"Victory" in scouting

[eagle90]

Tonight I have the pleasure and privilege to bestow the Eagle rank on one of my scouts. This is a special one, as the young man joined us at age 11 with a severe problem. It is suspected he suffers from fetal alchohol syndrome. While he is extremely intellegent (Straight A student)

he lacks many social skills and can at times go into a sort of seizure where he flails his arms and gets extremely excitable. At the beginning we would not allow him to go on a campout unless accompanied by his dad because we did not feel we as leaders had the skill or knowledge to deal with his condition. But over the last six years, the change has been remarkable. His dad attributes this to the Scouting program and to the scouts and leaders giving him a sense of belonging and not ridiculing him in any way. It will be hard to keep a dry eye when pinning that badge on him tonight. Our scouts and leaders have worked extra hard with this young man and it has surely paid off. That is a VICTORY!