Scouts honor roller
at Baldi

By Diane Prokop
Times Staff Writer

Josh Goldberg isn’t just any Eagle Scout candidate; he’s a Baldi Eagle Scout candidate.
In scouting since first grade, the 14-year-old completed his Eagle service project on June 21 at his alma mater of about a week — CCA Baldi Middle School in Bustleton. Josh had finished eighth grade there the week before, receiving awards for perfect attendance since kindergarten, the Principal’s Award, as well as an award from the Schoolmen’s Club of Philadelphia. He’ll attend Central High School this fall and would like to be a lawyer or an engineer when he grows up.
While not quite an endangered species, Josh is a bit younger than your average Boy Scout completing his Eagle Scout service project. The national average is around 16 years of age, according to his Troop 18 scoutmaster, Bernard Frazer.
To attain the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest advancement in Scouting, a Boy Scout must fulfill requirements in the areas of leadership, service and outdoor skills. The Eagle service project must benefit a community, religious, education or recreational organization, not the Boy Scouts, according to Frazer.
Josh contacted Baldi vice principal Deborah Lewis back in February to see what he might be able to do help the school as its renovates this summer. He decided to do a painting project, which was approved by his troop and the Boy Scout council.
"It’s a pretty worthy project," Frazer said.
Josh rounded up donations of supplies from MAB Paints, F&H, and Lowes, as well as the volunteers to paint the boys locker rooms and gym divider wall. His dad Louis and brothers Aaron, 12, and Joel, 10, lent a hand.
"There were twelve of us all together. It took about twenty-five hours for me to complete the project and four-and-one-quarter hours to paint," Josh said.
He still has to complete merit badges for communications, citizenship in the nation and citizenship in the world before he submits his project for review.
"There are a series of twelve badges needed to make Eagle. Josh will probably make Eagle by September. He’s very goal-oriented," Frazer said.
Last year, Josh was inducted into the Order of the Arrow, a National Honor Society for Scouts. The order recognizes Scout campers who best exemplify the Scout oath and law in their daily lives.
Though Josh is on the fast track to Eagle scouthood, scouting isn’t his only passion. His many activities include baseball, participating in Baldi’s robotics team, orchestra and string ensemble, the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences, George Washington Carver and Delaware Valley science fairs, and National History Day (on a regional and state level). He was also a member of the National Junior Honor Society.
Josh wants other boys to know that scouting is a fun activity that offers a chance to meet other people, go on trips and learn first aid and other things they don’t know how to do, such as home repairs and plant science.
"Boy Scouts is all about community service," he said, adding that Scouts get to socialize while helping the community at the same time.
Frazer, a retired firefighter who was a member of Troop 18 when he was a child, encourages boys between the ages of 10-1/2 and 18 to consider Scouting with Troop 18. The non-denominational troop, which has been in existence for 80 years, meets at Shaare Shamayim and goes camping about 10 times a year. Meetings are finished for the summer, but anybody who would like to join the troop or wants more information should call Frazer at 215-535-0604. ••
Reporter Diane Prokop can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dprokop@phillynews.com