Allen Park Scouts BSA Troop 842 Eagle Scouts Aaron Knoch (left), 18; Paul Yanez, 18; and Alex Arble,18, at their Eagle Scout Court of Honor April 13 at Angelica Lutheran Church in Allen Park.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
ALLEN PARK – Scouts BSA Troop 842 scored a triple Eagle last week, without hitting the greens, as three young men who journeyed through Scouting together received their Eagle Awards as one.
Aaron Knoch, Paul Yanez and Alex Arble also shared their Court of Honor, held the evening of April 13 at Angelica Lutheran Church, 8400 Park Ave. The event highlighted the accomplishments and achievements of the three 18-year-olds, who are 2018 Allen Park High School graduates.
Knoch currently attends the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Yanez is at Henry Ford College and Arble is enrolled at Wayne County Community College.
Arble and Yanez performed similar Eagle projects, in different parts of Allen Park, stenciling warning messages on storm drain catch basins, which let residents know that the drains flow into local creeks and rivers, and are only for natural water runoff. Yanez targeted a southern section of Allen Park.
“It made the water table much safer,” Arble said. “People know not to dump toxic chemicals into it.”
Knoch repaired and improved a fire pit at a campfire area in Cunningham Park, adding two benches to a work table, performing site maintenance and completing general landscaping in the immediate area.
“We re-patched the fire ring, we put new cement around it, we put down new gravel, and we put in two new benches at the table,” Knoch said.
He said getting his team of volunteers organized was the most challenging part of the project.
“There were a lot of hard tasks, such as cutting wood in specific ways that you needed specific tools for, so I needed to get with certain people that had those tools, and find out when they were available,” Knoch said. “But I also had to coordinate when my other helpers would be available.”
Knoch said they all finished their respective Eagle projects about a month before their 18th birthdays.
Yanez said he finished up the final details of his project two days before his deadline.
Arble said he was also completing final details two days before his 18th birthday.
Their adventure began when the three met as Cub Scouts, with Paul Glei as their Cub Master and Sue Knoch as their Den Leader. Scout Master Dave Tamsen guided the three through their Boy Scout years.
Knoch said he and Arble were always close friends, and a few years into Cub Scouts Yanez joined the trio.
“A lot of the pictures around here are of us three going through the entire Scouting program together,” Knoch said.
The Scouts said many of their memories were made at Cole Canoe Base in Alger and at D-Bar-A Scout Ranch in Metamora.
Knoch said he has completed most of the adult leader training, and is working on the paperwork.
Yanez said he would also like to become an adult leader, and hopes to have time this summer to work on the required training.
Arble said he also plans to stay involved with the troop as an adult, especially on the camp outs.
Arble said the key to successfully attaining the Eagle rank is to learn to use your time well, because it gets “pretty hectic” toward the end. He said he feels prepared to take on other demanding projects now.
Yanez said the key to completing an Eagle project is to avoid procrastination.
“We have seven years to do this, and we all kind of put it at the last second, when we realized we were short on time,” Yanez said.
Knoch said he realized how lucky they were to experience so many things through the Scouting program.
Arble said you make a lot of memories during your years in Scouting, and encourages Scouts to stay in the program.
For more information on Scouting, go to scouting.org.
(Sue Suchyta can be reached at [email protected].)