Eagle Scout Court of Honor

 Justice and his three closest friends from church became Eagle Scouts within several months of each other.  They have all been very fortunate to have one another for support and motivation throughout their time in Scouting.  Justice had set a goal to become an Eagle Scout before he started his freshman year so he could focus directly on school and school activities.  He met his goal and completed his project (painting his middle school's hallways) before school started, and had his board and became an Eagle Scout right after school began.  Becoming an Eagle Scout is a fairly big deal, as only 4% of all Boy Scouts become Eagle Scouts.  Since the boys have all grown up together and became Eagle Scouts within months of each other, we wanted to have the Court of Honor together.  The Court of Honor is a ceremony in which the Boy Scout is awarded the rank of Eagle Scout formally, and is celebrated for his hard work. 

This is the table we set up at his Court of Honor, each boy had their own table.  The picture on the right was taken on his last day of Cub Scouting.  The next day, he turned 12 and officially became a Boy Scout.  The picture on the left was taken after his Eagle Scout board, so age 14 1/2.  The blue arrowhead displays all of his awards while he was a Cub Scout, and the white sash is his Order of the Arrow sash.  The Order of the Arrow is a special group of Boy Scouts that are voted in by their peers.  It's like the honor society of the Boy Scouts.  And see that blue and purple ball?  That's a solid ball of painters tape that he saved from his Eagle Scout project that reminds him how much painting he actually had to do for his project.

 The church, all set up for the ceremony.

Awards ready for presentation.

Close up.  The letter in the envelope is from the President of the United States. 

 Justice and two of his friends/other Eagle Scout's performed the national anthem.  Justice sang, his friend Will played the trumpet and his friend Gavin played the trombone.  They are a talented group of boys.

I love this picture of Joe and Justice taken before the ceremony.  The Coach is very proud of him.

The adult in the picture was Justice's scout leader when he was younger.  He has since moved away, and surprised the boys by showing up at their Court of Honor.  He came all the way from Utah to be there.  

Justice loves him very much.  He was so happy to see him, they both cried a little.  It was a sweet moment. 

 We had a cake baked by a women at our church.  She does fantastic work.  

 The ceremony starts out with the boys saying the Scout Oath and Scout Law. 

  

Each Scout is called up individually and their old neckerchief is symbolically removed and replaced with the official Eagle Scout neckerchief.  

 After they have all been officially recognized and neckerchief's replaced. 

The mayor from Covington was one of the guest speakers.  He happens to be Joe's boss and also the boss of one of the other boy's Mom's.  He was happy to speak about leadership to the boys.

After the ceremony.  I love this picture.  Joe is so proud of him.  

 This is the boys Cub Scout leader.  He was their leader almost the entire time they were in Cub Scouts, from age 9 till they turned 12.  The boys love him.

This is, from left to right, Gavin, Will, Justice, and Conor.  This is about the time I have to say how grateful I am that our family is no longer a military family that moves every three years.  These boys have grown up together, and love each other like brothers.  

 After the ceremony.  I can't believe how much Justice has grown since this picture.  This was taken in January of this year, and it's now November and he is a solid three inches taller than me, and an inch taller than his Dad. 

The mayor of Covington.

The boys and their parents.

 Aw.  I love my boy.  This was a journey for all of us.  Watching him grow and go through this process was one of the best experiences I've had as a parent.  This was not easy, I am very happy for him.  He is setting a strong example for his little brothers.  Jack is currently in Cub Scouts and is working very hard.  He is also looking forward to the day he can become an Eagle Scout himself.