Hunnewell sticks with scouting, earns Eagle Scout rank

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Nate Hunnewell appears to hover over the interpretive sign he erected at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie after leaping from the bench that was also part of his Eagle Scout project. Nate, a senior at Morris Community High School, designed the sign and contracted to have it made. He and his fellow scouts also built the bench and prepared the site. (Photo provided)

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Nate Hunnewell, a senior at Morris Community High School, just earned his Eagle Scout in Troop 471.

It takes years for scouts to complete all the requirements necessary for Eagle – the highest rank achievable in Boy Scouts – rising through the ranks earning merit badges, doing community service hours, and learning and instituting leadership skills.

The vast majority of scouts do not rise as high.

As with his sister, Amber,  who recently earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, Nate’s family played a key role in motivating him.

His father, Dave, has served as a leader in scouts, and he is currently the troop’s fundraising chairman. Nate’s family also helped him with the work necessary to do his final Eagle project, just as they helped Amber with her Gold Award.

Boy Scouts is divided into two age areas – Cub Scouts in grade school and Boy Scouts in junior high and high school.

Nate has been in scouts every year since he was a Tiger Scout in first grade, with the exception of Bears.

“I had too much homework that year,” he said.

He and his dad made Pinewood Derby cars for scout races three times in Cub Scouts. The first one, Nate said, had a triangle block on the top and the back.

The second one was a little more rounded as he learned the concept of being aerodynamic. It also had a little racing man on the top.

His third car was the most aerodynamic of all, and it did pretty well in the races.

Nate did community service projects with Cub Scouts, too. One was painting concrete pylons at a park in their California community.

“They ended up painting each other, too,” said his mother, Margi.

Once in Morris, his Cub Scout den leader was Jolynn Patterson, who is now the committee chairman in his Boy Scout Troop.

When Nate decided to bridge over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, he started out in Troop 469, then went to Troop 476, which folded because of low numbers, before he finally landed in Troop 471.

There was no question as to whether he would continue scouting, he said. He loved being in it, especially the campouts.

A highlight was attending the National Jamboree in 2005.

“That was camping at its best,” he said.

It was one trip he actually had to practice for, though.

At the jamboree, leaders expect each section’s tents to be lined up exactly. Nate knew how to set up a tent backwards, forwards, and in the dark, but it was another thing learning to give a good eye to all the other tents and set his up exactly even with theirs.

There were 35,000 American and international Boy Scouts there, and with the adult leaders, the population of the jamboree rose to 50,000.

“That’s where I shot my first shotgun,” he said.

Nate also got to scuba dive, do archery, snorkel, fish, shoot trap, and learn about conservation, motocross, and pioneering.

Boy Scouts begin at the end of fifth grade and spend the next seven years advancing in rank from Scout to Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and then, if they desire and work hard, Eagle.

To achieve those ranks, they must spend time learning a multitude of skills and information, such as safe hiking, identifying poisonous plants, first aid, using maps and compasses, how to find directions during the day and night without using a compass, using knives, starting campfires, planning and cooking meals, how to swim, all about ropes and knots, and even what to do if you encounter a cyberbully.

For most of the ranks, they are required to take on a leadership role, do community service hours, and earn a certain number of merit badges.

To earn Eagle, Nate had to first achieve all the previous ranks with their requirements, plus make sure he had earned all the Eagle-required merit badges (including Personal Fitness; First Aid; Citizenship in the Community, the Nation, and the World; Environmental Science; Communications; Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving; Camping; and Swimming, Hiking, or Cycling.)

In addition to those merit badges, he had to earn several others of his choice, such as leatherworking, music, scholarship, athletics, and  woodcarving.

For the collections merit badge, he used his rather large collection of bouncy balls.

“I liked to get bouncy balls when I was younger,” he said.

The most difficult for him was Personal Management.

“It was all paperwork,” the outdoor enthusiast said.

He loved canoeing, too, like his sister Amber in Girl Scouts. One requirement for that merit badge was to swamp his canoe and paddle it to someone else for help. Then he had to lift it up and put it on top of the other boat.

“I love camping,” he said. “Just being outdoors and going on hikes and whittling and stuff.”

He did discover one interesting fact about himself on one campout. The other scouts, including his tentmate, had heard an owl that night and were talking about it – Nate included. When he woke up and his friend was again talking about the owl, they discovered Nate had been talking in his sleep the night before. He had no recollection of it the next morning.

The culmination of climbing the ladder of scouts is doing a community service project for the Eagle rank. Nate’s took two years.

He researched, organized, raised money, and led the production of an interpretive sign, with a bench beside it, in the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

He and his crew also cleared the land around it so hikers on the trail could view the former arsenal’s bunkers.

Before he decided on a project, he walked the trails there and found he missed seeing historic interpretive signs along the way like he had seen at many other national parks. That would be a good project, he decided.

A site by the old Bailey Bridge near the arsenal was chosen. Bailey Bridges were used in World War II, and during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

They were designed so they could be assembled and disassembled like parts of a giant Erector set. They were solutions to spanning rivers or gorges quickly and without the use of heavy equipment. Nate’s sign told the history of the Bailey Bridge at Midewin.

Nate designed the sign and contracted to have it made to the prairie’s specifications. Fellow scouts helped with the design and on the day the site was prepared and the sign and bench placed. They also built the bench there.

Nate wants to thank all those who helped him with his project, including those who donated, such as the Lions Club, Costco, and the American Legion.

“I’ve learned a lot from scouting,” he said. “I’ve learned how to plan activities, how to follow through with everything, how to help people when they need first aid, and how to always be prepared.

“If you’re not prepared on a campout, you go cold.”

He advised any boy in scouts to stay in and go as far as you can go.

“Don’t give up,” he said. “You have to push yourself. It’s going to seem daunting at times, but you can get as much help as you need. You just have to ask for it.”

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