Nearly a century after a 14-year-old Boy Scout whose troop was named for Queen Liliuokalani became Hawaii’s first Eagle Scout, the Aloha Council honored its 10,000th Eagle Scout at an awards dinner Friday.
Justice Kanaulu, 18, received a proclamation as the 10,000th Eagle Scout in the islands and hails from Troop 100, chartered by the Go for Broke Association out of Fort Shafter. He follows the path started by Alatan Wilder of Troop 5, the "Queen’s Own Troop," who earned Eagle rank in 1916.
"I was very honored to receive the title," said Kanaulu, a senior at Roosevelt High School. "I just felt really good that 10,000 people were able to get this award."
"A lot of people end up dropping out and not going all the way," he added.
To reach the rank of Eagle, a Boy Scout must show leadership, live by the principles of Boy Scouting — such as being trustworthy, loyal and kind — and earn 21 merit badges. The badges cover achievements in areas such as first aid, citizenship, camping, personal fitness and communication.
Each Eagle Scout must also devise and plan a service project to benefit the community, then lead a group of volunteers in completing it. More than 200 such projects are completed annually in Hawaii by aspiring Eagle Scouts these days.
"There is no place in our community that probably hasn’t been touched by an Eagle Scout service project, over the past 100 years, from parks to schools to helping feed the hungry to blood donation drives," said Jeff Sulzbach, Scout executive and CEO of the Aloha Council. "The types of things our Scouts do over a century have really made an impact."
Many projects involved painting classrooms, building benches or landscaping, but there is a wide range. One Boy Scout on the North Shore created a "rain garden" at Waimea Valley, developing a system to capture and conserve water for use on plantings that lacked a nearby water source, Sulzbach said. Another created a handicap access ramp for the USS Missouri Memorial.
"That was a very ambitious project that involved the military and other government agencies," Sulzbach said. "It’s up to the Scouts to decide what the project should be and to map out a game plan to accomplish it, and have it approved by their adult advisers. There is no book on available service projects. They have to go out and identify a need and then pursue it."
At the banquet, ‘Iolani School junior Douglas Yanagihara of Troop 49, Honpa Hongwanji Mission, won the $2,000 Fred Trotter Eagle Scholarship Award, and University of Hawaii freshman Austin Morishita of Troop 75, Kahikuo Nalani Church, received a $1,000 Trotter scholarship.
Aio CEO Duane Kurisu, the keynote speaker at the event, was given the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, made by the National Eagle Scout Association to those who have achieved eminence in their field and have a strong record of community service.
For his Eagle project, Kanaulu, who started in Scouting when he was 11, organized 16 people to clean up and power-wash a section of Keehi Lagoon Memorial Park and paint a large fountain. The Aliamanu resident plans to enter the engineering program at the University of Hawaii in the fall. Of his many merit badges, he said he particularly enjoyed wilderness survival.
"We had to learn about the different survival techniques, the first aid needed, ways to contact help, and at the end spend a night in the woods by yourself," he said. "It was a good experience. I felt independent."
More than 12,000 youth ages 6 to 20 and nearly 5,000 adult volunteers are involved in the Boy Scouts Aloha Council, which includes Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa. Altogether they gave 66,000 service hours to the community in 2014, according to the Aloha Council’s annual report.
Notable Eagle Scouts in Hawaii have included Bill Paty, Ellison Onizuka, Joe Moore and Shane Victorino.
"Close to 5 percent of all our Scouts become Eagles," Sulzbach said. "It’s still a fairly small number in relation to our Scouts, but it’s been an increasing number. Families are really appreciating the value of becoming an Eagle Scout and how that helps a young person in their lives going forward."
