Curiosity is in your DNA

The Eagle Scouts of the Minsi Trails Council gathered May 21 in Fogelsville to be recognized and honored for the many Eagle Scout projects they have completed in the several areas where Minsi Trails scouts call home. Even though over 220 Eagle Scouts were at the Eagle Scout Court of Honor and Recognition Dinner, they are still, statistically speaking, rare birds. Only four percent of boys enrolled in Boy Scouts nationwide earn the coveted ranking. “It’s not easy,” said Master of Ceremonies Matthew Planer. “You need a tenacious mother!” The many Eagle Scouts were honored for their accomplishments and community projects which ranged from building a pergola for the Alburtis Community Pool (Eagle Scout Tyler Ables Troop 431) to landscaping and a restoration project at New Bethany Ministries in Bethlehem (Eagle Scout Robert Anderson, Troop 359). Scholarship recipients were Anthony Sagrestano and Jacob Alfieri. A special recognition by the Scouts was extended to Don Walp, the oldest living Eagle Scout in Minsi Trails Council. “Don Walp is almost 98 years old,” said Don Sachs an executive with Minsi Trails Council. “He is very active as a member of the Minsi Trails Council Advisory Committee. He is the former owner of the well-known Walp’s Restaurant that sat on the corner of Union St. and Airport Rd. in Allentown.” Another attendee was Eagle Scout John Lahutsky there with his mother, Paula. Lahutsky, standing with an aluminum walker was adopted from Moscow as a child. In spite of have cerebral palsy he has attained scouting’s highest rank. He is from the South Mountain District. Freedom High School senior Jacob Srock, 18 attended with his father, Matt Srock. “The Boy Scouts taught me life lessons like overcoming obstacles, how to achieve goals and how to be a good person,” said Srock. Liberty High School student Tyler Reinhart, 16 attended the gala event. “Scouting has been a huge honor for me,” said Reinhart. “It has helped my accomplish skills that I can pass on.” Parkland High School student Zachary Reich, 18 and his friend Christopher Hamil, 19 attended. Both live in Orefield. Zachary is the son of Clark and Janay Reich and Hamil is the son of Durward and Sandra Hamil. Bethlehem Catholic High School graduate Alex Ferencin, 18 also attended. “Scouting gave me a chance to learn skills I wouldn’t have learned in school,” said Ferencin. He is the son of Wayne and Anne Ferencin of Bethlehem. Jason Siegfried, 16 of Liberty High School attended. Jason is the son of Jeanine and Todd Siegfried of Hanover Township. Keynote speaker Dr. Michael J. Manyak, Executive Director for Global Medical Affairs for GlaxoSmithKline and Professor at George Washington University led the Eagle Scouts and their guests on world tour of adventure mixed with good advice. “An adventure is an expedition that went wrong,” said Manyak who has been on many expeditions including diving to the Titanic, exploring the deepest canyon in Peru, trips to central Africa and sojourns in Mongolia among other places.” He said he has been on expeditions that found gold on sunken ships, and has been hunting with Pygmies in central Africa. He shared camping tips. “There are nothing like seven-inch Huntsman spiders to encourage you to tuck your mosquito net in.” Manyak described a trip to Antarctica with high school students and other trips; one where he discovered human footprints believed to be between 30,000 to 120,000 years old. He said he had been on an expedition in the Gobi Desert when scientists determined that camels there were of a species never identified before. Dr. Manyak described a program by the National Eagle Scouts Association (NESA) encourage Eagle Scouts to apply for the world of exploration through the NESA World Explorer Program run by himself as NESA Vice President and Director C. William Steele. He said the Boy Scouts of America’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) initiative is designed to encourage the natural curiosity of youth members about these fields. “The practice of sending an Eagle to a remote location dates to Paul Siple who accompanied the first Byrd Antarctic expedition in 1928 and later became an Explorers Club Fellow,” said Manyak in a Washington Explorers Club newsletter. “All of you—curiosity is in your DNA,” said Manyak.