Jacob's Eagle Court of Honor

Jake had met all of his requirements to begin his Eagle a year ago last spring. He was done by the end of May 2013. It wasn't much later that his paperwork was completed. But, by the time he was able to get leaders to look at it and sign off on it (after summer vacations), it was August. No biggie. But that's when marching band practice started up for him (an unexpected surprise) and wouldn't you know it...the only night a scout can turn in his Eagle project and await a Board of Review is on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month. Right during marching band practices! So Jake had a choice. He's always had a goal to get his Eagle before he turned 14. But as the newest and youngest high school marching band member (as an 8th grader), he felt it was probably best to be at ALL the marching band practices and continue with that commitment through the end of the calendar year.

He turned 14 December 27th and his Eagle Board of Review was scheduled for January 9th. Jake passed with flying colors (after his scout master put to rest any issues the Board might of had because of Jake's young age). Once the Board spoke with Jacob themselves, they were impressed with him. One woman made a comment about how articulate Jake was. (Yes, the Hough children are very articulate. That's one way of putting it.) Here is a picture of the two female Board members, Jake and Brother Oyama, who had served as our ward's scout advancement chairman. He was in charge of all the Courts of Honor and Boards of Review with the young men. He was amazing. And then he moved when our ward boundaries were realigned the end of December :(

Jake and Adam Thayne, scoutmaster, after Jake's Board of Review.

So then we had to await for official word that he had been recorded as an Eagle Scout. Once that happened the end of January, we needed to figure out a time to do Jake's Eagle Court of Honor. It kind of fell by the wayside when just  few weeks later, we made the decision to change jobs and relocate. When your options are limited to Saturdays, there just aren't very many of them, I've decided! March was out of the question because we were too busy trying to secure Jared's job and get the house ready to put on the market and Karcyn had her baptism. So that moved us to April. The first weekend was General Conference so that was out. The second weekend, Jake was going on an 8th grade trip to Seattle, WA and wouldn't be back until Saturday evening. So that was out. We finally settled on Sat. April 19th. It was the day before Easter, but if we didn't get it on the books, it might never happen. And this kid needed his Eagle rank!

Having never been behind the scenes of an Eagle Court of Honor and considering the state of our lives at the time, I think the program was just right.

We scheduled it for 10AM and later found out there was actually a ward Family History Activity that evening. So while we had to kick some basketball players out of the cultural hall that morning, some of them helped set up chairs and then we kept the chairs and tables set up for the activity later that night.

We set up two blocks of 25 chairs with a walkway in between the two. I had a little table by the door with a book highlighting Jake's TRAIL to EAGLE with permanent markers for guests to sign when they arrived. Along one wall, closest to the door, I had a long table set up with all of Jake's scout paraphernalia that I could find ranging from Cub Scout activity pins, belt loops and shirt to letters of Congratulations on his achieving Eagle Rank. Interestingly enough, Jake got a letter from the Washington Governor before he got one from the Oregon one. Haven't figured out yet why he even got one from the state of Washington.

Along the opposite wall from that display on the other side of the gym, was the most important table....the refreshments!

Up by the stage was the podium and flags and seats for those who were participating in the program.

Most of the craziness for me personally was that we were still showing our house. I had decided when this first began that it might be a good idea to always leave the house in "show ready" condition when running errands or doing activities, just in case someone wanted to see it while we were already out of the house. This paid off the day of Karcyn's baptism and also during Jake's Eagle Court of Honor. Right before 10:00, I got a call from a realtor who wanted to show it within the next 30 minutes. So that worked out beautifully. We didn't get an offer from it but at least I could sleep at night, knowing I had done everything in my power to make the house look good.

So thank goodness, it was just a matter of setting up some tables and chairs, grabbing the podium, a TV/DVD player and Jake's scout stuff.

Here's a shot of people coming in and getting ready for the Court of Honor to begin. My parents are in the bottom right-hand corner! They got to attend via Skype from London, England!

 



This is Mrs. Hanzel sitting next to Karcyn. We gave her the front row as the special guest of honor. She is the beloved librarian from Butternut Creek Elementary and Jake's former reading teacher. Jake's Eagle project involved removing the deteriorating plastic bookshelf brackets and replacing them with metal ones.

 

This is the Hough family Engine and Caboose. The biggest brother and littlest brother. Jake and JJ :) (With Calvin in the back hanging out with one of the young men...)

 



Our Master of Ceremonies, and Jake's former Deacon's Quorum leader, Kevin McIntyre, who had just moved out of the ward that week. Bless his wife, Paty, for sparing him that morning!

We had set up fifty chairs that morning anticipating that would be plenty for the audience on a Saturday morning and the day before Easter no less. It wasn't. We had to set up another ten to fifteen for later arrivals. We were thrilled with the support offered to Jake on his special day.

 

Here's Adam Thayne, presenting Jake with the Eagle Scout award. I was wrestling with JJ off on the side, which is why Jake's back is to me. Which is fine. We got it on videotape...hopefully...we haven't watched it yet. 

 

 

The Farmington Ward has a secret scout weapon--Lee Sellers--a 40 year scouter! He would graciously guide the future Eagle scouts through the egregious mounds of paperwork and project requirements, giving all of his tips and advice along the way. He came up to me and Jared a few weeks before the Court of Honor and told us about a very cool, limited edition Centennial coin that the Church had made. It marked the 100th anniversary of the Church's relationship with scouting, but very few people knew about it. Grateful that he would share that with us, we said we would purchase one as a surprise for Jake and at our request, we asked Lee to present the coin to Jake during the program. Lee actually retired from scouting just earlier that month (although I don't think his wife is convinced of that yet :) and we were so grateful we were able to slide in at the end of Lee's incredible tenure as a member of the Boy Scouts of America and partake of his counsel and assistance.  

 

Our beloved Wes McCullough--Eagle Scout himself--presenting the Eagle Charge to Jake. "Your rank...is one of honor and responsibility...Your responsibility goes beyond your fellow scouts to your country and God...You are a leader, but lead only towards the best. You are a marked man!

 

Pictures with the friends and scout supporters!

 

Best Bud: Asa Gonzalez

 

Peter Dickinson: former 11-year-old scout leader and one of Jake's running and chess club buddies :)

Beaverton Oregon West Stake and Lego buddy: Nick Boss

Former 11-year-old scout leader: Onyie Onyeabor-Udeh, who had just returned home from his mission to Madagascar

 

Jake and his new Teacher's Quorum leader, Dave Valencia (who would later take Jared's place as 2nd counselor in the Bishopric).

 

Jake and Mac were together for Jake's entire two years as a Deacon. We appreciated Kevin's priesthood lessons and assistance with the scouting. Jake loved Mac's devotion to ultimate Frisbee!

Like Kevin McIntyre, Adam Thayne was Jake's scoutmaster the entire two years Jake was in Deacon's quorum. They made lots of memories on camp outs (a wet one in particular at Silver Falls in November, was just Jake, Jared and Adam. I love that Adam did the camp out anyway because every.camp.out matters!) and at scout camp. Adam even gifted Jake with a blow horn at the Court of Honor because he knew how frustrated Jake would get with his fellow scouters when they wouldn't wake up! Without a devoted scoutmaster, even the most motivated scout will find it difficult to earn his Eagle rank. Because of this, Jake honored Adam with the mentor pin.

 

Jake had wanted to do an Eagle project for Mrs. Hanzel since he was in 5th or 6th grade. He made it happen and they have formed a life long friendship.

 

Jake and Mighty Wes McCullough. Wes is a Hough family favorite!

 

Aside from being such a wonderful cheerleader to all the families with young children and the youth, Brother Gary Haroldsen has crossed paths with Jake a few times. He used to help his wife Carol teach Jake's Valiant 11 class, he was the merit badge counselor for the first badge Jake earned on his own (Family Life) and is the Stake Patriarch. When Jake was in the Valiant 11 class, Brother Haroldsen told me once, "You can just see the goodness in Jake's eyes." And after Jake's patriarchal blessing (the beginning of February which almost got rescheduled because of SNOW) he said, "I'll be watching for Jake. He's going to do great things."

 

Wid Payne was Jake's winter sports merit badge counselor. When Jake took snowboarding classes up at Mt. Hood a couple of winters in a row, he would see Brother Payne up there as an instructor. Wid would always take notice of Jake and offered him overall support in his young life.

 

Jake being swept off his feet by his friends from church, all of whom went to different schools or were schooled at home.

Left to Right: Samuel Myer, Aaron Jackman, Michael Waters, Lisa Jackman. Jake and Lisa were also dance partners in the upcoming Dance Festival. They were in the Russian Dance.

 

Bret Parker is Jake's former Sunday School teacher. Bret was also very supportive of Jake and took a vested interest in him. So much so, that Bret wanted to teach Jake how to wash windows so that when we moved, Jake would have the means to start earning money right away. Such a sweet and touching gesture.

 

Jake with Lee Sellers--Scouter Extraordinaire! This man has the unique perspective of the scouting program with 40 years experience! We were so grateful to have him as a mentor and cheerleader for Jake!

And finally, two of Jake's biggest fans! We love our Eagle Scout and his dedication in achieving this optional yet elite rank. We hope his three brothers will see the value in the scouting program and will choose to follow his example.