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Teen Realizes Dream, Reaches Eagle Scout

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By SUZANNE M. SCHMIDT

IN THE LOOP

Published: December 3, 2008

After five years of hard work and dedication, Jeremy Baker finally achieved his goal of becoming an Eagle Scout.

Baker, 17, is a junior at Wesley Chapel High School. He joined the Cub Scouts almost 12 years ago but he said at first he just did it to make new friends. He is a member of Land O' Lakes Troop 3 as well as the Venturing Troop 3, which is a co-ed part of the Boy Scouts.

"Being in the Scouts, has taught me more common knowledge then I ever learned in school," Baker said. "I have learned commonsense and how to protect myself. I joined the Scouts because I like meeting new people and because I like to camp. When I first joined the Scouts, I had no intention of becoming an Eagle Scout. When I learned what it meant to be one, I decided to go for it."

To become an Eagle Scout, Baker had to go through a series of six ranks and had to hold different positions in his troop. He also was supposed to earn at least 21 badges, but he went above and beyond to earn 38.

"It was something that took so much of my time and my life to get," Baker said. "I tried not to think of everything as what I had to do to get my Eagle Scout, I liked to think of it as things I did to help people."

For his final community service project, Baker had to find something to do that would help the community, then plan it and complete it. He chose to build a 15-by-25-foot bird aviary for Academy at the Farms, a charter school in Dade City.

"It was a school that used to have a lot of farm animals but they had to get rid of a lot of them," Baker said. "We talked about building a bird aviary for them so they could put birds in them and use them for science studies. It was a lot of work, but I had a lot of friends and family who helped. I like how it turned out and I think the birds like it, too."

Tami Flournory, a teacher at the school, said when she heard her nephew was looking for a community service project she was happy to steer him in the Academy at the Farms' direction. She said the aviary is helping the students at the school to learn to take care of, and to appreciate nature.

"I think the aviary turned out great," Flournory said. "We have 10 parakeets in there now that are just getting settled in. It adds a nice charm to the environment. Now the student government has taken on the project so they are feeding and taking care of the birds and the nature club is weeding the area and taking care of the pond there."

While earning his 38 badges, Baker said he just focused more on the valuable information he could take with him rather then the work he was doing.

"Most of the time you don't realize you are earning the badge, you are just out there having fun and then you get tested and realize you know this stuff," Baker said. "The wilderness survival badge was fun because we had to build something out of just the items available in nature and then sleep under it for one night in the woods. We used a lot of sticks and palm prawns and even though it was crowded and hard to sleep, we had a lot of fun."

In the future, Baker said he would like to become a veterinarian. He said he is hoping his status as an Eagle Scout will help him to get into colleges and jobs one day.

Taunya Baker, Jeremy's mother, said she thinks the Scouts have taught her son integrity, reinforced good morals and values and has given him an outlet to be helpful.

She said she thinks her son will go far in life with his Eagle Scout status by joining ranks with people such as Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg and 26 of the 29 original astronauts.

"It is a very prestigious award," she said. "Only 2 percent of the boys who join Boy Scouts earn the rank of Eagle Scout. It is something he can put on his resume at 16 or at 64. He will be reaping the benefits of this for the rest of his life."

Reporter Suzanne M. Schmidt can be reached at (813) 948-4288 or sschmidt@mediageneral.com.

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