Four Solon teens have joined the elite ranks of the Eagle Scouts — Landon Hummel, William Wittich, Brandon Merrick, and Connor Shepherd. The Solon Economist will highlight each of the four Eagle Scouts individually. Hummel was profiled in our March 3 edition, while Wittich appeared in the March 10 edition.
Eagle Scouts achieve the highest rank available to a Scout and earn an elite status along with it.
“The power of the Eagle Scout rank is in the reputation of those Scouts who have attained it,” said Tom Clingerman, the Chartered Organization Representative for the Solon American Legion Post 460, and a Scout Leader for 31 years. 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.
Connor Shepherd, a 17 year old senior at Solon High School, is the son of Jim and Lisa Shepherd and has been involved in Scouting since first grade. “I enjoyed Cub Scouts and made a lot of friends through it,” he said.
His largest accomplishment as a Scout was designing and leading his Eagle Scout project, which was in the top third of the district – an outdoor classroom for the University of Iowa’s Raptor Project. “The next accomplishment that I am proud of is having volunteered over 100 hours to help my community. I have learned and accomplished too many things to list, and I am appreciative of every single opportunity.”
Shepherd’s classroom was completed in June 2020 and was designed, he said, to scale with the number of volunteers who helped.
“It would’ve been a great project about building benches if only a few people had showed up. I had so many volunteers that my project grew to being more about building up the classroom area with great Aldo Leopold benches.”
Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) is considered by many as “the father of wildlife ecology” as a renowned scientist and scholar. The benches he designed, and which bear his name, are simple in design making them easy to assemble. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wrote in their March/April 2017 edition of Iowa Outdoors, “At first glance, the bench design is indistinguishable from most other benches. But this model holds a functional usefulness not readily apparent. By sitting backwards with legs through the opening, the backrest now provides a sturdy support for the elbows while using binoculars or cameras to observe nature around you,”
Shepherd plans to attend Iowa State University where he will major in Software Engineering with a minor in Cyber Security. As is typical of Eagle Scouts, he keeps busy with a plethora of activities outside of Scouting including band, jazz band, choir, jazz choir, Bella Voce, and the Art Club. “I also run the sound board and design sound effects for all musicals, plays, and other events. During football season I was in cheer and marching band. Recently I got a job and work. In my remaining time, I hang out with my friends.”

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Contributed Photo

Participants in a program at the University of Iowa’s Raptor Project sit on Aldo Leopold benches built by Solon Eagle Scout Connor Shepherd (and his volunteer crew). Shepherd did the project for his Eagle Scout community service project in 2020.