Augusta Scouts on verge of attaining Eagle status

AUGUSTA — Life Scouts Ryan Douglas and David Jensen, both of Augusta, passed the Eagle Scout Board of Review in July and are one step closer to having achieved Boy Scouting’s highest award.
The Board of Review is the final challenge for Eagle candidates, said Matt Mower, district director for the Boy Scouts of America, in a news release. Once the Scouts pass it, their applications are reviewed both at the local Pine Tree Council in Raymond and then at the National BSA. Once approved, they are Eagle Scouts.

Nationally, there were 55,186 Eagle Scouts in 2016, the fourth-largest Eagle Scout class ever — surpassed only in 2012, 2010 and 2013 — and it represents a 1.5 percent increase over 2015. Young men who earned Eagle in 2016 combined to record 9,156,368 hours of service on Eagle projects, an average of 165.9 hours of service per Eagle project, the release said. Locally, 37 Scouts in the five counties that Kennebec Valley District of the BSA represents — Somerset, Franklin, Kennebec, Lincoln, and Knox — earned the honor, representing more than 3,700 hours of service to their towns and cities.
Ryan, a member of Troop 436 in Waterville, led an Eagle Scout project that benefitted the Kennebec Valley YMCA and David, a member of West Gardiner Troop 613, built 10 benches for Viles Arboretum.
Mower said, “We are very proud of the work of Scouts like Ryan and David. These young men have shown that they live up to the Scout Oat and Law and we are hopeful that the final reviews of their Eagle Scout applications are positive and commend them on passing their Boards of Review.”