Friends become Eagle Scouts together in Seaford

When most Boy Scouts earn their Eagle rank, they have a huge ceremony just for themselves. Patrick Drummond and Christian Wendt decided to celebrate the accomplishment together, and 135 guests joined them at their Court of Honor ceremony at the Seaford American Legion on June 11.

“We’ve been friends for a really long time,” said Drummond, 18. “We just wanted to do it together.”

“It was great,” added Wendt, also 18. “It just made sense. It was special because nobody really does it that way.” He credited his mother and Drummond’s mother for their hard work in organizing the ceremony.

The pair, members of Boy Scout Troop 239, are both 2015 graduates of Seaford High School. Drummond just finished his freshman year at Iona College where he is majoring in criminal justice. Wendt did a semester at SUNY Geneseo, and will transfer to Mercy College in the fall to study music technology. He plans to release his own music album soon, which he said is a mix of hip-hop and urban pop.

Both completed their required community service projects in neighboring Wantagh. Drummond built three gardens and installed fencing outside the Bideawee animal care facility in Wantagh. The beautification project was completed in May 2014, as Drummond supervised his group of volunteers.

Working with a landscaper, Drummond designed two gardens near the entrance of the building, installing various plants and rose bushes. He also added flowers to a third area which had just been a pile of mulch. Since he had volunteered there when he was younger, Drummond called Bideawee and proposed the project.

“I think it went wonderful,” he said. “It was exactly what I wanted and it looks really nice. It made the whole building more welcoming to the public.”

Drummond stopped by a few months ago and said he was happy to see that the gardens have been well maintained since he completed the project. He also donated a banner to Bideawee that it could bring to its mobile events.

Wendt restored the Jackson Cemetery on Wantagh Avenue. The project was brought to his attention by his grandfather, a former member of the Wantagh Preservation Society.

There were several components to his project. He and his more than 50 volunteers restored damaged headstones on the property. Wendt also brought in a ground-penetrating radar team, which discovered 40 unmarked gravesites that he then placed stones over. The final piece was the construction of a garden.

Wendt said the project took close to two years to plan, because he had to appear before the town board to get it approved. Since he was in Model Congress in high school, getting up and speaking in front of a room full of people didn’t faze him.

The work was completed over two Saturdays in June 2014. “I think it came out excellent,” he said. “It exceeded my expectations. It didn’t feel like we did work. It felt like we did something good.”

Both exceeded the 21 merit badges that are required to become an Eagle Scout. Drummond finished with 31, and said his favorites were shotgun shooting, rifle and swimming. Wendt earned two dozen, but didn’t have one that stood out. “They all taught me different skills,” he said.

Camping trips and other outdoor adventures were a big part of their scouting careers. Drummond said he enjoyed his troop’s monthly trips, which including kayaking the Delaware River, and hiking the Mohonk Preserve and the Appalachian Trail. He also attended summer camp every July upstate at Camp Trimount. One summer, he earned nine merit badges there.

Wendt said he loved the kayaking trips on Delaware each June, and said this is the first year in a long time that he won’t attend. He also enjoyed the camping trips, where he and his friends would sit around the fire.

Both boys said that Eagle Scout became a goal for them as soon as they crossed over from the Cub Scouts. “I just saw all these older kids get it, and it was really inspirational to me,” Wendt said, adding that as the oldest of four siblings, it was the first time he was the one looking up to others. “They were almost like bigger brothers to me.”

Drummond credited his first scoutmaster, Tom Cleary, who stressed the importance of becoming an Eagle Scout. “I wasn’t really thinking about advancing in the ranks, I was just thinking about having fun there,” Drummond said of his early days in scouting. “I’m very, very happy that I listened and got myself motivated to become an Eagle Scout.”

The new Scouts say they value the leadership skills they learned along the way. They say that earning their Eagle rank, the highest honor in the Boy Scouts, was well worth it.

“It takes a long time, but it’s really worth it in the end,” Drummond said. “It’s worth the hard work that you do. It’s a feeling like no other to become an Eagle Scout.”