By AUBREY HAWKE
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
Two Waltham teens recently reached the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout, earning them praise from their families, their Scout leader and city officials.
The two Scouts are Nicholas Adams, 14, and Gregory Doane, 18, both members of Waltham’s Boy Scouts of America Troop 248. Adams is one of the youngest Eagle Scouts ever, accomplishing the title just days before his 14th birthday.
The City Council recognized both at its Oct. 15 meeting, with councilors praising both for their accomplishments.
“Nicholas Spence Adams, at just 13 years old, has already made an incredible impact, becoming one of the youngest Eagle Scouts in history,” City Councilor Cathyann Harris said. “His project, which helps ease the transition for foster children, reflects his remarkable empathy and innovation. A nationally ranked rock climber and dedicated student, Nicholas exemplifies excellence, and we are thrilled to recognize his achievements. He has truly earned this honor.”
Councilor Paul S. Katz introduced Doane, saying, “Gregory is a recent graduate of Waltham High School who is now continuing his studies at Worcester Polytech. It’s an honor for us to be honoring him tonight for a project that is going to leave a lasting impact on our community.”
Eagle is the highest rank within the Boy Scouts program, and achieving this rank is a long and arduous process involving years of work and dedication. Only about 6% of Scouts become Eagle Scouts, and it takes on average 130 hours of work to complete the requirements.
“The advancement program in Scouting where you earn ranks towards Eagle ideally is designed to have it happen organically. So, you go camping, you have fun, and in doing so you fulfill different rank requirements,” explained Eli Doane, Gregory Doane’s father and Troop 248 scoutmaster.
Adams’ project supporting kids in foster care
Adams started his Scouting journey in 2020 during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, so his first experiences with the program were limited to attending troop meetings via Zoom and earning merit badges at home. However, Adams still found Scouting to be a fulfilling activity and one that gave him a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
Adams, who home-schools and attends Massachusetts Bay Community College, said that joining BSA taught him invaluable life lessons. He found the program empowering and saw that with hard work he could achieve anything he set his mind to. It also instilled him with a strong desire to give back to his community.
Now he wants to pass onto younger Scouts all the lessons that Scouting has taught him.
“Nicholas has been a kid that has always been interested in learning, and we just encouraged him to learn things. If you actually approach Scouting from ‘what can I learn,’ then advancement is a very natural thing. But we never once pushed him to advance, we never once pushed him to achieve a rank; it was just something that he really liked the achievement and the goals that each level had,” said Craig Adams, Nicholas’ father.
For his Eagle Scout project, Adams led a team of Scouts to create a series of videos meant to ease transitions between homes for foster children. Adams coordinated the team’s travel and work schedules, and he coordinated filming and editing the videos.
Adams gave the completed videos to the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families, so social workers can use them to help children traveling to the foster homes know what to expect.
Adams said he has received positive feedback, with one social worker sharing that the video visibly calmed down a foster child and saying all foster homes should have such videos on hand.
Adams said the inspiration for his project came from his own family’s experience caring for their first foster child and noticing how difficult the transition was for the child.
Doane restores, shares a piece of Waltham history
When Doane started his journey with Troop 248, he was one of the youngest Scouts in the group. He was guided by the older troop members and slowly took on leadership positions that involved planning frequent camping trips.
“Then 2020 came and not only did the pandemic move everything online, which was unfortunate, but it happened to be a year where many of the older Scouts graduated. After lockdown finished, I was the oldest Scout in the troop, and one of only about two or three Scouts in the troop,” said Doane. “But we built back up, and that’s when I took leadership roles and I was senior patrol leader for a year. It was a nice experience helping rebuild the troop and being the leadership for the next generation.”
When it came time to start his Eagle Scout project, he was inspired by his lifelong love of nature and particularly of the city’s Prospect Hill Park. He spoke with a park ranger who mentioned a historic mill foundation overgrown with weeds in the southern area of the park.
Doane led a team of volunteers in researching and clearing the site, with the goal of turning it into an informational site that the community could enjoy.
“I cleared out all of the poison ivy and brush that was covering it up, and cleared out a path to and around it, and then also researched it to find out the history,” Doane said. His team learned that the site was the foundation of a late-19th century mill.
“Scouting has really meant a lot to me and I am very grateful to have been given the chance to help the community with my project,” Doane said at the City Council meeting where he was recognized for his achievement.
Doane graduated from Waltham High School and is currently a freshman at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he is majoring in electrical engineering.
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