LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Troop 234 Honors Four new Eagle Scouts


From left: Jeffrey Smith, Zack Hazarabien, Scott Holmes, and Evan Gordon Photo provided

Moraga Boy Scout Troop 234 conducted a National Eagle Court of Honor June 4th at St. Monica Catholic Church in Moraga to celebrate four outstanding young men earning the Eagle Award. Eagle is the highest rank that a Scout can attain, with only approximately five percent of all boys who enter the Scouting program earning this award nationwide.

Scoutmaster Emeritus Steve Israel presented the awards, and past National President of Boy Scouts of America, William F. "Rick" Cronk, was the keynote speaker.

This year's Troop 234 Eagle Scout honorees, and their Eagle projects, are:

Evan Gordon (Campolindo)

For his Eagle project, Evan solicited businesses, schools and religious organizations for funds and donated items to ship to soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. He collected, packed and shipped over 90+ care packages in six months. He also attended and participated in several special events to honor the soldiers including a surprise welcome-home party at the Lafayette Veteran's Building and the 9/11 Remembrance and Patriots Rally.

Zack Hazarabedian (Acalanes CIS)

Zack is a third generation Eagle and the eighth in his immediate family. He designed and built a bench for the Lafayette Christian Church for his Eagle project, replacing an older weathered one in use outside the church sanctuary and near a walking trail. While the old bench had only a horizontal seating surface, the new one, constructed of durable redwood, sports an angled backrest.

Scott Holmes (Campolindo)

Scott joined the troop in 2005. He designed and created new signs for the Town of Moraga's Hacienda de las Flores to help direct visitors and guests for his Eagle project. He also built a new navigational map and frame to scale with the correct building names and directions. Additionally, he designed an informal overflow parking lot at the former maintenance area on Moraga Road.

Jeffrey Smith (Campolindo)

Jeffrey built and replaced new stairs in Huckleberry Regional Botanic Preserve, outside of Oakland. The steps had become worn, and were falling apart. This project added two additional steps to the bottom to replace the unstable one. He also added several retaining walls to prevent erosion, and to prevent trail users from cutting the stairs.