By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
CENTREVILLE — At the age of 14, some kids may be playing video games, eating junk food, scrolling online all day, studying, hanging out with friends, or some combination thereof.
However, for one local member of BSA (formerly known as Boy Scouts), at 14 years old, he is close to achieving something only 4 percent of scouts ever reach and most don’t achieve at such a young age: becoming an Eagle Scout.
Leelan Gold, a member of Troop 402 out of Sturgis who lives in Centreville, has earned 52 merit badges in the three years he has been in BSA and is currently a Life Rank scout, one rank below Eagle. The only requirement left for Gold to achieve Eagle is his Eagle Project.
While he wouldn’t be the youngest in history to achieve the highly-prestigious Eagle rank, Gold acknowledged what an accomplishment it would be to do so at his age.
“It feels like a very, very big accomplishment that I know a lot of people have not gotten or lost motive after so many years of trying to get it,” Gold said. “But I know the biggest thing is staying on track of trying to just stay focused on what you want to get.”
Gold began his journey in scouting when he was 6 years old when he saw the “Scout Life” magazine and an advertisement in it for BSA. He said his main motivation for joining was to help people, something that he found intriguing through the community service aspect of scouting.
“It showed that they do community service events, such as helping the elderly, doing a rake-and-run, and it’s just a bunch of being active and helping your community,” Gold said. “That was my main motive for joining – they helped people, and I want to contribute.”
Soon after Gold joined as a Cub Scout, his mother, Courtney Gold, recalled, Leelan got early motivation to become an Eagle Scout.
“It was maybe a month in when he got to meet some of the kids who are Eagles, and he told me, he said, ‘Mom, I’m going to do that. I want to be an Eagle,’” Courtney said. “So, every step of the way, the encouraging, seeing him do it, overcoming fears of getting in front of people, it’s just amazing to watch him grow in this program.”
Over the years, through countless hours of dedication, Leelan has accumulated badge after badge and has participated in a number of projects and activities, including rake-and-runs for the elderly, cleaning a local cemetery as part of another scout’s Eagle Project, and a number of food drives. His favorite merit badge to have gotten so far was the Cyber Security badge, which he said is related to the fields he is interested in going into in the future.
“I want to get into being a security architect, a game designer, and a professional programmer,” Leelan said. He also said he once programmed a robot to complete a course in just seven seconds at a robotics program.
He credited his virtual schooling at Highpoint Virtual Academy of Michigan and what he called its “flexible” scheduling with making it possible for him to participate in a number of scouting programs, including advanced programs, university workshops, and leadership experiences.
One of the many experiences Leelan has had in scouting was when he attended a national scouting event in Dayton, Ohio in December at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. There, Gold led the opening of the event in front of a crowd of 600 people, leading them in the Pledge of Allegiance, the Scout Oath, the Scout Law, and the Outdoor Code, all with Air Force One in the backdrop.
“I was very, very nervous at first because it’s 50-50 when I’m in public with large groups of people. Sometimes I’m very, very talkative, sometimes I’m like, ‘Mom, I want to go home,’” Leelan said, noting he eventually did get over his nerves. He said he also got to meet representatives from different federal agencies, as well as a Brigadier General in the Air Force.
The biggest test left for Leelan before he achieves Eagle Scout is his Eagle Project, which he said will be building birdhouses with other scouts, putting the names of local veterans and their military branch on the birdhouses, and putting them up in county parks in St. Joseph County and the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary in Augusta. He hopes to make 100 birdhouses for the project.
He said he chose building birdhouses is because of the process involved in making something tangible.
“Most of the time, when someone does an Eagle Project, they try to do something quick, simple, easy, like a food drive sometimes, or a food run, just something you get done in one day,” Leelan said. “I want to do birdhouses, because, one, it’s fun being able to build the birdhouses, being able to actually not just put in effort, but being able to actually feel like you’re building the project as a part of the project, and helping other scouts help you is amazing.”
As for the veteran’s component to the project, Leelan said he’s working with U.S. Reps. Tim Walberg and John James in getting a list of local veterans to put on the birdhouses. He said that honoring veterans is an important part of the project.
“In everyday life, and even in some special events, I feel veterans do not always get the credit or the honor that they deserve,” Leelan said. “Sometimes they do have special events where they honor veterans, but usually there’s not a whole lot of events that are separate from Veterans Day. That’s why I want to do it, to contribute and honor veterans, because back in the 1900s, they did not always get a whole lot of welcomes or, really, any thank-yous.”
Leelan said he hopes to complete the project by September. Beyond that, he said he’s looking forward to being in the Order of the Arrow, the honor society of scouting, as well as the National Jamboree for Scouting America in July; Leelan noted he paid for the $3,000 trip to the National Jamboree by collecting pop bottles from the community.
His ultimate goal, though, is to college every merit badge there is – he has over 80 left to collect – and he feels it is important to get every single one because he wants to be an inspiration to those with medical conditions. Leelan has been diagnosed with Tourette’s, ADHD, and a type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a condition that affects connective tissue.
“My biggest motive is I want to get as much as I can out of scouting and just in my life, a lot of achievements. My biggest thing is wanting to show other people who have medical conditions that even if you have something that can restrict some of your achievements, you can still do something amazing,” Leelan said.
In the end, Leelan said being in scouting, even as he’s going for Eagle rank, will help him prepare for the world ahead.
“One thing that this has really prepared me for outside of scouting when I get older, is being able to have leadership skills, being able to have good communicational skills, being able to help others if needed, um, knowing what, how, and when to do something if I get lost, or if something happens, being able to teach some of my friends, or when I’m older, my kids, some life skills that I learned,” Leelan said.
Jack Gold, Leelan’s grandfather, summed up his grandson and his achievements succinctly.
“He amazes me every day,” Jack said.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
