An Eagle Scout!!

For lo these many months, Brandt has been finished with all the requirements for his Eagle Scout award, with the exception of having his Eagle board of review. Kent has been working with various people, trying to get it scheduled, and last week, I was able to connect with the woman how gets the boys on the docket. 

Tonight, Brandt was finally able to meet with the board members and have his review. He was most nervous about remembering the Scout Oath. Kent has gone over it with him many, many times over the past few days, so he felt reasonably ready. But then they asked him to change the first words from "A scout is . . . " to "I am . . ." and threw Brandt for a moment. He recovered, however, and did fine. He was able to answer questions about his project, his leadership, and how it all turned out. Kent and I listened from the living room and thought he did a good job. I whispered a bit of clarification once or twice, but he spoke for himself, and after a bit of deliberation, the board told him he passed. He's an Eagle Scout!!

HOORAH!!! 

We might have a court of honor at the Barrus Family Reunion at the end of July, but Brandt would like to have people here in town celebrate, too, so we'll see how that comes together. Whatever we decide, he has completed all requirements and can officially say he is an Eagle Scout.

"I am trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, 

cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

And in our troop, we always add hungry."

Part of the pre-Board of Review steps was to have several people write letters of recommendation about Brandt. Kent and I each wrote a letter, and Gregg Pugmire was willing to write one, too. I wanted to include those here. Brandt was also to write a letter of ambition. I'll include that here, too.

Brandt's letter, as submitted, with no changes from me.

I am a bad writer and a bad speller so bear with me please. One of my goals is to graduate from high school. And one of the careers I want to go in to is theater and technical craft working sound so I am taking Theatre Technical Craft with Mr. Avila (He wrote one of my letters of recommendation for me). Working on tech crew has helped me gain leadership skills from telling actors what to do and other techies what to help with and stuff like that. Some activities at school that I do is helping with events and shows on techcrew. 

Some activities outside school that I do are DND (Dungeons & Dragons) with friends, streaming on Twitch and recording for YouTube I run the channel by myself for both Twitch and YouTube. 

After graduation, I plan to get more education.  While being a theatre technical may not seem to require much, it is very complicated. I have mostly focused on sound but I want to learn more about backstage and lights and set building and painting. The school I want to go is BYU because they have a great theater arts program/

Other activities I want to pursue are gaming, hiking, and biking.   My longer term goals include being a missionary for my church, and marrying and starting a family.

I believe the principles I learned in scouting will help me achieve my goals in education and life.

December 29, 2020

Re: Brandt Barrus  Eagle Candidate

Dear Mr. Kennard,

 My son, Brandt Barrus, is a fine young man who exemplifies the principles of the Scout Law.  Perhaps his greatest quality is kindness.  He has been that way since he was very young.  When he became a teenager, and based on my own teenage years, I was expecting him to be less kind and helpful, but he has resisted this tendency so far.  I regularly take him with me to do service projects for neighbors and family and he is willing and anxious to help.  Lately we have been going to the Food and Shelter Coalition to serve dinners on a monthly basis and he is friendly and respectful to the people he is serving.

He is not perfect, by any measure.  Sometimes he grouses a bit, and has to be reminded that he needs to shower more frequently than monthly.  But he has worked hard, and I believe he will be a credit to the Boy Scout organization.

Thank you for your help putting together this application,

Best regards,

Kent Barrus

31 December 2020

RE: Brandt Barrus, Eagle Candidate

Dear Mr. Kennard, 

It is with unreserved enthusiasm that I recommend my son, Brandt Barrus, as an Eagle Scout. Brandt exemplifies all that is good in the scouting program. He lives his life in accordance with the scout oath, doing his duty to God and his country, being helpful to others, and keeping himself strong physically, mentally, and morally. He is a person of principle.

I have met few young people who are as kind as Brandt. He is aware of others, friendly with all, and just an all-around nice guy. I've followed him down a school hallway and heard him say hello to pretty much everyone. Brandt was recently asked by a church leader to reach out to someone he felt needed a bit of extra kindness. Brandt chose a young friend who is dealing with transsexuality, telling us "She's going through a hard time."

When I look through the Scout Law, I can honestly say that Brandt is all a scout is meant to be. He is honest with us and loyal to family, friends, and church. Brandt will cheerfully help at home and in the neighborhood, often doing tasks without being asked. He is polite and friendly, and as I mentioned, so kind. He follows the rules for our family and for our community, saves his money, and is respectful of sacred things. He, perhaps, could work on his overall cleanliness, but when he does so many other things so well, I let a bit of stinkiness slide from time to time.

I know, because I love him, I am biased when I say Brandt is just a terrific young man. But I also know that he is trying his best to be his best self. I wholeheartedly recommend him to you and anyone else.

Sincerely,

Katherine Barrus, mother

 January 2, 2021

RE: Eagle Scout REcommendation for Brandt Barrus

Dear Mr. Kennard,

It is with pleaure that I take some time to write you a letter of recommendation for Brandt Barrus. I am an Eagle Scout myself and have been involved in scouting for most of my life. Brandt is everything that the scouting program and the achievement of Eagle rank represents. He is honorable. He is trustworthy and he is helpful. He is one to jump in and help with any duty that is being done. He is not one to make fun of those that are working; he is a leader to get others to participate in the activity or the work. His duty is manifested to his family, to his neighbors, to his friends in the community and in his church. He is not a young man that will not willingly interact with adults. He is genuinely interested in other people, not just those his own age. What a great talent that is. He makes those around him feel important. To many young people older people are invisible or someone to ignore or even ridicule. This is never the case for Brandt.

I have known Brandt for more than eight years. In this time I have seen him exemplify every one of the characteristics outlined in the scout law. I have four daughters and no sons. The highest compliment that I can give of Brandt is that I would be very honored to have him as a member of our family and a son. He is respectful to his parents. He brings them much honor in his personal conduct. He will also bring this same honor to the scouting community as a member of the Eagle Scout fraternity.

Without reservation and with total support I provide you this letter of recommendation for Brandt Barrus.

Most sincerely,

Gregg Pugmire

Penultimate Campout

After the fiasco with the wasp attack at the ward campout, we needed to make up a night of camping.  Friday was going to be campout number 19 of 20, but then the sleeping portion didn't happen.  So tonight, to make up for the missed overnighter, Brandt and Kent slept in a tent in the background.  The campouts are supposed to be with your troop, but Kent is the scoutmaster, so by being together, they are actually part of the troop.  Brandt did all the set up and take down on Friday, and then helped again today, so we figure this all counts.  Right?  Don't tell the scout council!

Deacon Low Adventure

Kent was recently made the scout master in the ward.  We know that this is a position with an end date because the Church is stepping out of its long-term relationship with the Boy Scouts of America at the end of the year.  But, until that time, Kent will be in charge of scouting stuff in the ward.  This week, the young men have their annual scout camp, and while Kent doesn't have to worry about the older boys, he does have to organize stuff for the deacons.  The priests and teachers are doing a high adventure this week, and in order to simplify a bit, the deacons are joining them for a couple of days for what they are calling Deacon Low Adventure.  They will be camping near Escalante, doing some hiking, and enjoying the great outdoors.  Kent really enjoys the great outdoors when he doesn't have to sleep in it.  To insure that everyone had something to sleep in, on Wednesday, before they left, Kent and I sorted and set up several tents so that he could be confident everyone had a "roof" over their head.  We recently got a number of tents from Aunt Georgianne, and we wanted to make sure zippers worked, poles were with the correct tents, and there were rain flys.  

Thursday morning, after gathering and loading boys and equipment, Kent and Brandt, in the company of Aaron Oyler and a bunch of boys, headed off for their camping adventure.  From here on out, I will allow Brandt and Kent to take over the recording of their experience.

The drive to Escalante was long.  It took about seven hours to get to the final destination, the last hour plus of which was on dirt roads.  There is a whole lot of nothing down there.  The campsite was up against a cliff with two caves that had been carved out by two brothers who were looking for uranium.There was an old car there, all shot up with bullet holes and rust.  Brandt threw a rock at it and Jarom got mad.  They weren't suppose to disturb any of the site, and Jarom was taking that very seriously.  The teachers and priests were sleeping in the caves, so most of the deacons slept in tents.  There was a snake in one of the caves on Friday afternoon.  It scared the teachers who screamed like little girls.  

Brandt slept in a tent with Paul, Nathan, and Houston.  The bugs there were nasty.  They were small and biting, casing everyone to itch like crazy.  They weren't bad in the caves and they weren't bad when the sun went down, but as soon as it got light, they swarmed and irritated everyone.  Brandt and Kent returned with dozens of bites on their legs, arms, and necks.  

Whole lot of nothing.

In both directions.

On Friday, the deacons went hiking through some slot canyons.  The canyons were narrow and hard to hike in, but they were really cool.  One place they dropped down into a crevice.  The path was completely enclosed and you had to crawl through a drain pipe shaped tunnel that water had made.  Kent was worried he wasn't going to fit, but Chris Jensen made it through, so Kent figured he could too.  They had lunch in one of the canyons.  It was a beautiful day and there were no bugs in the slot canyons, so it made for a really great time.  They saw lizards; Brandt almost caught one.  They talked about killdozer (whatever that is) as they hiked.  They also saw some petroglyphs.

When I asked Brandt what this was, he replied,

"It's a cool snake-like thing bug."

Brandt, Sam Oyler, Houston Vergara, Nathan Jensen, Teva Mataoa, 

Jace and Drex Robison (I'm not sure which is which), Paul Moreland, Noah Mataoa

 

The deacons climbed up the hill above the tents.  

They were throwing rocks off the edge.

Kent, who had been very patient with the boys up to this point, lost it.

They were super scaring him, looking like they were going to fall off the edge of the cliff.

He yelled at them, something he almost never does.

The 12-13 year old boy doesn't always use the best judgement.

Kent, yelling at the boys.

Have I already mentioned there is a whole lot of nothing down there?

The car.

I'm sure Brandt's rock did a lot of damage.

Saturday, on the way home, the route took them right past Bryce Canyon.  They were in two cars, and half of them wanted to visit the park and half of them didn't.  Kent, Brandt, Nathan, Paul, and Houston stayed and hiked around the rim of the canyon.  It was spectacular.  They walked past tame deer and Brandt reports, "I touched one and got rabies."  I don't think there's much truth to that statement. 

On the way home, they stopped at a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet.  There were no cars in the parking lot, but the other choices were super busy, so they opted for Chinese.  They discovered it was really good!  Kent spoke to the owners and suggested they advertise more in English, but they said they were plenty busy.  They cater to Chinese tour buses on their way from Yellowstone to Las Vegas, and aren't really looking to increase their clientele.  There were all sorts of interesting things to eat, including chickens feet, one of which Nathan Jensen bravely consumed.  He said it tasted like chicken.  Funny thing--it was chicken!

All in all, apart from being eaten by tiny bugs, it was a great scout trip.