The Eagles Have Landed--7 of Them : Number of Scouts in Northridge Troop Earning Top Rank Considered Phenomenal

To earn an Eagle award, a Boy Scout must develop and supervise a project. He must organize the people, manage the labor, raise funds for its expenses and prepare a 25-page report describing both the initial proposal and how the project ultimately turns out.

Only about 2% achieve that ranking.

So when seven members, nearly 12%, of a Northridge troop received their Eagle badges at a ceremony Friday, it was considered phenomenal.

“I have never been to one with seven in my life, and I’ve been working with Boy Scouts for 37 years,” said Terry Tibor, spokesman for the Scouts’ Los Angeles Area Council.

Teen-agers from Troop 911--which has 60 members--earned the rank of Eagle Scout for service projects ranging from construction work at an AIDS hospice to the refurbishment of nature trails.

Richard W. Walker, national spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, called achievement by the seven scouts “extremely rare” and a “tremendous accomplishment.”

“That’s a good Scout leader is what you have there,” said Walker. “And some good kids.”

The recipients were Greg Atteberry, Chris Dames, Jim Hicks, Jason Kaltenbach, Huy Phun, Nihaal Rao and Adam Renda, all 18 or 19 years old. All attended the ceremony Friday.

“It’s motivating,” said Phun. “It’s very exciting, especially because there are so many of us.”

It takes more than 200 hours to complete most projects, said Carl Pabst, the troop’s founding Scoutmaster.

“My goal is that every boy do it,” Pabst said.

Which isn’t to say he planned to have so many do it at once.

“It always took longer than expected,” groaned Dames. “I had to change the project several times.”

The Northridge earthquake delayed or disrupted several projects, closing the youths’ meeting place for months and diverting much of their volunteer efforts into recovery work, Pabst said.

Once the dust finally settled, many projects proceeded at a similar pace, creating greater competition in the search for donors to help fund their projects.

The projects were varied.

Kaltenbach obtained furniture and built a fence for privacy at a Canoga Park AIDS hospice. Most AIDS patients are gay, and the Boy Scouts of America has a nationwide policy prohibiting homosexual leaders or members.

“I thought that just because they had an ailment you can’t ignore people,” said Kaltenbach of Granada Hills. “You can’t separate them. They’re still people.”

Some parents opposed his project, saying volunteers could be exposed to the AIDS virus, but they relented after assurances were offered from doctors, Kaltenbach said.

“Whenever I told people about my plans, they were initially very shocked about where it was being completed,” Kaltenbach wrote in his project report. “But I wanted to make sure my project targeted people in great need.”

In other projects, Atteberry repaved the parking lot of the Northridge United Methodist Church, which sponsors the troop. Dames constructed wood and concrete picnic tables for Limekiln Canyon Park. Hicks and Phun renovated nature trails at Santa Clarita’s Placerita Canyon Nature Center. Rao orchestrated a book drive and replaced sod at a field for kindergartners at nearby Castlebay Lane Elementary School. Renda organized a blood drive for the American Red Cross.

Troop 911, which was formed in 1991, has produced a total of 12 Eagle Scouts.