Local Scout soars to Eagle rank

EDWARDS — A Battle Mountain High School senior has earned his Eagle Scout rank, the highest rank in Boy Scouts.

Fewer than 5 percent of all Boy Scouts earn the Eagle Scout rank, and Christian Apps is now one of them.

The Eagle rank is the pinnacle of almost 10 years of adventure, fun, work and dedication by Apps to the Boy Scout and Cub Scout programs. Apps is a member of Vail Troop 231.

Earning your Eagle

By the time Eagle Scouts reach that lofty rank, they will have earned at least 21 merit badges, demonstrated Scout Spirit and learned and demonstrated leadership skills. After all that, the Scout plans, organizes, leads and manages an extensive Eagle service project.

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“One of the great lessons of Boy Scouting is the ability to create a long-term goal, and work toward it incrementally,” Apps said.

Apps did a couple projects. To earn his Life Scout rank, Scouting’s second-highest rank, he led a project restoring illegal campsites and building trail signs in the Holy Cross Wilderness, Fancy Pass area. He and his project were featured in the April 2014 edition of Boy’s Life Magazine.

The Eagle Scout service project is designed to help any community, religious institution, or school. The written project plan must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, the scoutmaster and troop committee, and the council or district before you start.

For his Eagle project, Apps combined his love of Nordic skiing with Scouting. Apps skied on Battle Mountain High School’s 2015 state championship Nordic ski team. His Eagle project was to organize, fundraise and coordinate creating, building and installing more than 30 new trail signs for the Maloit Park Nordic Park in Minturn. Those signs are built from beetle kill pine trees.

Apps said that like all Eagle Scouts, he didn’t climb to that height by himself.

“Along with my parents, Jeff and Sandy Apps, I would like to thank the adult leaders of Troop 231, the scouts of Troop 231 and Nate Free, Scoutmaster of Troop 231, who has been with me since I was a Cub Scout,” Apps said.

On the path to his Eagle rank, Apps has helped in many community service projects, provided service and leadership to his troop, and is currently serving as Junior Assistant Scoutmaster to Troop 231. On his way through the ranks, he has served as a patrol leader, senior patrol leader and was nominated to attend both National Youth Leadership Training and to become a member of the Order of the Arrow.

He attended High Adventure Scout camps at Sea Base in the Bahamas and Northern Tier in the Minnesota Boundary Waters.

In addition to the traditional outdoor skills learned in Boy Scouts, Apps has a host of merit badges including those from wilderness survival, citizenship in the world and personal management.

About Eagle Scouts

Scouting’s highest honor was created in 1911. The first Eagle Scout medal was awarded in 1912 to Arthur Rose Eldred, a 17-year-old member of Troop 1 of Rockville Center, Long Island, New York. Eldred earned his Eagle award even before the badge’s design was finished, so he had to wait until Labor Day, Sept. 2, 1912. Eldred’s son and grandson earned the Eagle rank as well.

In 1982, 13-year-old Alexander Holsinger, of Normal, Illinois, was recognized as the one-millionth Eagle Scout. In 2009, Anthony Thomas, of Lakeville, Minnesota, was recognized as the two-millionth.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 and rwyrick@vaildaily.com.