Mike Johnson’s been a Scout Master now for 37 years. Over those years, he’s seen 132 of his Scouts earn the Eagle Scout rank.
All you parents of his other 130 Eagle Scouts will forgive Johnson if he feels just a little more pride with his latest troop member to join the group: St. Teresa’s School junior Grant Johnson. As in Mike’s son, the second of his offspring to earn the distinction.
“My oldest son, Patrick, was an Eagle Scout, so, yes, that’s really special, to have two sons earn this honor,” Mike Johnson said Saturday morning as Grant Johnson, fellow Scouts and other volunteers worked on the younger Johnson’s Eagle Scout project. “This is an achievement of a lifetime. Only 4% of Scouts across the country earn this honor, so that says a lot.”
Grant Johnson’s Eagle Scout project centers around development of playgrounds for younger St. Teresa’s students. He and his crew were putting up plastic borders around one play area Saturday, while others were shoveling mulch in another on another side of the campus.
Credit: Carlton Fletcher
Credit: Carlton Fletcher
“I’d see the smaller kids, the pre-K kids, playing in this area, and I just thought it would be good to give them a real playground,” Grant said. “We’re also working on the elementary playground. We’ve scheduled it so that we can finish both today, so I hope we can.
“The big thing about a project like this is having others join you and working together as a team. It’s the team efforts in life that really makes things grow.”
Another part of the Johnson family, St. Teresa’s School administrator Linda — Mike’s wife and Grant’s mom — said the Catholic school plays a big role in nurturing students like her son.
“The school’s mission is to help others, and that’s passed on to our students,” Linda Johnson said. “I just feel so incredibly blessed by all my kids and to have such an amazing husband. He gives back to the Scouts, to the church and to the community as a whole. He doesn’t make a big deal of it, but each year he gives $20,000 of his own money to charitable groups in the community.”
Assistant Scout Master and Charter Organization Representative Dan Gillan said Grant, like the other Scouts in St. Teresa’s Troop 3, is the kind of kid that gives the community hope for the future.
Credit: Carlton Fletcher
Credit: Carlton Fletcher
“These are all good kids out here working today,” Gillan said. “You have kids like Grant, who is a quieter kind of kid, but he leads by example. He and these others Scouts are a tribute to this school, their families and this community.”
Credit: Albany Herald
Credit: Albany Herald
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