WHS Senior 'Soars' to Personal Achievement
John Houfek Earns BSA Eagle Scout Rank
Launch the media gallery 1 playerResetting headstones isn't a way many high school kids would spend a Saturday in mid-summer. To WHS senior John Houfek, this was the "golden ticket" to earning his title as Eagle Scout.
"Scouting has been the most enjoyable experience I've ever had," commented Houfek.
Eagle Scout is the highest achievement in Boy Scouts. To become an Eagle Scout, a candidate must have served six months as a Life Scout, demonstrated scout spirit, earned 21 merit badges, served for six months as a leader in the troop, crew, or team, completed a service project, taken part in a Scoutmaster Conference, and completed an Eagle Scout Board of Review, all before his eighteenth birthday. Houfek completed all of these requirements with flying colors.
After the award is earned, the scout must set an example for other scouts and become a leader in life. Now that he has become an Eagle Scout, Houfek plans to become a scout leader.
The required service project must be helpful to any religious organization, school, or the scout's community, also benefiting an organization other than Boy Scouting.
Thus, on Saturday, July 16, 2005, Houfek, members of his family, Scout Troop #140, and some friends traveled to the Czech-Presbyterian Cemetery, near Weston. There, they reset headstones, therefore helping Houfek, a Boy Scout of eleven years, to earn his Eagle Scout.
Houfek and his assistants first dug around the headstones they were resetting. They lifted the stones and made sure they were level. They propped up the stones with bricks, rocks, or pieces of wood before pouring cement under them. The cement provided a stable, level foundation for the once-leaning stones.
"To make the cemetery look better to visitors," was Houfek's reasoning for choosing this project.