Five Scouts Soar to Eagle Rank in Altadena Troop 1

Altadena Troop 1 honored five of their Scouts who recently achieved the prestigious Eagle Scout Rank in a ceremony held at the Community Hall at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Saturday, August 12. 

Eagle Scout is the highest honor in Scouting; only six percent of Scouts nationwide reach this level. 

The ceremony recognized the new Eagle Scouts: Andrew Boatman, Niko Brooks, Jake Matsumoto, Devin Paton, and Anthony Whalen. Each of them had completed a challenging project for the benefit of a local organization or cause.

“It’s a very special occasion to have these kids go through the amount of work that they have,” Paul Pieper, Troop Committee Chair for Troop 1, said as he commended the Scouts for their accomplishment. 

“This celebration was the culmination of a journey that has taken these kids from Cub Scouts through Scouts, and the amount of work they put in is absolutely amazing and has changed their lives.”

The ceremony also showcased the diversity and inclusivity of Troop 1. The Eagle Scouts came from different backgrounds, including Pacific Islander, Japanese-American, and African-American, demonstrating how Scouting can bring people together and celebrate their differences, Pieper said.

Veronica Jones, Executive Committee Chair of the Altadena Town Council, was a guest speaker at the event. She congratulated the Scouts and thanked them for their service to the town.

“Not only is she a prominent member of our community that’s looking for development of the community, but she also has a son who achieved the rank of Eagle Scout,” Daniel Kale, the Scoutmaster for Troop 1, said of Jones’ attendance. “It meant a lot to these scouts to have someone – a leader in the community who also understands what scouting is all about – to come and congratulate them on the achievement and welcome them for continued service to the community and beyond the community.” 

One of the new Eagle Scouts, Nicholas Brooks, 18, who attends UC Berkeley, is from Pasadena and worked on his service project: planting trees in front of Washington Middle School. He also helped revamp the garden in the center of the property. 

“I think you would call it a courtyard, and it meant a lot to the local community,” Brooks said. “I got to meet with the principal and several of the teachers and they really appreciated it. It was also specifically meaningful to me because I live right across from the school and I’ve hung out there since I was a kid.” 

Brooks adds that the ability to be an effective leader is the biggest skill that he learned in his scouting experience. 

“The ability to delegate tasks easily and with a clear mind, and the ability to remain levelheaded in situations that for other people that might be stressful, I might be able to use that to my advantage in the future,” he said. 

Brooks also told about how Devin Paton, a fellow Eagle Scout who was recognized at the event, spoke to acknowledge the award. 

“His speech was really good, it was really moving,” Brooks remembered. “He talked about a few events in the troop that we all remembered sort of as a collective, and in the end he thanked his father and his mother and they ended up crying. It was really moving and it was pretty touching.” 

Altadena’s Boy Scout Troop 1 has a rich history that spans over a century. The troop is the oldest in the San Gabriel Valley and has been providing life-enhancing scouting experiences to youth from throughout the region since its foundation in 1919.

The troop’s location in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains provides an ideal launching pad for outdoor adventures, with several U.S. Forest Service campgrounds and trail camps within an hour’s drive, as well as the BSA-operated Camp Trask above nearby Monrovia.

In 2019, Troop 1 enthusiastically welcomed girls as one of BSA’s first “linked troops,” offering its unique blend of scouting to both boys and girls in the area. 

To learn more about Troop 1, visit www.troop1.us.