By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin was on hand for the Eagle Scout ceremony of Kyle Roberts held on Saturday at Beebe First United Methodist Church. It was Griffin’s first time attending an Eagle Scout ceremony.
Roberts is a Beebe High School senior. For his Eagle Scout service project, he repainted the Beebe Badger paw prints leading to the football field at the campus and painted paw prints along Opportunity Drive.
Roberts recruited 20 people, including friends, families and scouts from Troop 362 to help with the project.
Griffin said he talks and writes a lot with Eagle Scouts and explained what reaching the achievement means to the community and society.
“It strikes me that it takes a lot of accomplishment to get to Eagle Scout. It is based on past activities, a ton of work. We value this so much for the hope that it gives us in the future. No one is celebrating because this is the end of all the good stuff Kyle will do. It is the expectation that someone at a young age will achieve throughout their life as a great member of our community and maybe a leader of the state or country,” Griffin said.
“Boys grow up to be something else. They grow to be men. If they are on the right track when they are boys, they are more likely to be on the right track when they are men. When you look at an individual like Kyle, who is involved with scouting, you see the traits we look for in successful, productive members of society,” he said.
Griffin was in the Army for 20 years. He said the values looked for in soldiers are the same values celebrated in the Eagle Scout ceremony of Roberts: Hard work, dedication, integrity, respect, manners, enthusiasm and positivity.
“It is just not the activities that accumulate and lead to this status. It is what they represent. Kyle was able to do that because of positive virtues that are instilled in him,” he said.
Griffin said reaching the level of Eagle Scout needs to be celebrated to demonstrate to kids who are watching that this is what is valued in society.
“If we celebrate everything equally, the great and not-so-great, what message does that send. In these days there is a lot of celebration of nonsense.
“A lot of people are celebrated because their name and face is known, yet they have done nothing to deserve our praise. They couldn’t even start to do what Kyle has done. He may not be known around the world for it yet, but he’s actually done it. It is our obligation as part of our relationship with him to praise him publicly and say this is worthy of doing,” Griffin said.
“This is what we want people to do. Not because boys will be boys, but boys will be men. By the time they are men, it’s never too late but harder to change the trajectory,” he said.
Roberts has been in scouting since 2010. Over the past six years he has earned 47 merit badges.
