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3 longtime friends will be promoted to Eagle Scouts
By Bruce Walton
YOUNGSTOWN
Three teenagers will stand before their peers, friends and family at their court-of-honor ceremony when they become Eagle Scouts, the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouts of America, at St. Christine Church and Parish Hall on Sunday evening.
Brandon Colangelo, 17, Kiel Fizet, 18, and Tyler Bartell, 17, all became good friends as Cub Scouts and grew over the years in Boy Scout Troop 22. When they neared gaining their Eagle Scout rank, the three agreed to do it together.
“Most people don’t reach Eagle Scouts,” Colangelo said. “We decided, ‘Since all of us are such great friends, why don’t we have the celebration together at the ceremony?’”
Jim Bartell, Tyler’s father, and Troop 22 scoutmaster, said he couldn’t feel prouder, not just of his son, but of all three boys whom he’s known for years for reaching such an honor.
“I’ve seen these boys go from not knowing how to lead to being leaders, from not knowing each other to being brothers,” he said.
Among the qualifications to become an Eagle Scout are earning a number of merit badges, taking on troop leadership positions and accumulating community-service hours.
Each Eagle Scout candidate also has to complete a service project that directly benefits the community. This requires the candidates to use everything they’ve learned as Scouts to finish and fund their project with their resourcefulness, ingenuity and leadership without any direct help from parents or other adults.
Colangelo, an Austintown Fitch High School senior, chose to build a flag-retirement pit in Wickliffe Circle Veterans Park in Austintown for the local chapters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization, who had to retire American flags in barrels before he came along.
Fizet, a Canfield High School senior, and Bartell, a Fitch junior, worked on their community projects at Mill Creek Park’s Fellows Riverside Gardens.
Fizet worked for weeks to identify and eradicate nearly every invasive plant species in the gardens, while Bartell constructed and placed 12 new wheelchair-accessible planter boxes and a wooden xylophone for children to play with, too.
Though the teens had to find a way to complete their projects independently, they all agreed that’s how it had to be to show everything they’ve learned.
Scouting teaches leadership skills, “and you have to apply it all when you have these big projects like this,” Bartell said.
The three look forward to their futures, all planning to attend college and begin their lives as men. But they agreed that no matter where they may go, the skills and teachings they gathered as Scouts will never leave them.