By Dana Klosner-Wehner
About 100 family members, friends, fellow Boy Scouts and public officials were on hand to watch the young men get their awards.
“They are very helpful, and always teaching the younger scouts,” the troop’s scoutmaster, Jose Gregori, said of Cusack and Staines. “They are always trying to help younger scouts by being good role models.”
The ceremony included the presentation of colors, an invocation by the Rev. Donald Babinski and an Eagle Four Wind Ceremony, in which six young men dressed in Iroquois garb spoke of the significance of the spirits of the winds.
Daniel Malesardi, a member of state Sen. Craig Johnson’s staff, presented New York State Certificates to Cusack and Staines. “These [young men] are the cream of the crop as far as our future goes,” Malesardi said.
They were also awarded Knights of Columbus certificates, checks for $100 and rosary beads by Walter Zimmerman, grand knight of the Knights of Columbus, and Deputy Grand Knight Mike Nass. “In this day and age, with so many distractions, the Boy Scouts express cooperation among all races and do things for all people,” Zimmerman said.
Staines, a freshman at Trine University in Angola, Ind., has been in scouting for 11 years. For his Eagle Scout project, he reorganized closets at the St. Vincent De Paul School, painted classrooms and waxed floors to improve the environment for the children, he said. He was part of a group of about 20 people who did the work, including Boy and Girl Scouts and family members. All of the supplies were donated after Staines placed a bulletin in the church newsletter. He also spearheaded a scrap metal drive.
The project took about seven days to complete, Staines said. “I asked the pastor what he needed, and he said, ‘How about you make the meeting room and classrooms look nice?’”
Staines added, “It’s an honor to achieve the highest rank.”
He said he likes scouting because it teaches responsibility and leadership. “It teaches you what life is all about,” he said.
Cusack, a freshman at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, has been in scouting for 13 years. “It’s a good way to prepare yourself for the future,” he said. “You learn a lot of life skills. It helps build character. You learn discipline and leadership.”
Cusack’s Eagle Scout project involved repainting a storage container at the church that was marked with graffiti. He also replaced an old, rotting fence at the church rectory, painted the new fence and put up a new flagpole. Fellow Troop 294 scouts and family members helped him with his project, and he gathered donated supplies from Home Depot, Elmont Paints, the Knights of Columbus, Pathmark, Key Foods and VFW Post 455 by sending out letters and e-mails and appealing to store managers.
Cusack had an excess of $1,000 in donations, which he donated to the church. His project took about three months. “Doing the project helped me experience things on a more adult, business level,” he said.
In his acceptance speech, Cusack noted that Steven Spielberg, Gerald Ford and Neil Armstrong are Eagle Scouts. “It’s a pleasure to be held amongst those ranks,” he said.
“This is something that took a long time to earn,” said Tom Cusack, T.J.’s father. “I’ve known Jake since first grade. They went through all the ranks together and achieved all the goals together. It has taught them loyalty towards each other, towards the troop and towards scouting.”
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