The highest honor in Boy Scouts was bestowed Saturday afternoon on Durango High School graduate Austin Peterson, who accepted the Eagle Scout Award for his work with Troop 501.
A lifelong Scout, Peterson, 18, has met 325 Scout requirements, hiked more than 113 miles and collected 12 merit badges and an additional 39 elective merit badges.
But Saturday’s ceremony was to laud Peterson for some of his final contributions as a Scout: he led a project to repair a bridge and build a retaining wall at the Four Corners Christian Camp in Mancos.
The wall was to prevent dirt from an eroding hill at the camp from reaching bathrooms.
“I have mixed emotions,” Peterson said. “I’m sad to be leaving Scouts but happy to be starting a new chapter.”
He accepted his award outside the Durango Christian Church with several dozen of his friends, fellow Scouts and family, including proud dad Wayne Peterson, who swapped his son’s Boy Scout neckerchief for an Eagle Scout one.
“I’ve seen Austin grow up,” said Dennis Snodgrass, family friend and committee chairman for Troop 501.
“I watched him grow from a little boy of mischief to a young man of character.”
