Daniel Simons of Woodbury earns Eagle Scout Award
HIGHLAND MILLS — Daniel Eric Simons of Woodbury has earned the highest advancement award the Boy Scouts of America offers to Scouts: the Eagle Scout Award. He will be recognized in an Eagle Court of Honor on March 29.
Dan has been active in scouting since the first grade when he joined Pack 148 in Woodbury. Upon earning his Arrow of Light award at age 11, he joined Boy Scout Troop 149, also in Woodbury.
Dan then joined Woodbury Troop 4 in 2011 when Troop 4 was founded and has been active in the troop since then. In addition to the troop's regular activities, Dan served as patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader, and troop librarian.
In addition to frequent scouting activities and camping trips, Dan has been on two notable trips. In 2010, Dan spent 10 days at the National Scout Jamboree in Fort A. P. Hill, Va. The 2010 Jamboree celebrated 100 years of scouting and had more than 50,000 in attendance.
In the summer of 2013, Dan went to Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, N.M., and took part in a six-day trek through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a subrange of the Rocky Mountains.
Philmont is a High Adventure Base where Scouts and Venturers take part in backpacking trips through the rugged backcountry.
Eagle Scout project
To earn the Eagle Scout Award, Dan first earned the Scout badge and attained the ranks of Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, and Life. He earned all 12 required merit badges and also earned 24 more, including merit badges for emergency preparedness, camping, fitness, first aid, archery, railroading, cooking, and many more.
For the Eagle Award, Dan planned and executed, with the help of local businesses, friends and troop members, a special service project: The building and installation of a floating dock at the boat launch at Earl Reservoir in Woodbury.
The future
Dan will graduate from Monroe-Woodbury High School in June earning a Regents Diploma with Honors. He was a member of Monroe-Woodbury's Gifted & Talented program from second grade through tenth grade, when the program was eliminated from the high school.
He currently takes four advanced placement courses. He has applied to, and been accepted at, several highly ranked engineering colleges.
Dan joins a select group of scouts earning the Eagle Rank. Only about 4 percent of Scouts ever achieve this rank.
In addition, scouting is a family tradition. Dan's grandfather, Don Simons, served as a scoutmaster and Dan's father, John Simons and his uncle, Richard Simons, are Eagle Scouts.
Dan's brothers Christopher and Phillip are members of Troop 4 in Woodbury and his brother Michael is a member of Troop 340 in Monroe.
In addition to scouting, Dan's hobbies include family travel, music, soccer, baseball, basketball, and snowboarding. He and his family are members of St. Patrick's Church in Highland Mills. He works part-time at BJ's in Monroe.
This article and the accompanying photograph were contributed by Tricia Rawnsley.