Priest walks into church, walks out an Eagle Scout

Following a scouting career that has spanned a dozen years, Jesse Priest has finally reached the top. The Seaford resident officially became an Eagle Scout at a Court of Honor ceremony on Feb. 27 at St. William the Abbot Church.

Priest, as a first grader at St. William School, joined Cub Scout Pack 690 before moving on to its partner Boy Scout troop. Realizing the value of earning scouting’s highest honor, he quickly set Eagle Scout as a goal.

“It feels really good. It feels almost like a weight lifted off my shoulders,” said the 18-year-old, who added that he enjoyed advancing through the ranks to get there.

A Scout must complete a community service project in order to earn the Eagle rank. Priest did two projects for the Tackapausha Museum and Preserve on Washington Avenue. Last spring, he led a cleanup of a section of trail from Jerusalem Avenue to Clark Street. Priest supervised a group of 15 volunteers who picked up garbage and other debris.

A month later, he and three other scouts put their construction skills to use. They built an aviary to house a saw-whet owl with a broken wing that was in Tackapausha’s care. That project required raising funds for materials, drawing up blueprints and then constructing the enclosure.

“I think it definitely helped reinforce all of the leadership skills I had already learned in the Scouts,” he said of organizing the two projects. Priest said it also tested his problem solving skills. When he didn’t have enough wood to build the owl cage, he had to quickly go out and buy more. Fortunately, he said, there was money leftover from his fundraising efforts.

Priest said that the volunteers were essential to getting the work done, and he hopes that the younger Scouts who participated gained an appreciation for all that goes into a community service project.

Along the way to Eagle Scout, he earned 32 merit badges, and his favorite was for camping. “I just loved all the camping trips,” he said. “They’re so much fun.”

For five consecutive summers, Priest attended a week-long summer camp at the upstate Onteora Scout Reservation. He also spent three summers at the Bear Claw Scout Camp, including two as a staff member.

At Bear Claw, he took part in the National Youth Leadership Training program, in which Scouts were chosen by their troop leaders to participate and further develop their skills. He was a troop guide his first year as a staffer, then was the assistant senior patrol leader, meaning he was second in command.

Priest is a senior at Chaminade High School, where he was a member of the championship bowling team, as well as a member of the Chess Club and Science Club. He also teaches religious education at St. Edward the Confessor Church in Syosset once a week.

He is in the process of selecting a college for next year and plans to study civil engineering.

About 70 people attended Priest’s Court of Honor ceremony, and he said it felt good to have so many people there to share in his accomplishment.

Priest becomes the second member of his family to earn the Eagle rank. An uncle who holds the distinction was one of his sources of inspiration. Priest said he wants to find a way to continue his scouting career, and said if he ever has a son, he would encourage him to give the Scouts a try.

“Some of the things I do are because of the Scouts and some of things I don’t do are because of the Scouts,” Priest said, in citing the values he learned that taught him the difference between right and wrong. “I think it definitely helped me become who I am.”