Troop presents its first Eagle awards
A local Boy Scout troop on Sunday celebrated the first time scouts from that troop have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.
An Eagle Court of Honor event was hosted for Boy Scouts Armen Ter-Zakarian and Matthew Diradoorian.
Diradoorian and Ter-Zakarian belong to Troop Ari 4 of the Homenetmen Glendale Ararat chapter, Troop 154 of the Verdugo Hills Council. Homenetmen is an Armenian union of scouting and sporting activities for young people.
Ter-Zakarian, 18, is on the St. Francis High School tennis team and has played piano for 12 years. He joined the Homenetmen Glendale chapter as a Cub Scout in the third-grade. He earned 22 merit badges and beautified an abandoned portion of Fremont Park in Glendale by planting trees as a part of his Eagle Scout project.
As he stood before the gathering of family members, scouts and community leaders who applauded heartily several times during the event, Ter-Zakarian told of his first day with the Homenetmen chapter.
“I remember wearing a new [Scout] shirt, feeling good about my future with scouting. I had an instinct that everything I would do would pay off, no matter how tough it would be,” he said. “As I stand here today, I can say with confidence that I know what I’m going to do with my life. This award is not only an award for what I did, but it’s also a call for me to be a model for my scout mates, my family and my community and to give back my utmost potential.”
Diradoorian, 16, joined the Glendale chapter of Homenetmen in 2005. He played baseball and currently plays soccer in the AYSO league. He earned 26 merit badges. To complete his Eagle Scout project, he painted the letters of the Armenian alphabet with correlating images for the Chamlian Armenian School in La Crescenta.
Diradoorian was brief in his remarks, thanking his scout leaders and mother, but in a statement in the ceremony’s brochure, he wrote about his initial skepticism of scouting before ultimately agreeing to join.
“Looking back, I’m grateful with their decision and hope to do the same with my little brothers and my kids one day,” he wrote. “I love the challenges of ‘being prepared,’ but understand the value of being involved with the community and the importance of leadership.”
“I want to have our scouts look at you and set goals and get those goals,” scoutmaster Arto Kazarians said during the ceremony.
A representative from Rep. Adam Schiff’s office presented Diradoorian and Ter-Zakarian each a United States flag that had flown over the Capitol in Washington, D.C.