Waukon Scouting community to host "50 Reunion" this Saturday for Eagle Scouts

It's a "50 Reunion", as the Waukon community now has 50 Eagle Scouts and Waukon Boy Scout Troop 64 has 50 Eagle Scouts. The reunion will take place for Waukon's Eagle Scouts, their families and former and current leaders Saturday night, September 24 in the upstairs meeting area of the Vet's Hall in Waukon. A social hour will begin at 6 p.m. and supper will be served at 7 p.m. with a short program to follow.
J.R. TeKippe was the 50th Eagle Scout for the Waukon community when he achieved the rank in 2010, and Luke Schulte is now the 50th Eagle Scout for Troop 64 after his honoring earlier this year. The first Eagle Scout in the Waukon community was Marvin Beck of Troop 26 in 1944, back when there were two Boys Scout troops in Waukon.
Eagle Scout is the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve, and all requirements must be completed before the Scout reaches age 18. Although the requirements are somewhat different now than they were in the past, they are basically the same.
A Scout must earn 21 merit badges, 11 of which are required. The rest can be the Scout's choosing from over 100 different merit badges now offered. They must also record a required number of nights of camping and hold different leadership positions throughout the different ranks of advancement.
While a Life Scout, which is the rank just before Eagle, a Scout must plan and carry out a Service Project to benefit his church, school or the community.
If a Scout earns his Eagle before he is 18, he can also earn Bronze, Silver and Gold palms for his Eagle Badge by earning five more merit badges for each palm before he is 18 years old. After he turns 18, he is no longer a Scout and it is hoped he then turns into an adult leader.
Less than four percent of Scouts will reach the rank of Eagle Scout. The Waukon Scouting community has been very fortunate to have had some very good, dedicated adult leaders to help 50 of its own Scouts reach that achievement, including a very active Troop Committee and Assistant Scoutmasters or Committee members dedicated to assisting each rank of Scouts toward their next rank from Scout to Tenderfoot, to Second Class, to First Class, to Star, to Life, and then Eagle Scout.

PROUD HISTORY
Listed below are the Eagle Scouts from the Waukon community, along with the year they attained Eagle: Marvin Beck-1944; Ron Clay-1968; Mike Osterholm-1969; Tom Johnson-1973; David Luther, Larry Halverson, Colin Howe-1976; Mark Troendle, Jason Pittman-1988; David Hahn-1989; Tim Benda, Eric Haler-1991; Andrew Ryan-1993; Kevin Bresnahan, Jake Beneke-1994; Eric Ryan-1995; Chris Laures, Brett Olson-1998; Brian Swenson, Noah Daley, Clay Kramer, Andrew Olson, Ben Seibert-1999; Jason Bollman-2002; Brett Koch, Nicholas Swenson-2003; Aaron Prestemon-2004; Nathan Riese, Jonathan Seibert-2005; Sean Ryan, Ross Christianson, Andrew Decker, Hans Walleser, Jared Laures, Cody Stange, Zachary Kimber-2006; Devon Kimber, Jacob Riese, John Walleser, Ryan Anderson, Matt McMillan, Edward Schoenthal-2007; Shawn Gordon, Kyle Torkelson, Jonathan  Erb, Desmond Decker-2008; Marty Blocker, Kevin Gordon-2009; J.R. TeKippe-2010; Luke Schulte-2011.
Present Troop 64 Scoutmaster is Tim Smith. Past Scoutmasters have included Allen Drolet, Ernie Lubahn, Dave Duncklee, Tom Caulkins, John Troendle, Jim Wadsworth, Lawrence Benda, Don Haler, Arnie Laures, and Joe TeKippe.
Invitations have been sent to all Eagle Scouts, their families, their leaders, and former Scoutmasters. However, former Assistant Scoutmasters and Committee members have not been contacted for fear of missing someone, but they are also welcome to attend and are asked to contact Eagle Advancement Chairman John Troendle at 563-568-1062 to make reservations.