It's been a banner year for Eagle Scouts in Eagle Grove. In most Scouts BSA troops it's a big deal if there's a single Eagle Scout achieved in any given year. In Eagle Grove this year there have been three so far.
Noah Thul, 15, achieved his Eagle Scout honor at a ceremony a few weeks ago, at the same time as Dwayne Withers. But with a characteristic concern for others that seems second nature, Thul asked us to cover Dwayne's achievement first, and spread the stories out a little to give his fellow scout and friend's achievement time in the limelight.
Starting as a Cub Scout even before moving to Eagle Grove, Noah's been a scout most of his life. He joined along with his cousin of the same age, Evan Thul. Both were at the first campout of what he called the "reboot" troop that launched six years ago. Back then they were Webelo scouts, which for the uninitiated means "We Be Loyal" scouts. Evan has since left scouting, but Noah has nine of his fifteen years as a scout.
A rank historically awarded to only about 4% of all scouts, or about 8% of scouts today, the average age of a new Eagle Scout is 17.2 years. At 15, Thul is about two years ahead of schedule for the typical Eagle Scout. Making an already impressive achievement even more so.
He's been ahead of the curve for some time. After 4 years in scouts, Noah was inducted into the Order of the Arrow, or OA. Founded in 1915 just four years after the Boy Scouts of America launched, OA is the national honor society for scouts who, "best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives." Membership into the elite and exclusive society is considered one of the greatest honors in scouting.
Thul didn't see it coming at all. "I was the youngest, so I didn't expect it," Noah recalled, of his surprise induction at Summer Camp of 2019, at Waverly Campground.
Like any Eagle Scout, it wasn't always easy for Thul. He related that the Philmont High Adventure campout was mentally challenging for him. They were assigned the longest course possible, which they were told was supposed to be 69 miles long. But they hiked 113 miles. "Our hikes were so long that we'd hike all day and get there after dark," Thul said, "and just have to camp in our tents for the night, and get up the next day and do it again." For 11 days straight.
"It was fun though," Thul said, "we had great conversations. Everyone talking while they're hiking,"
And in any case the young teens could hardly give in to fatigue. Not when there was a 78 year old man, Richard Richardson, along with them for the hike. And not, Thul recalled with a chuckle, when it was a challenge for them to keep up with him.
Noah's second most daunting experience, he recalled, was when they planted 800 trees in Wisconsin. Hosted by a tree farmer who funded the trip, and helped the scouts earn their Forestry merit badges by teaching them such things as how to gauge the age of a tree, without cutting it down, by counting the rings in a core sample. Each scout earned a commemorative pocket knife, and learned valuable lessons about forestry, nature, and hard work.
Perhaps it was fitting that Noah and his fellow scout Dwayne were awarded their Eagle Scout ranks at the same time, as the two shared an inspiration, Scoutmaster Rick Dawson's eldest son, Mark. Now a US Marine, Mark Dawson was a member of the troop, and a natural born leader. "He was the oldest, and he was like the leader," Thul said, "and he made scouting fun."
Things got pretty competitive, in a good natured way, between Mark and Noah. "Mark had a few years on me, but I always tried," Noah related. "If there was a time I could be better than him at something, I sure tried."
As an example, Thul brought up the Fun Run. "There was nothing fun, about Fun Run," Scoutmaster Dawson interjected gravely, setting the scene. Filling in the details, Thul added, "it was really hot that day."
He then told a tale that put the lie to the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, explaining that Mark's strong competition combined with the blazing heat forced him to bring his A game. "We started out, Mark took off like a rabbit," Thul recalled. "He was just haulin'! I was talking smack, but he was just focused." By the time the two made it past their camp site, Thul said, they were "neck and neck". By the time they covered the half mile to the midpoint where they reversed course, "the sun was really beating down. When we ran out of the shade and I felt the sun on my shoulder, it was making me feel dizzy. I just really wanted to get out of the sun, so I just took off, and then I didn't see Mark the rest of the way."
For his Eagle Scout project, Thul chose to update and improve upon the aged and fading sign panels recognizing military veterans who had passed away on the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) wall at the Wright County Fairgrounds.
He settled on the project to follow up on the project of a fellow scout, Matthew Rethman. Rethman's project had gotten the inside of the first exhibit hall of the fairgrounds repainted inside. But they hadn't been able to touch the VFW wall.
"I figured the veterans of our country had done enough for our country that they deserved more,'' Thul siad. "At the time the names were just typed out on laminated paper, and it was pretty old, and if you looked behind it there were different colors of mold growing, so I figured it needed to be done."
Thul got lucky with the project in one respect, funding. "Normally, I'd have had to fundraise," Thul explained, "but the VFW was really behind the project, and they took that on. So I didn't have a fundraising stage." The total cost of the project, after Printing Services Inc. of Fort Dodge provided the sign panels, was $1,636.17, paid by generous benefactors reached by the VFW.
The 56 hours of labor that went into the project, Thul invested personally. When he was done he had updated the list with the names of veterans who had passed in the last ten years. Which grew the total list from two pages of names to ten pages of names. Including that of Thul's great-grandfather, Donald "Casey" Thul's. "It felt good," Thul recalled with a wistful smile, "because I was paying respects to the veterans, including my family."
Asked what he wants to tell boys and girls considering scouting, Thul was emphatic. "Everyone should try scouting, because you meet a lot of cool people. And at camps, you can come into contact with so many different cultures. You can just go from campsite to campsite and meet all sorts of interesting people from different areas."
