Sibling scouts Rebecca and Samuel Sult achieve Eagle rank together

Posted

Boy Scouts of America celebrated two new, and unique, Eagle Scouts on Nov. 12. Siblings Rebecca and Samuel Sult, leaned on each other for support as they worked toward the highest rank in scouting.

To attain the Eagle honor, a scout must demonstrate leadership, earn a minimum of 21 merit badges and complete a significant community service project.

Samuel, 17, and Rebecca, 16, of Valley Stream, have been active in scouting for over a decade. Samuel started in Cub Scouts at age 5, and earned the Arrow of Light, the highest Cub Scout award, before moving up to Boy Scout Troop 20 in Hewlett.

Rebecca started in the Girl Scouts at 5, but later joined Cub Scouts, and also earned an Arrow of Light before joining Troop 163 in Rockville Centre, when the program was opened up to girls.

Samuel’s Eagle community project involved cleaning and restoring historic veterans’ and church leaders’ gravesites at St. George’s Church in Hempstead, as well as a general cleanup of the cemetery.

Rebecca’s project took place at the Rock Hall Museum, in Lawrence, where she oversaw the replacement and relocation of the museum’s chicken coop, creating a new structure that she dubbed “Cluck Hall,” as a nod to the historic property.

“What really drove me to do this project, in general, was I really do have a love for animals, and me and Sam have been camping there,” Rebecca said. “We visited multiple times when we were growing up, so it was really nice that I can do something in exchange for the love we have for that place.”

The siblings, who attend Hewlett High School, worked together on their projects, sharing the labor at each location, and sharing information to solicit funding for the materials they needed.

“During the whole process of just trying to fundraise, we had to really help each other spread the words of our own projects,” Rebecca said, “and since we were doing it kind of like simultaneously, it was a little bit challenging to actually make sure that we were getting enough people to in order to reach our budget goals.”

In the end, the two were thrilled to succeed their individual initiatives.

“Scouting has taught me to be a better person,” Samuel said, “so I think I’ll have a lot of things to apply later in life.”

Aside from their scouting adventures, the two share a love for the outdoors and adventure trips, on which they’ve earned merit badges, they said.

One of Samuel’s favorite memories is of a nine-day backpacking trek at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, where he climbed a 12,000-foot mountain.

Rebecca recalled a horseback-riding trip, also at Philmont, where she had the chance to go on a 50-mile trek and learn about horse behavior.

Both attended scouting’s National Jamboree, a massive gathering of scouts from across the United States, in West Virginia in 2023.

“I have met people from all over the country doing this, and even outside the country,” Rebecca said. “We were with a contingent from our area, the Nassau County Council, which is called Theodore Roosevelt Council, and we had a great time for a week, and we did a bunch of adventures — we did some BMX biking there, (and) some skateboarding. And it was just a really great experience to meet everybody, who I either knew from previous trips I went on, or just new people in general.”

After their years of hard work, the Sult siblings were honored at an Eagle Court of Honor ceremony at the St. Agnes Cathedral Parish Center in Rockville Centre on Nov. 12. 

“Sam and Rebecca are two of the most impressive scouts in our local council right now,” Troop 20 Scoutmaster Eugene Coreless said. “They both do so much in scouting, and they’re so active and they’re so accomplished. It’s just extremely impressive.”