Students walk on Eagle Scout project every school day

Cameron Cook, the son of RaeAnne and Steven Finch and the late Kevin L. Cook, recently achieved Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

Cook has been an active participant in the Scouting program for eight years and is a member of Troop 647. An Eagle Court of Honor was held for Cameron at the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints.

His Eagle project was completed on June 26, 2009. Cook, along with the help of other Scouts, friends and family members, painted an enlarged version of a map of the United States of America on the concrete outside of the second and third grade classrooms at Hanson Elementary School. Special recognition and appreciation are given to J&S Asphalt for their generous donation of materials and resources needed to complete the project.

Cook also expressed appreciation for the mentorship he received from his former Scoutmaster, Paul Spencer, for Spencer’s guidance and example through many years in the Scouting program.

Cook is a 16-year-old junior at Ramona High School. In addition to Scouting, he is actively involved in the Associated Student Body at Ramona High and is a member of the school’s varsity water polo team. He also holds leadership positions in his church youth group.

After graduating from RHS, Cook plans to attend Brigham Young University for one year before serving a two-year mission for his church, then returning to school. He said that the Scouting program has reinforced the values and ideals he has been taught at home and at church. These values include being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.

Scouting has provided him opportunities for leadership, personal growth, service to others and lifelong learning, and also credits Scouting with helping to instill in him the loyalty that means devotion to community, to country, to one’s own ideal, and to God. He thanks all those who have helped him achieve his Scouting goals and made the journey to Eagle a memorable one.