Jun 4, 2008
Stephen Barber
Eagle has roots in scouting
|
by Patricia Gay
Stephen Barber’s grandfather, the late Alden Barber, would be proud of him.
Mr. Barber had a long and distinguished career with the Boy Scouts of America and served as chief scout executive from 1967 to 1976.
On June 16, Stephen will honor his grandfather’s memory when he receives the Eagle Scout award, Boy Scouts highest honor, at a Court of Honor ceremony in Redding.
“My grandfather was very involved in scouting, and that had an influence on my scouting experience,” Stephen said.
Stephen, 18, is a senior at Weston High School and a member of Georgetown Boy Scout Troop 40, which serves Redding and Weston. He is just the second Eagle Scout from that troop.
"Troop 40 was active in the 1980s, and then it went dormant for 20 years and was restarted in 2004," Stephen said.
Stephen’s family, along with seven other scouts and their families, decided to revive Troop 40. In the past three years, the troop’s ranks have grown from eight to 20 scouts.
Merit badges
The Eagle Scout award is achieved by only about 4% of all Boy Scouts. In order to obtain it, a scout must earn 21 merit badges, prove his leadership, service and outdoor skills through participation in his troop, and complete an Eagle Scout project.
Stephen earned 35 merit badges, 14 more than needed for Eagle Scout.
He especially enjoyed the Wilderness Survival badge, which he earned on a camping trip at Hoyt Reservation. The experience involved creating a shelter using sticks, branches and a tarp, and sleeping under the stars. “It was a really fun merit badge,” Stephen said.
He got a chance to test his Emergency First Aid merit badge skills while he was in Jamaica working on a housing project.
“Someone got bitten by a large centipede called a ‘40 legger.’ I brought out my first aid kit gallon bag and was able to help assess and assist with treatment of the bite,” Stephen said.
Stephen started his scouting career with Cub Pack 75 in Weston and was a member of Weston Troop 788 through eighth grade, when he transferred to Troop 40.
He has attended Boy Scout camps Yawgoog and Sequassen, and has held several leadership positions within Troop 40, including assistant patrol leader, patrol leader, and senior patrol leader.
Stephen has participated in many scouting events, including the Klondike Derby, the 50-Miler Canoe Trip, the Five Borough Bike Ride Event, and the Maine Wilderness Trek.
In 2005, Stephen attended the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia. “It was a good experience. There were 40,000 scouts there and I met people from all over the country,” Stephen said.
Eagle project
Stephen’s Eagle project was renovating the pump house at the First Church of Christ, Congregational, in Redding.
Stephen and his family, father Mark, mother Lynn, and brother Alex, attend the church.
The pump house is a small outbuilding measuring 25 feet by 15 feet and is located near the church’s parking lot. It houses a diesel water pump the church uses during a fire or emergency to get water to its sprinkler system.
Over the years, the pump house had fallen into a state of disrepair. Paint was peeling off its sides, and some of the wood siding had rotted.
Stephen supervised the project and arranged for the materials and a work crew to fix the pump house. He was assisted by Michael Rigby, a carpenter and member of the church, who served as the project’s adviser. His crew consisted of fellow scouts, members of the church, and friends and neighbors. About 20 people worked on the project.
Before the repairs could start, Stephen discovered the pump house was infested with wasps and carpenter bees and there was a hive inside it. The hive was carefully removed, and the building was treated with wasp spray.
The crew removed peeling paint by powerwashing, scraping and sanding the sides of the building. Rotted wood and wooden shakes were replaced. Holes that the wasps and bees had bored were filled, and the building was primed and painted white.
The crew also removed rust from exhaust pipes jutting out of the building and painted them black along with the door of the pump house.
The entire project took 163 hours to complete, but was done in time for the church’s annual fair last September.
The project took longer to complete than originally projected because paint removal was a cumbersome, multistep process.
“I thought paint removal would take about 14 hours, but it took 59 hours to complete,” Stephen said.
But the overage taught him a good lesson. “I learned that there are always going to be setbacks and challenges that you have to account for along the way, so it’s important to build extra days into a schedule,” he said.
When the project was done, church members complimented Stephen. “I’m very pleased with how things turned out,” he said.
Varsity track
Stephen’s other interests include competing in track and field — in particular, running. Although he started running only a year ago, Stephen is a varsity member of Weston High School’s cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track teams.
This fall he plans to attend Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., and study marine biology and business. Since Eckerd doesn’t have a track program, Stephen said he will continue to run just to stay in shape.
Stephen credits his scoutmaster, Charles Bartholomae of Weston, for helping him make it to the Eagle Scout rank. He said he was also helped by his parents, who are active in the troop, and other adult leaders.
Stephen also had his family’s legacy to guide him.
His grandfather became a Boy Scout at age 12 in 1931 in Chico, Calif. He ultimately attained the rank of Eagle Scout.
In January 1941, Mr. Barber became a Boy Scout district executive in Santa Monica.
With the outbreak of World War II, he served as an Army Air Corps bombardier. In 1946, he returned to his position in Santa Monica and then served as assistant scout executive in West Los Angeles. He went on to serve councils in Sacramento and Chicago, Ill.
He became chief scout executive in October 1967, and was a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He died in 2003 in California.
Stephen is proud of his grandfather’s achievements and is also a big proponent of scouting.
“I have learned numerous skills from scouting. It defined who I am, my character, and my outlook on life,” he said.
Stephen’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor will be held June 16, at the First Church of Christ, Congregational, in Redding.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
|
