In scouting lingo, guys start out mere cubs but eventually get their wings and become eagles. The in-between takes a lot of hard work. This week features a perfect dovetail of the whole scouting process, as Cub Scout Pack 46 hosts a member recruiting ice cream social this Friday while Suffern High School junior Justin Leanza, from Boy Scout Troop 46, holds his Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony.

Eagle Scout is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts program and is an exclusive, lifelong club.

Leanza’s Eagle Scout community project involved constructing an exercise pathway with three stations through Pine Grove Lakes at the basketball courts, including a sit up bench, bar work and a bounding bar station. The area was turned into a mini community field, with mulched fitness walkway. Leanza put more than 375 hours into the project, which involved presenting his project before an Eagle Review Board as well the the Pine Grove Lakes Homeowners Association Board.

Leanza’s Court of Honor will be the official presentation of his Eagle Scout Award before invited friends and family, and represents many years of dedicated effort. The ceremony takes place this Saturday at the Eagle Valley Fire House.

Boy Scout Troop 46 — which includes boys at least 11 years old, or who has completed the fifth grade or earned the Arrow of Light Award — has set the bar high for the up and coming Cub Scouts, with three members going through the arduous Eagles Scout process this year, including Leanza — all three live in the Pine Grove Lakes neighborhood of Sloatsburg.

Daniel Patrick Green, a sophomore at Suffern High School, was recognized in January by Central Ramapo School District Superintendent Dr. Douglas Adams and Board President Craig Long for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Green’s Eagle Scout service project focused on St. Joan of Arc Church in Sloatsburg, where he installed safe access electrical outlets and lighting. Dr. Adams recognized Green’s scouting accomplishment at the school board meeting by presenting him with a certificate of achievement.

Also, Daniel O’Leary has started his Eagle Scout project, which involves blazing roads throughout Sloatsburg to mark fire hydrant locations. The yellow street tags are exceptionally helpful to fire department personnel by indicating with a bright yellow street design just where the village’s some 100 hydrants are located. When the yellow blazes appear on a street near you, know that they’re being hand painted as a community project by a local Boy Scout who’s about to get his wings.

The actual material execution of the Eagle Scout project, like the tip of an iceberg, only shows the product of the project. Lots of prep time and volunteer hours are spent becoming an Eagle Scout.

On the other end of the spectrum, Tuxedo Cub Scout Pack 46, which serves scouts from Tuxedo and neighboring towns, including Sloatsburg, is hosting an Ice Cream Social Friday, June 16, at 6 p.m. at Murphy Field in Tuxedo to recruit new members.

“Every year we need more of the kids who are entering 1st grade,” said next year’s Pack 46 Cubmaster Benny Mulvaney. “So, mostly they’re in kindergarten now and just entering 1st grade. Almost 90% of the recruitment we do will be from that grade, but every once in a while you find a kid who didn’t do scouts for a year or two and his friends are having fun, and he says, yeah, I’d like to try that.”

Tuxedo Cub Scout Pack 46 is a combined group of scouts from Tuxedo and Sloatsburg for boys entering grades 1 through 5 in the fall.

“All Sloatsburg boys are welcome,” Mulvaney said, adding that the pack is looking to pick up an additional eight to ten scouts.

Cubs Scouts participate in any number of pack activities throughout the troop year, including hiking, camping, and the ever popular, bigtime competition — Pinewood Derby. So, here’s the chance to run with the pack so that eventually you can soar with the eagles.

For more information about the Friday’s Ice Cream Social, or interest in Cub Scout Troop 46, contact Benny Mulvaney at 753-5940 or visit Tuxedo2146.

Source: Photos courtesy of Brian Colton and Marianne Leanza.