By Mark Reynolds
It is not every day that a boy scout troop produces an individual who has achieved scouting’s highest rank of Eagle Scout but quite exceptional when four reach this level from one troop. In recent months this is exactly what happened in Troop 72 in Marlboro, sparking the interest of County Legislators Richard Gerentine and Mary Beth Maio who invited these young men to last week’s Legislative meeting to present each of them with a Pride Of Ulster County Award.
“It is a pretty amazing feat that we have four individuals in one troop coming here tonight. You guys did a great job,” said Gerentine.
Three of the Eagle Scouts were able to make the ceremony, with Jacob Repke unable to attend. Each scout had a community project to complete to meet the final requirement for Eagle Scout. Eric Borchert spackled, repaired and painted drywall in the parish hall at the Christ Episcopal Church in Marlboro. He also held a pancake breakfast along with his troop and raised $1,000 for the project.
“The spackling and the drywall was falling apart and by the floorboards it was pulling off and it needed to be painted because it wasn’t done in awhile,” he said. “I started in February and finished in April.
Borchert said it is an honor to be an Eagle Scout, “in general, but to be in front of all the Legislators was a little bit bigger.” He said he will be presented as an Eagle Scout at a Court of Honor ceremony in December.
Matthew Jennison constructed five new park benches and refurbished a sixth to provide seating for spectators at the bocce, basketball and horseshoe courts at the Town Park in Milton. Two are at the basketball court, one at the horseshoe pit and the rest at the bocce courts.
“I go there a lot with most of my friends to play basketball and other sports and saw that we could really use some seating here, so I said that would be a really good idea for an Eagle Scout project,” he said.
Jennison said he did the entire project in April of this year.
“I felt pretty proud of myself because I wasn’t really expecting the outcome to be [so] precise,” he said.
Jennison said he was a little nervous coming before the Legislature, “because that was my first time of ever being up there but I felt really good about it and it was good to be recognized.” Jennison is the fourth in his family to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.
For his Eagle Scout project, Giovanni Tamburri refurbished two “Meet Me in Marlboro” signs that stand at the northern and southern borderlines of the town. He rebuilt and repaired a rock wall, poured concrete to stabilize the sign posts and added new soil, planted mums and tulips and laid down mulch as a finishing touch.
When he started Tamburri said one of the signs had actually fallen to the ground. He said the entire project took him two weekends to complete, “but getting approvals, doing the paperwork was about a three or four month process.”
Tamburri said he is pleased on how the project turned out.
“I would regret not doing it and I feel very accomplished,” he said. “I feel that I am one of the few that has ever done it because 7% of boy scouts actually get to Eagle Scout, so I feel I’m in a special group.”
Tamburri said receiving the Pride Of Ulster County award was “awesome. Just to be recognized at a high level like that and get your name out there is really special to me just to let everybody know, and also to bring importance to being an Eagle Scout.”
Scoutmaster Kurt Borchert said he has been working with these young men, “and they’re really doing good. Over the last 6 months they all finished it out and got it done.”
Borchert thanked Legislator Gerentine for making sure these young men were honored for their achievements.
“Mr. Gerentine has always been good to us down here in Marlborough. He said he wanted to give this award to these boys; one of them is my nephew and the other three I’ve had since Tiger Cubs; we’ve been together it seems like forever,” he said.
Borchert said to reach Eagle Scout, “the boy has to want it in the end and support from the leader and the parents is really important...I can’t be any prouder to watch these boys grow from where they were to where they are. I’ve enjoyed being with the parents, I’ve enjoyed being with these boys and they’re my boys forever.”