The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Boy Scout Troop 113 honored its latest Eagle Scout May 22 at Somerset Presbyterian Church with the ritual Court of Honor.
The Scout, Timothy Stevens, is a former Franklin resident and Hillsborough transplant. He stayed with his Troop after his family moved to the neighboring township about four years ago.
This was the first Eagle Court of Honor held since the coronavirus pandemic hit last year.
Stevens’ Eagle project was to build a batting cage at the Franklin Baseball Complex.
Referencing the statistic that only 6 percent of Boy Scouts attain the Eagle rank, the highest award in Scouting, Mayor Phil Kramer told Stevens that “you have powers and abilities that you have demonstrated beyond 94 percent of Scouts, and that’s pretty amazing. Every time I come to one of these, I wish I had gone out and continued” in Scouting.
“Now that you have done that, you need to keep that good spirit, you need to use it, you need to pay back all of these good people who helped you,” Kramer said.
“Tim, I am incredibly proud of you and especially happy for you for your accomplishment,” Stevens’ mother, Lisa, told him during her remarks.
“I noticed that as you continued you journey, you grew as a person in key traits … resilience, willingness and confidence,” she said. “You have grown to know more of who you are … You have grown so much from your first Cub Scout meeting and your first summer camp … As you receive this Eagle scout award, I wish for you the world.”
Stevens’ father, Mark,was involve din the Scouting program as his son progressed through the ranks.
“It’s been an amazing journey,” he said. “It’s been incredible seeing you blossom from a young boy with lots of questions and not a lot of answers, to a lot more answers.”
“You were a mover; you were a worker bee,” he said. “It’s no mistake that you’re pursuing a career in construction management.”
Referencing times when his son would help him with DIY projects around the house, the elder Stevens said, “You were always there to lend a hand, to learn, even to have better ideas than some adults on how to plan something, how to design something.”
“I truly believe that when you were doing your Eagle project, you were in your element,” he said. “The project turned out to be tremendous for you and more importantly for baseball players.”
“You’re a stand-up person,” Mark Stevens said. “You are a loving and caring friend; a loving and caring brother and I have no doubt that you’ll be a loving and caring husband and father.”
During his remarks, Tim Stevens thanked his family, friends and Scouting leaders for what he said was their help and inspiration during his time in the Scouting program.
“The Scouts of Troop 113 have an energy that is contagious,” he said.
