Jason and Zac - Eagle Award

Eagle Scout Jason Bentley

Jason Bentley is the 18-year old, self-reliant son of David and Gail Bentley, and the brother of Christopher (also an Eagle Scout) and Aileen.

When Jason was about 10 years old; he went to the bank (thank you, Jerry) and ar­ranged a business loan. With this $100 loan, he went to a vending machine company and negotiated the purchase of a 4-globe candy machine. The owner of the company was so impressed with the determination of this young man and his strong handshake, that he threw in enough candy to fill each globe four times. Jason placed the machine in the lobby of his dad's shop and took full responsibility over the next several years for servicing it. He later added a Coke machine to his enterprise. The profits became the seed money for his first car, and Jason's entrepreneurial future was set in motion!

Jason is a senior at Lubbock High School. He is a member of the National Honor Society and the Student Council. He played Varsity Basketball at Lubbock Christian High School and is currently on the Lubbock High Golf Team. He is active in the youth group at the Broadway Church of Christ. Jason also loves to travel. Besides traveling most of the continental United States by car, he has been to Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada, England, France, and of course, the interminable alien land of the sauna ‑Oklahoma.

Jason began the trail to Eagle as a first grade Tiger Cub in Pack 461. As of tonight, 50% of the boys who started Pack 461 in 1989 are now Eagle Scouts ‑ all of them through Troop 157. Along the Eagle trail, Jason has been a Patrol Leader,

Troop Librarian, Troop Scribe, and Assistant Senior Patrol Leader. He earned his Arrow of Light (1994), his 50‑Miler Afloat Award, and was tapped out into the Order of the Arrow (1997). He has attended and served on staff at six summer camps ‑ last summer as Golf Camp director.

Jason's Eagle Project was a major landscaping change around the Tim Brown memorial at the Chil­dren's Home of Lubbock. This project entailed over 175 service hours from 17 Scouts as they removed 60 feet of mature juniper shrubs, pruned another 60 feet of juniper shrubs, and then weeded and re­planted the memorial area.

His family joins Jason in expressing sincere gratitude to Mr. Harris and the men and boys of Troop 157 for providing an extraordinary Scouting experience.

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Eagle Scout Zachary Cunningham

Zachary Cunningham was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas, as was his older sister, Andrea, who now lives in Connecticut. Zac is a senior at LHS after spending the past two years living with his father and attending school in Boerne, Texas.

Zac has been involved in football and basket­ball at Cavazos JH and in high school. He has been team captain and a leader in many activities including "See You At The Pole" to make a stand for Christianity in our schools. Music is a great' enjoyment] and Zac has participated in band and choir. His achievement in band, playing the trumpet, was awaited with a place in UL, Alf‑Region, band in, Iris 9th grade year: He enjoyed the challenge of learning different instruments--including bass, and French horn.

He began as a Cub Scout with Pack 461‑ and advanced in his ranks to achieve the Arrow, of Light. He earned ail the available merit badges up to that level of Scouting ‑ each one helping him to learn a new task and to become a more confi­dent young man. He became a member of Troop. 157 and has continued to grow into a responsible adult with the leadership and discipline exemplified in this Troop. While living in Boerne, he served as Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 102.

The Troop campouts and trips hate intro­duced Zac to his favorite activities. Summer camp at Lake Murray has been especially, enjoyable, and for the past two years, he has been on staff. He enjoys water sports and can always be found kneeboarding at every possible moment during the week. The trips to Red River NM, instilled a love for snow skiing. Canada was an exciting trip which has whet his appetite for more travel. The primitive camping/canoeing experiences and the fellowship with other Scouts are his fondest memories. He looks forward to future trips with Venture Scouts.

Zac chose to benefit the Ronald McDonald House for his Eagle Project: The upper deck was transformed from a plain deck to ‑a more welcome respite. Plants were installed in freestanding planters to provide a more tranquil setting with the new seating arrangements. The plantings were re­searched for drought tolerance and conditions they would reed to endure to continue to flourish. He also installed a drip irrigation system to provide easy maintenance of the trees and flowers.

The positive leadership and excellent role models of the men in his Scouting career are more valu­able than they may ever know. For a boy growing up in a single parent family, this will be some of the best guidance he will ever encounter. For that gift, we can offer the deepest of thanks from his family. We hope to see the same qualities in Zachary as he becomes a role model as an Eagle Scout.

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