Baden Powell, the founder of Scouting (formerly the Boy Scouts), recognized in the early 1900s a need to be a path of ever increasing knowledge and skills for the Scouts as they grow older.
“By the time Scouting moved to America in 1910, ranks had been established,” explained Tom Clingerman, the Chartered Organization Representative for the Solon American Legion Post 460 and a Scout Leader for 31 years. “Initial Scouts would be known, as in the American west, by the title ‘Tenderfoot,’ then they would work their way from second class to first class.”
With the addition of merit badges, Clingerman said, Scouts were able to become accustomed to more specific knowledge and training in specific areas. Currently Scouts BSA offers over 135 merit badges in areas ranging from archaeology to citizenship in society, electricity, electronics, lifesaving, sports, among other subjects.
“The lower ranks are filled with increasing knowledge of typical Scout capabilities; the traditional camping, cooking, swimming, first aid, wilderness survival, hiking, etc. Advanced ranks of “Star” and “Life” were also added over the years leading to the highest rank, “Eagle Scout.”
“The power of the Eagle Scout rank is in the reputation of those Scouts who have attained it,” said Clingerman.
Typically, four-to-six years of work are required and the individual skills learned are not as important as the demonstrated “perseverance” of the Scout.
“Eagle Scouts have been recognized as people with great potential. They are people for whom hard work is not a problem. Because of their association with Scouting, for so many years, they tend to adopt its belief in the qualities promoted in its Oath and Law, predominated by a sense of Honor and truthfulness, loyalty to their country and others, and a feeling that they ‘can’ make a difference,” he said.
Four Solon teens joined the ranks of the Eagle Scout: Landon Hummel, William Wittich, Brandon Merrick and Connor Shepherd. According to Clingerman, they’re in good company.
“Most of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts were Scouts, many of whom made Eagle rank. A preponderance of congressmen and senators have been Scouts. Eagle Scouts are everywhere in our society including famous folks like Steven Spielberg, who got his early in making movies as part of a merit badge program. Honesty and hard work have become the assumption for Eagles.”
The rank of Eagle Scout carries prestige beyond the Scouting world and make an applicant more attractive to a potential employer. Clingerman noted, when he worked for Rockwell Collins, he often went on recruiting trips to colleges and universities in the Midwest looking for engineers and other professionals.
“The application and interview forms were extensive, but only one question on the form that I filled out on each candidate had anything to do with high school activities. They were never asked about their athletics or even their grade average, in high school. The only question that was on the form was “were you an Eagle Scout?”
Key to the process of earning the rank of Eagle Scout is planning and conducting a service project, typically for a nonprofit entity. Thousands of hours of project service were performed in the Solon area benefiting the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Army Corps of Engineers, the Solon Community School District, Solon Recreation Dept., care centers, churches and landscaping at the Veterans Memorial. The Eagle candidate must work with a sponsor organization, create a detailed plan and get it approved before work begins. The Scout acts as the program manager scoping out the project, determining and acquiring the required materials and tools, creating a detailed schedule and recruiting the manpower to execute the plan.
“On average, the Eagle project is 100 man hours. This could be a large group effort for one long day, or smaller efforts over several days/weekends. Here is the real work of the Eagle Project- having to be the foreman of the work crew. The Eagle candidate assigns tasks, makes sure tools are available and that the various “crews” know what they are doing (provide drawings, etc.). Then he must act as the on-site boss. These actions, required of every Eagle project, go a long way to the reputation Eagles have with business. They have already proven they can lead and manage,” Clingerman said.
The Solon Economist highlights each of the four Eagle Scouts, individually, beginning this week with Landon Hummel.
Hummel is the son of Greg and Brenda Hummel and has been involved in Scouting since he was a Cub Scout and joined the Boy Scouts in fifth grade.
“I got involved because of my dad who was an Eagle Scout himself,” he said.
In addition to achieving his Eagle Scout rank, Hummel earned the Order of the Arrow, participated in boundary water trips and assumed various leadership roles.
“My eagle scout project was kestrel falcon bird boxes. I got this idea from Ron Puettmann. At the time, he was working for the DNR at Lake MacBride and he stated that this would be a good idea for the environment because it would help bring the population of kestrel falcons back up. The progress of the bird boxes was very slow in the beginning. I didn’t have time with sports and other activities in the way and you need a lot of signatures. When I got through the months of paperwork, I started to make the bird boxes. Out of everyone who helped in this project, I can recall Shane Merrick made a difference in my project. Shane is very knowledgeable in woodworking and helped any way he could to finish the project. In the end, we made a total of twelve bird boxes and we put up thirteen (one was made by Ron) and set them up all over the Lake MacBride.”
The materials were donated by the DNR, he said.
“On the day of making the boxes there was, both of my parents, Shane, Brandon and his brother Jayden. Then the day of setting up the boxes it was mainly Shane, Ron and Greg.”
He plans to attend the University of Dubuque this fall, for aviation, and is currently working on obtaining his private pilot’s license. In addition to Scouting, Hummel played football for Solon, participated on the trap shooting and archery teams, as well as the Solon soccer team.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Landon Hummel’s crew prepares to place a kestrel falcon bird box as part of his Eagle Scout service project at Lake Macbride State Park.