Five Rockville Centre students attain Boy Scouts’ highest honor

Boy Scout Troop 40, home of Arthur Eldred, the first scout to attain Eagle status 100 years ago, held its Eagle Scout Court of Honor on June 9. The event took place at United Church of Rockville Centre, which supports and sponsors the troop.

Five Rockville Centre/South Hempstead residents attained the highest rank awarded by the Boy Scouts of America. The new Eagle Scouts are Christian Camarillo, Michael D’Angelo, Vincent DeSio Jr., Alex Horowitz and Michael Sotack.

Troop 40’s scoutmaster, John Santora, and Charles Orandello of the Theodore Roosevelt Council started the program with welcoming remarks and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church’s Pastor Jeffrey Laustsen said the invocation. Special recognitions were given by Mayor Francis Murray, Assemblyman Brian Curran, Irene Villachi (representing Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos), Evelyn Jonas (representing Councilman Anthony Santino) and Edward Fabian, vice president of the National Eagle Scout Association chapter. The benediction was delivered by Deacon Frank D’Angelo.

Each of the young man’s Eagle Scout project represented their commitment to give back to their community.

Camarillo built two benches for South Side Middle School, which is in the process of designing a student reading/ study area in its central courtyard. He plans to attend the Naval Academy Preparatory School and then continue at the Naval Academy in Annapolis to study economics.

D’Angelo renovated a garden at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church after noticing there was a serious problem caused by erosion on the east side of the church. He built a retaining wall midway through the slope to catch the dirt and laid flats of ivy across the portion under the wall to trap the rest of it. Michael is enrolling at SUNY Maritime College and plans to major in naval architecture and work toward a Coast Guard engineers license.