Local teen earns Prestigous Eagle Scout Award

By?Dawn Slade
Mille Lacs County Times

Leadership, service and outdoor skills must be achieved in order to earn the highest level in Boy Scouts - Eagle rank. And Michael Angermeier has earned that distinction.

Michael received the award Sunday, Oct. 22 during the Boy Scout’s Court of Honor Ceremony at the Christian Reformed Church in Pease.

Michael is the third in his immediate family to earn the Eagle award. His father Dean and his older brother Ryan have also earned the award.

His younger brother Adam is on his way to earning it as well. Needless to say, his mother Donna is quite proud of her all “boys.”

Michael, a junior at Milaca High School, said Boy Scouts taught him “how to be a leader.”

A leader, he says, “is a person who goes above and beyond - doing that extra thing for everybody else.”

He mentioned former Boy Scout Shawn Ransom as a good example of a leader.

“I really looked up to him. He never complained, he just went ahead and did it,” Michael said.

The 17-year-old joined Cub Scouts as a Webelos II (the last rank before entering Boy Scouts).

He doesn’t remember why he wanted to join, but once he did he said, “I liked the things you could earn, activity badges and pins and doing the things to get them, because it was out of the ordinary.”

Michael joins the 1.7 million before him since 1912 who have earned the Eagle rank (roughly four to five percent of all scouts).

In addition to an interview the with Eagle Board of Review, Michael had to complete a service project in order to earn the Eagle rank.

He started the project by contacting Jay Rensenbrink, director of the Elim Home in Milaca, to find out what the Elim Home needed.

“We were concerned with nurses helping people into vehicles and we were trying to figure out what to do to make it safer,” Rensenbrink said.

A couple of employee back injuries led to the Elim Home’s safety committee wanting to put portable steps in place to help residents in and out of vehicles.

So, Michael went to work on building steps. He used the plans the Elim Home already had in place to build the first one. He then brought those steps to the Boy Scout Troop for ideas on improvements.

They added tread tape to the steps to prevent slippage, wheels and a handle to move the steps more easily and carpet on the back to prevent damage to vehicles.

Those ideas were then brought to the safety committee for approval.

Michael then led the troop to make two sets of steps with three steps each and two sets with two steps each (for lower vehicles). They are being used at both the Elim Home and its assisted living facility, Country Meadows.

Pleased with his service project, Michael said, “knowing that it’s going to help people,” is what’s most rewarding.

As for Boy Scouts overall, summer camp at Many Point was always a favorite event for Michael, as was the climbing wall.

“It was pretty scary the first time,” he admitted.

Of all the merit badges Michael had to earn, it was the wilderness survival badge that was the most difficult.

The scouts have to spend the night in the woods with very little equipment or tools.

Building a shelter and a fire, Michael said, are priorities in that situation.

“Knowing how to make a water resistant shelter and build a fire,” he said are key.

“If you don’t know that, you can’t cook or heat water,” his mother pointed out about the fire.

Using logs, a tarp and Duct Tape, he and his fellow scouts built a shelter that kept them dry (for the most part, he added).

“Knowing how to cope with any kind of weather condition and having little with you” is a good skill to have.

Michael encourages others to join Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts and try to achieve the Eagle rank.

“It’s for people who want to get things done and be leaders in society. It really helps with that,” he said. “It helps with crucial things in life - like the first-aid badge.

“It gets really hard, but don’t quit. It’s definitely worth it. Stick with it.”

Communication skills and working with people were important skills he learned. But, it’s the work ethic and the leadership skills that Michael developed through scouting that he feels are the most beneficial.

“They’re skills that will be useful in everyday life,” he added.