Scout earns Eagle rank at 13

It’s rare for anyone entering the Boy Scouts to earn the Eagle rank. It’s even more rare for a boy to attain scouting’s highest honor at the young age of 13.

Valley Stream resident Christopher Kircher defied the odds, and his accomplishment was celebrated Nov. 16 with a Court of Honor ceremony at the Malverne Village Hall. Kircher was 13 years old when a Board of Review confirmed him as an Eagle Scout earlier this year. Now 14, he says he still has much more to do in scouting.

“If I earned that, then I could focus on other things in scouting,” said Kircher, a member of Troop 24 in Malverne and Troop 230 in Oceanside.

Only 4 percent of boys who enter the scouts earn the Eagle rank, and most do it within a year or two of their 18th birthday. He’s not the youngest person ever to become an Eagle Scout — that honor belongs to a boy in Columbia, S.C. who earned it at 12 years old — but Kircher’s feat was still out of the ordinary.

Scouts must complete several requirements to earn the Eagle rank, including a community service project. Kircher constructed a Native American village at Tanglewood Preserve in Rockville Centre. He built a wigwam and a longhouse, and researched with the Shinnecock Indians in Southampton before getting to work. Although his longhouse was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, Kircher said he still felt his project was a success.

He and nearly 50 volunteers put in 370 hours of work to get the project done. “I learned great leadership skills,” he said, “and I also learned a lot about the Native American cultures.”

To raise money for the project, Kircher hosted a pancake breakfast at Applebee’s and also received a donation from a snow removal company.

Joe Resch, the scoutmaster of Troop 24, said some people doubted Kircher’s ability to complete such a complex project, but he proved his skeptics wrong. “Most 13 year olds wouldn’t have been able to handle it,” Resch said. “He stuck to his guns and he did his project.”

Scouts also must earn a minimum of 21 merit badges. Kircher has more than 60, and his goal is to eventually get to 100. Some of favorite badges to earn were search and rescue, motorboating, and metal works. Resch said if Kircher would go away for a weekend, he would likely come back with a new merit badge.

Resch, who has led the troop for more than 25 years, said he has seen some boys become Eagle Scouts at 14 and 15 years old, but never at 13. “For his age, I was quite impressed with how thorough and dedicated he was,” Resch said.

Kircher is in ninth grade at Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in Queens, where he is on the bowling team and takes honors level classes. When he was in first-grade at Holy Name of Mary School, he attended a Cub Scout meeting and liked it. He looked at a few different scouting units before joining Pack 230 in Oceanside. Kircher remains a den chief with the pack, in addition to his role as senior patrol leader of Troop 230 and assistant senior patrol leader of Troop 24.

About 100 people attended his Court of Honor including friends, family, teachers, fellow scouts and scouting leaders. He said he has received a lot of support along the way, and Resch has been his biggest role model. “He’s taught me so much over these years on how to be a leader and the qualities of a good leader,” Kircher said.

Kircher added that he is grateful for the leadership and teamwork skills he has learned throughout his scouting career. As for his future in scouting, he said plans to remain active with his two troops and help other scouts who are looking to earn their Eagle ranks.