To Noah Bellefeuille, becoming an Eagle Scout is about much more than a rare level of expertise in all things outdoorsy.
The 17-year-old Rochester resident just finishing up his junior year at Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School wants to be a calming influence in a fragile society dialed deep into social media and often lacking reliable information on important subjects.
“You always need to keep learning because once you stop learning, you basically can’t move forward, and the more you inform yourself and gather your facts, the more of a well-rounded person you’re going to be,” said Bellefeuille. “I think it’s also crucial that we think before we speak because we could get information from one place, and we could start blabbering about it and it could be completely false. And I think that’s a problem in today’s world, not just with kids but with adults.
“Being informed, it really opens our eyes to different perspectives, and people need to know what it’s like to be the other side. They need to look at it from different views, and then based on their views and other views have their own opinions.”
Like Eddie Brown, Reese Mansour and Quinn Thompson, three other new Eagle scouts, and Logan Empey, who is putting together his final paperwork, Bellefeuille chose an Eagle Scout project.
With the assistance of several volunteers, including adults and other Boy Scouts from Troop 31, Bellefeuille led the building of two large picnic tables for Old Colony’s outdoor environmental center.
The tables will vastly improve working space for outdoor science classes and activities near the vernal pool down the path from the school’s parking lot just a short walk from the athletic fields.
Learning is important to Bellefeuille, who with a year of high school remaining has yet to decide on whether to continue in the electrical-technician field or to attend college and do something completely different: become a history teacher.
“I was always interested in history,” he said.
Bellefeuille’s history in scouting began with Cub Scouts and in fifth grade crossed over to Boy Scouts. He recalls Eagle scouts Robbie Nordahl and Colin Mackin as main role models.
“I respected them because they knew how to lead us and how to manage the groups. We were split up into patrols, and they would be our leaders,” he said.
Logistical hurdles redirected Bellefeuille away from a benches project he had imagined for Rochester Memorial School, but he contacted Old Colony administration and learned about the school’s outdoor center.
“There was already a picnic table there … it’s not terrible, but I feel I wanted to add more to that,” he said. “I feel like teachers needed more space.”
Citing class size, Bellefeuille wanted to solve a problem, something he hopes to do in many places in the world.
“I love how the Boys Scouts … matures us. My idea of the Boy Scouts is it turns boys into mature, young men who are supposed to be the role models for other boys, and it’s supposed to make us knowledgeable on many topics. And it’s supposed to make us able outdoorsmen and people who are informed citizens, basically,” said Bellefeuille. “And it teaches us to be leaders and how to manage groups of people. We do that a lot. I was in charge of the younger guys who crossed over. … I definitely picked up some leadership skills along the way.”
By Mick Colageo