10 Episcopal School of Dallas students earn highest Boy Scout, Girl Scout awards

Episcopal School of Dallas. Photo by Renee Umsted.

Ten upper school students at the Episcopal School of Dallas achieved the highest awards available to Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.

Nine students earned their Eagle Scout ranking, and one earned the Gold Award.

To earn an Eagle Scout ranking, a scout has to meet requirements in leadership, service and outdoor skills. Some notable Eagle Scouts are Neil Armstrong, Bill Gates, H. Ross Perot and Steven Spielberg.

The Girl Scout Girl Award is presented to students in grades 9-12 who have planned and implemented “Take Action” projects in response to community needs. It is awarded to fewer than 6% of Girl Scouts each year.

Here’s more about the 10 ESD students who have received these awards, according to the school’s website:

• James Altizer, class of 2025
  • Project benefited: Children’s Medical Center
  • “I am a patient at Children’s Medical Allergy Clinic and I was also involved in a research study to cure allergies. I had to wear a patch with peanut protein on my back for 3 years and I would come in every month for testing. During testing, I noticed there was nowhere to play games, do homework, or any other kind of entertainment, so my Eagle project was building lap desks for the clinic.”
• Briggs Briner, class of 2023
  • Project benefited: Family Gateway
  • “I designed and built custom wooden shelving units for a donation room at Family Gateway. This project took around 5 hours and was a great success. I had around 8 scouts help me with this project. Completing this project meant that I could successfully lead a group to complete a task. Along with this, I also saw my creations come into being which was exciting because I got to see something that I designed become tangible. This experience was a significant help to Family Gateway because it provided them with much-needed shelving that allowed them to be able to hold more donations, meaning they could help more families. I’m ecstatic that these shelves worked and that we could help this organization in such an impactful way.”
• Kellen Carona, class of 2022
  • Project benefited: ESD
• Victoria Feuer, class of 2022
  • “My project focused on both making Senior citizens feel loved during the holidays as well as children in hospitals. I went to senior citizen homes and made friendship bracelets with lots of the residents and then donated these bracelets to children at Scottish Rite Hospital. We also wrote get well soon cards so that the children would know someone was thinking of them during the holidays as well as throughout COVID. The most meaningful part of the project for me was seeing the faces of the senior citizens light up every time they saw me coming. They were so excited to try something new and talk about their lives that it made every early morning and long preparation day worth it. The staff at the retirement home told me every time how much the residents looked forward to my arrival and this project has become one of the most meaningful things I have ever done.”
• Brayden Girata, class of 2024
  • Project benefited: Jubilee Park and Community Center
  • “Every summer, Jubilee hosts an art-themed summer camp for the kids in its neighborhood, and they would have at least 75 kids sign up every summer. They would borrow drying racks for the art the kids produced from my church, Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. The point of my project was to provide Jubilee with permanent art drying racks for the children’s art summer camps so they wouldn’t have to borrow the ones from my church any longer. I had a fun time building and staining the art racks with my family and friends, and watching the kids use the art racks I built was very impactful for me. I am so glad I did my eagle project with Jubilee Park and Community Center, and I hope they continue to grow in their ministry to improve their neighborhood as much as possible.”
• Will Grogan, class of 2024
  • Project benefited: The George Bush Presidential Learning Center
  • “This project was very meaningful to me because of the conservation aspect that it entailed. Restoring the native prairie helps preserve the history of our great state and the animals that depend on that prairie. I proposed to remove invasive species of plants from a large area around the building and then seed the area with wildflower seeds. I would then place “plant plugs” into the ground where the invasive species were. This project took around 4 months to plan fully and required a hearty crew to get the job done on project day. I had around 10 scouts and 5 adults helping me reach my goal. The project was completed on March 7th of 2020. In mid-April, the wildflowers were in full bloom and the invasive species were nowhere to be found. This project was a gratifying experience that all aspiring Eagle Scouts should look forward to.”
• Henry Hamlin, class of 2023
  • Project benefited: United to Learn
  • “I built four tutoring tables for three different inter-city elementary schools. It was an amazing experience to see the reactions of the principals of each school as they received the tables. You could tell that the tables would be put to good use.”
• Slaton Strey, class of 2024
  • Project benefited: St. Philip’s School and Community Center
  • “Completing this project gave me a great sense of accomplishment. It was the last step in finalizing the Eagle process, and was a tangible representation of the work I had put toward the rank.”
• Sam Suarez, class of 2022
  • Project benefited: Wesley-Rankin Community Center
  • “I built hand sanitizers for Wesley-Rankin during the peak of COVID.”
• Miles Wooldridge, class of 2024
  • Project benefited: Church of the Incarnation