Jake Spellman after his eagle court of honor. Wearing his eagle slide and neckerchief. (LRHS)

Lakeland student Jake Spellman has received Boy Scouts highest award, the Eagle Scout rank. After spending many years in the scouting program and demonstrating both leadership and responsibility, Spellman earned this honor.

Journey to Eagle Scout
Spellman joined scouting as a Cub Scout, he made his way through the Cub Scout program and received that program’s highest honor, the Arrow of Light award. Spellman then went on to join Ringwood’s Troop 76. After Spellman joined Troop 76 he started moving up the ranks, working hard to make it to eagle.

Becoming an Eagle Scout is no easy task; it requires that the recipient has also received all other rank awards in Boy Scouts which include the tenderfoot rank, the second class rank, the first class rank, the star rank, and the life rank. Making it through these ranks requires dedication and hard work to acquire.This helps prepare people for the rank of eagle.

Spellman also started to work on obtaining the 21 required merit badges needed to rank up to eagle. These ensure that a future Eagle Scout is well rounded and knows many necessary skills for later in their life. On top of that Spellman went above and beyond, earning 15 additional merit badges on top of the 21 required ones. This led Spellman to earn three additional awards: Eagle Palms, a Bronze Palm, a Gold Palm, and the most prestigious Eagle Palm, the Silver Palm.

Eagle Scout Project, Review, and Honor

In order to become an Eagle Scout, Spellman had to complete an Eagle Scout project that benefits his community, country, school, or place of worship. Eagle Scout projects must be approved by a board that determines if a project is feasible, benefits one of the options mentioned above, and has the approval of all parties involved. In Spellman’s case, he decided to create lengths of quick deployment paracord for the army. He and other scouts worked together to prepare the paracord for deployment. Spellman’s original goal for this project was to make 200 of them; however, he was able to create 525 of the quick deploy paracord, over double his starting goal.

The second to last step to learning Eagle Scout is the Eagle Board of Review where one must be reviewed by three members of the Boy Scout committee. This is the final test of a future Boy Scout to determine if they are going to receive the rank. The review contains questions on a scouts morals leadership skills and other questions about scouting. Spellman was able to complete his Eagle Board of Review and moved on to the final step: the Eagle Court of Honor where a scout is officially decorated as an Eagle Scout.

Spellman’s Court of Honor took place at the Ringwood Presbyterian Church on April 6, 2025. The Court of Honor is a celebration of the scout and everything they went through on their scouting journey to make eagle.

Spellman has obtained an incredible award and Lakeland congratulates him on his achievements. To scouts looking to make eagle Spellman says, “Never give up!”