Eleven Rockville Centre scouts awarded Eagle rank

Eleven scouts from Rockville Centre — seven members of Troop 40 and four with Troop 163G — have earned at least 21 merit badges, completed projects to help benefit the community and joined the rarefied company of Boy Scouts across the nation who have reached the coveted rank of Eagle.

Kieran Cook, Anthony “T.J.” Egan, Joseph Napoli, Michael O’Hare, Lucas Sheehan, Ryan Varley and Matthew Varney, of Troop 40, were recognized at an Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony last Friday at the St. Agnes Parish Center.

“Eagle Scout is the highest honor that can be earned by any Boy Scout,” Eric Ressegger, the troop’s assistant scoutmaster, said during the ceremony. “It reflects many years of hard work, leadership and maturity. Certainly tonight’s candidates embody these qualities and many others.”

Cook graduated from South Side High School in 2022, and attends Penn State University. His Eagle project consisted of a human sundial, which he constructed in Hempstead Lake State Park.

The sundial serves both educational and leisure purposes, allowing users to tell the time in a fun and engaging way while learning about the positions of the sun. On June 4, 2022, Cook’s family members, friends and fellow scouts gathered to help position the sundial’s bricks in the ground.

Egan recently completed his freshman year at North Dakota State University, where he is studying emergency management and hopes to become a member of the New York City Fire Department. He is also a South Side High alumnus, and has been a patrol Leader for Troop 40.

For his project, Egan worked with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Rockville Centre to design and build a reading garden. He primed the soil, planted butterfly bushes and hydrangeas along the perimeter, and added large rocks on which children can sit and listen to stories.

A quote from Dr. King is inscribed on a wooden bench that Egan made in woodshop class at the high school: “No person has the right to rain on your dreams.”

Napoli recently completed his freshman year at St. John’s University in Queens. For his project, he combined his passion for the water with his love of nature by building 16 swallow boxes and two barn owl boxes that were placed in Town of Hempstead marshland.

O’Hare is a sophomore at South Side who plans to graduate with an International Baccalaureate diploma in 2025. For his Eagle project, he led a group of volunteers in improving the United Church Nursery School playground, which included removing and replacing over 25 cubic yards of mulch, expanding the playground and repairing a shed.

In 2011 O’Hare attended the nursery school at United Church, which is Troop 40’s chartered organization. As an Eagle Scout, he plans to continue to be involved with Troop 40, and would like to become junior assistant scoutmaster in the future.

Sheehan is a sophomore at Kellenberg Memorial High School, where he is active in the Firebird Chorus and Swing band, as well as the drama, communications and yearbook clubs.

His project involved leading a group of volunteers in building three raised planter beds at the Sandel Senior Center. Sheehan decided on the project after visiting the center and learning about its gardening club for seniors. He saw that an old shuffleboard court had been converted into outdoor seating, and decided he would help beautify the area with planter beds, which were raised to allow seniors with mobility issues to participate.

Varley graduated with honors from Kellenberg Memorial High School, and is studying finance at Providence College. Seeing a need for families and caregivers to have safe pathways for children, he designed and created a sensory walkway from the John A. Anderson Recreation Center to the adjacent playground.

Varney will be attending the Citadel military college, where he plans to major in mathematics and would like to be a Navy pilot. His project consisted of the beautification and repair of benches at the Rosa Lee Day Care.

On Saturday, Megan Coogan and Cara Bo, two of the founding members of Troop 163G — one of the first female troops in the Theodore Roosevelt Council — became Eagle Scouts. Mark and Michael Bo were also recognized for reaching the rank of Eagle Scout at a Court of Honor ceremony at the Parish Center.

Coogan joined the Boy Scouts after her Malverne Girl Scout Troop 2505 disbanded. She graduated from Lynbrook High School in 2022, and is a sophomore at Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island, where she is working toward a degree in media and communications with a minor in advertising.

For her project, Coogan organized a textile drive to keep fabric waste out of landfills. Working with the Green Tree Textile Recycling Company, she held two recycling drives, and collected a total of 3,218 pounds of textiles to be recycled.

Cara Bo began her scouting career in 2019, as a founding member of Troop 163G, along with four other girls. During her time as a scout she has help leadership positions as senior patrol leader, quartermaster, troop guide and instructor.

Cara is a senior at South Side High, and will attend the University of Richmond in the fall. She played tennis at South Side for four years, and was president of the tennis club as a senior. She was also part of the golf team and co-president of the French club.

She has always loved animals, which inspired her to focus her project on building insulated shelters at Tanglewood Preserve for feral cats so they can survive the winter.

Her brother, Mark is a senior at South Side who will attend St. John’s University School of Pharmacy in the fall. He began his scouting career with Cub Scout Pack 163 at St. Agnes Cathedral.

For his project, Mark helped build and install bat boxes at Tanglewood to help increase the bat population, and in turn curb the mosquito population. He also helped restore a bat sign in the preserve.

Cara’s and Mark’s brother Michael is a senior at South Side High who will be graduating this year with honors. He is president of the Mock Trial and chess clubs. He will attend the University of Richmond in the fall, where he will major in either physics or computer science with a track in pre-law.

For his Eagle project, he designed and installed new garden areas at the Tanglewood Preserve. As part of the project, he removed invasive plants in order to allow native plants to thrive.

All 11 Eagle Scouts were also presented with citations recognizing their hard work from local politicians, veterans organizations and community groups.