summers and currently have an internship in the Selectman’s Office for the Town of Simsbury. Ethan has an interest in government and politics and believe that they will be part of his future.
Ethan is also on the Varsity Swim Team at Northwest Catholic where he is a junior.
Jack Falkner
As a 5th Grade student at Squadron Line Elementary School, John “Jack” Falkner joined St. Mary’s Boy Scout Troop 175 as the suggestion of his parents. With school and other competing interests of my time, it became hard to stay on course to reach Eagle, but with the continuing push from my parents, he stayed on track and achieved this accomplishment.
For his Eagle project, Jack built a batting cage for Simsbury High School. He has been playing baseball since he was in 3rd Grade and wanted to give back to the sport that has given him so much enjoyment. As a member of the Simsbury High School baseball team, he saw the need for an additional batting cage because when teams would come from other towns, both teams wouldn’t have enough time to warm up in one cage and our batting practices were very slow due to only one cage. I quickly learned that my schedule to build this batting cage wasn’t the same as others. That putting together a project of this size was going to take time. I also learned that people are generous, with both money and their time. My fellow scouts and baseball teammates came together and washed cars with me to raise money to begin building the cage. I will always remember the first time I saw a Babe Ruth team using the cage; I was filled with pride and knew I made a difference.
This experience taught me that when you set a goal, it is not always easy to achieve it. Plan ahead and expect many obstacles to get in the way. I am looking forward to attending college next year and am very confident the lessons learned in Scouting will help me with the next stage of my life.
According to Jack, his most memorable trips were the mission profile adventures and sailing the Caribbean. Troop 175 mission profile trips involved planning and strategizing along a story line full of adventure. Scouts have to learn to negotiate, think on their feet and be inventive in order to win the game. A typical trip requires you to be awake for 20 hours, running around the camp during the day and well into the night trying to get certain items checked off the list. Games are very exciting.
Another memorable trip was sailing in the Caribbean. The troop rented two 47’ catamarans in St Maartin. We sailed to Anguila one day and then headed to a small Island, Saba, approximately 20 miles away. Saba was a rock pile in the middle of the Carribean and we anchored off of it for 2 days. After several other days full of adventure, we returned to St Maartin and headed on home to Simsbury.
Noah Campion
Noah Campion moved to Simsbury at the age of four. In the 6th , Noah was invited to attend a Boy Scout meeting by his friend Nick Carabillo and after going to that meeting, joined Troop 175.
Noah’s favorite Boy Scout trip was hiking Mount Kilimanjaro in 2011. The feeling of standing on the summit of Kilimanjaro at 19,341 feet in altitude was completely unreal – something he will never forget.
For his Eagle Scout project, Noah built a “Little Free Library” for the Simsbury Public Library. The completed “Little” library is located in Simsbury Town Hall. This project was important to him because it helps to spread literacy by making books readily available for anyone to read. In this Little Free Library’s location, there has been a significant amount of people benefiting from this resource.
Noah Campion graduated from Simsbury High School in 2014 earlier this year with a clear-cut career path in mind. For as long as he can remember, being a successful entrepreneur was his lifelong goal. He currently is taking a gap year and will enroll in a college starting next year. Noah plans on becoming a Radiologic Technician alongside achieving my entrepreneur goals.
