Awards presented at Boy Scout recognition dinner

Photo

Neighbors | Submitted.The Whispering Pines District of the Greater Western Reserve Council Boy Scouts of America hosted their 2014 district recognition and awards dinner recently at St. James Episcopal Church in Boardman. Pictured, from left (front) are the 2013 Whispering Pines District Award of Merit recipients Tony Ricchiutti and Randy Osiniak; ( back) Preston Cockrell and Matthew Osiniak.

Photo

Neighbors | Submitted.The Whispering Pines District of the Greater Western Reserve Council Boy Scouts of America hosted their 2014 district recognition and awards dinner recently at St. James Episcopal Church in Boardman. Pictured are 12 of the 33 class of 2013 Eagles Scouts that were able to attend this year’s dinner.

Photo

Neighbors | Submitted.The Whispering Pines District of the Greater Western Reserve Council Boy Scouts of America hosted their 2014 district recognition and awards dinner recently at St. James Episcopal Church in Boardman. The Harnishfeger family of Boardman were named the 2013 Scouting Family of the Year by the Whispering Pines District of the Greater Western Reserve Council. Pictured, from left, are Preston Cockrell, Byron and Beth Harnishfeger and district chairman Kurt Hilderbrand.

The Whispering Pines District of the Greater Western Reserve Council, Boy Scouts of America hosted its 2014 District Recognition and Awards Dinner recently at St. James Episcopal Church in Boardman.

This year’s dinner honored 33 Scouts who earned the highest rank in scouting, the Eagle Scout Award, in 2013. Several adult volunteers completed training awards as well as the 2013 Scouting Family of the Year, Cubmaster of the Year, Scoutmaster of the Year and the highest award a district can present to an adult Scouter, the District Award of Merit, were named.

Scouts of the Whispering Pines District, which serves Mahoning County and Hubbard, earning their Eagle Scout Award in 2013 were Austintown Troop 184 James A. Bakos; Boardman Troop 46 Jeffrey Bean, Brandon Ciavarella, William Duganne, Samuel M. Morrow, Matthew Osiniak, Joseph S. Pinkerton-Lamp and Matthew Stark; Canfield Troop 25 Benjamin C. Boughner, Donald A. Duda, III and Michael Rammuno; Canfield Troop 115 Jordan D. Brown, Nicholas Crescimanno, Benjamin A. Crouch, Milan A. Milroy and James V. Mularkey; Ellsworth Troop 71, Brett J. Centofanti, Sage C. Edwards, Donald Hald, Jr., Justin M. Smith and Zachary A. Timmins; Hubbard Troop 100 Calvin Krlich and Justin A. Oaks; New Springfield Troop 119 Joseph Angelo, Zachary A. Cain, Walter G. Hilderbrand, Dillon Lewis, Brian Swansiger, Brian Swantek,; North Lima Troop 80 Joseph Humenick; Poland Troop 2 Sidney Aaron, Benjamin Haylett, Nicholas K. Huggins and Clayton Walker; Poland Troop 44 Charles E. May, George J. Moncilovich and Randall Pfahl; Youngstown Troop 22 Michael Malenic and Youngstown Troop 55 Adam Philips.

Several adults that earned training awards in 2013 included Matt Grantonic of Troop 49 (Scouters Training Award), Dan Bucci of Pack 114 (Unit Leader Award of Merit), Andrew Yoder and Chuck James of Pack 100 (Tiger Cub Den Leader Award). Robert Stoneburner Jr., Stacy Stafford, Jim Stafford, Mona Jones, Heather Criazzo and Courtney Tupa from Pack 100 (Cub Scout Den Leader Award) and Alex Kegley of Pack 100 (Cubmaster Award).

The 2013 Scouting Family of the Year Award was presented to the Harnishfeger family of Boardman. Byron Harnishfeger has been involved in scouting as a leader for many years and began his scouting career as a Boy Scout. He currently serves as Scoutmaster of Troop 60 and also serves on the District Committee as Advancement Chairman. Beth Harnishfeger has also been a leader in Scouting for many years. Currently she is serving as District Membership Committee Chairman. Karl Harnishfeger is an Eagle Scout of Troop 60.

The 2013 Cubmaster of the Year is Chuck Shasho of Youngstown Cub Scout Pack 22 at St. Christine’s Parish and the 2013 Scoutmaster of the Year is Dennis Mansfield of Boy Scout Troop 49 in New Middletown.

The District Award of Merit, the highest honor a district can present to a scouter, was presented to two individuals, Randy Osiniak and Tony Ricchiutti. Osiniak has been an active member of Troop 46 in Boardman as an Assistant Scoutmaster for eight years and he is presently serving as the Committee Chairman and is a member of the Whispering Pines Advancement Committee and the liaison between the District Advancement Committee and the Council Advancement Committee. He is and active member of his church and active with many community activities. Ricchiutti was involved in Boy Scouting as a youth and earned the Eagle Award. He is currently registered with Troop 60 of Boardman as a committee member. He has been on the Whispering Pines District Committee for several years working on the membership committee and has helped out with district events. He is an active member of St. Charles Church and serves as a substitute bus driver.

This year’s dinner was chaired by District Chairman Kurt Hilderbrand and assisted by the District Executive Preston Cockrell and the District Commissioner Richard Gent.

For more information about all scouting programs, visit the website www.beascout.org or the Greater Western Reserve Boy Scout Council website at www.bsa-gwrc.org.

For all of the programs of the Boy Scouts of America in Mahoning County and Hubbard, contact Whispering Pines District Executive Preston Cockrell at 330-898-8474 ext. 15 or email prestoncockrell@scouting.org.