Eagle
Scout
Summit
Summary
Camp Durant
April
26, 2008
Two
Eagles from
Troop 216 attended the Occoneechee
Council Eagle Summit – Bob
and Brian De Contreras.
The
purpose of this inaugural event was to
foster fellowship among Eagle
Scouts of all ages.
The
plan is to make this a recurring event
on a schedule that has not yet
been determined.
The
Summit
was opened at 9 AM with a flag
ceremony of epic proportions.
The US Army Golden Knights
Para Team jumped in from 3,000 feet
above the camp to carry in the US
Flag to be raised over the camp for
the day. The
flag had flown over a town in Iraq. There were
four jumpers
who spot landed on a 3 foot by 3 foot
landing target just 30 feet in
front of us. Sadly
the
first jumper to land had a mishap. He
apparently stalled his parachute
while trying to land on the target. He was about
15 feet over the target and
just dropped straight down to the
landing spot and dislocated his ankle. He was
screaming in pain
right in front of us.
There
was an EMS
ambulance on site for the jump and we
had a doctor as one of our
speakers. The
doctor
set the jumper’s foot right there and
then they took
him away in the ambulance.
Now,
that was exciting.
The
other jumpers landed without incident
and all the Scouts had an
opportunity to mingle with the jumpers
and have conversations.
The average experience of
the jumpers was over 14,000 jumps. Wow!
That’s a lot…
Following
the
exciting opening we moved to the mess
hall for a roundtable discussion
with some note worthy guests on a wide
range of topics.
The guests included:
Daniel
K. Bryson
Founding
Partner /
Attorney
Lewis
and Roberts
PLLC
Jack
Clayton
Regional
President,
Central Region
Executive
Vice
President
Wachovia
Bank
Eagle
Scout 1971
Harvey
D.
Heartley, Jr.
CEO
HDH
Partners
(Residential Mortgage)
Eagle
Scout 1971
Rev.
Steve Hickel
Senior
Pastor
Fairmont United
Methodist
Church,
Raleigh
Paul
Martin Newby
Associate
Justice
North
Carolina
Supreme Court
Robert
W. Seligson
Executive
Vice
President, CEO
North
Carolina
Medical Society
Timothy
N. Taft, MD
Director
of Sports
Medicine
University
of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill
Ira
David Wood III
Film
Actor
Executive
Director
Theatre
in the
Park (Raleigh)
Mike
Zlotnicki
Outdoor
Editor
News
and Observer
After
the
roundtable discussion the honored
guests were available for more in
depth discussions in break-out
sessions. This
program ended after lunch at about
2 PM.
At
this point the
Scouts were invited for some
recreation that included rifle
shooting
(range officers were Bob and Brian
D.), climbing tower, a baseball
game, ultimate Frisbee and fishing. There was a
slide show between 5:30 and
6 PM which rolled into the keynote
address by The Honorable Bob
Etheridge, United States House of
Representatives, 2nd
District. Bob
congratulated
Eagle Scouts and the Scouting program
and shared his
thoughts on the value of Scouting. Bob’s son
was the person
responsible for organizing and running
the Eagle Summit Event.
After
Mr.
Etheridge’s remarks we had a great
dinner of pork roast,
mashed potatoes, green beans, fruit,
cake and lemonade.
Brian and I were home by 8:30
PM for a
shower and some quiet discussion and
contemplation of the
day’s events and discussions.
We agreed – “It was
a great day.”
This
was the first
ever event of this kind and we hope it
returns soon so more Eagles can
take part.
Bob
De Contreras
Scoutmaster
Troop
216
