Eagle: Ryan L’Italien
Eagle Court of Honor
August 4, 2002
Time to Grow
As a Scoutmaster, I find myself often reflecting back to the many memories created through Scout activities. I am sure that most people involved with Scouts, really involved do the same thing. It is these memories that keep us coming back. I have many memories, and I would like to share a couple of them with you concerning Ryan.
I remember when I first met Ryan. He was a little boy, fresh from Webelos, full of excitement, as well as more verbal speed than most people in the world. We considered hiring someone to translate his verbal “flybys”, because he talked so very, very fast.
The troop was in the throws of change at that time. We had maybe 10 boys active, but the pack, led by Terry, Rick, and others promised us good things, and were starting to deliver. We were getting new boys every year, and all we had to do was offer a solid program to make it work. Our program, as most of you know, consists of camping lots of camping. When we ran out of places to go in town, we branched out further and further, going to West Point, Canada, Vermont, and Maine. I will come back to Maine in a minute.
One of Ryan’s first or second campouts with the troop was at the Pelham Scout Lot, and Ryan’s patrol had “Spaghettios” for lunch. I believe in letting boys make mistakes they will remember them more than if they taught from a book. They learned that lunches that you cooked meant doing dishes in the middle of the day. Well, most of them did.
A nice, clean, stream runs next to where we were camping. As it was April, the water, as well as the weather, was cold. A little while after lunch, I saw some of the new scouts playing around the water, and I asked them to stop. One was Ryan. Apparently, his hearing was not as rapid as his speech, because he went back to the stream as soon as I left. Ten minutes later, I again asked him to stay out of the water. I came back in another ten minutes and reminded him that I would not like him in the water. This continued two more times, until I discovered his dirty dishes from lunch. I told Ryan that he needed to clean his dishes from lunch. His reply: “Can I do them in the stream?” Being the thoughtful leader, I replied: “What do you think?” I turned around and started to leave, but something made me stop and look. Sure enough, there was Ryan, heading towards the water with his dirty dishes. I asked him what he was doing, and he said going to the stream to do his dishes. I have since learned to be clearer in my instructions.
Ryan developed good scout skills. He is a strong leader. He even learned to communicate effectively. I was concerned how the younger boys would look at him, though, as he grew to be a man. Would they see the little kid who liked to play in the water, or the Eagle that he had become? My answer came this past July when we went white water rafting in Maine.
While going through some very difficult Class 5 rapids, our raft flipped over. In this raft, besides myself, the guide and another person, were three Eagle Scouts and three Life Scouts. During the ordeal of getting through the rapids and getting into the rescue boat, several things became known. We had Ryan’s helmet and one of his sandals, but we did not have Ryan. Every one of the young men from my raft wanted to know where he was. It was not until I saw the video that I found out what happened to him. When the raft was flipping, one of the Life Scouts was so scared, he jumped and grabbed onto Ryan, ripping his helmet off. He did not mean to rip off Ryan’s helmet he just wanted Mr. L’Italien to save him.
Armed with this knowledge, I can look out at all of these young men in the troop with a different view. Sure, they may be small right now, but wait until you see what they will become. I know now how they see Ryan L’Italien. He has become a man to be proud of, and an Eagle Scout.
