DEMOPOLIS–On Sunday another young man joined the elite group of Boy Scouters simply known as ‘Eagles’. Jamey Hurst 14, of Demopolis received the highest honor a youth member of the Boy Scouts of America could achieve which is the rank of Eagle Scout.

Hurst is a member of the local Demopolis Boy Scout Troop. Jim Ellis is the Scout Master for Troop 41 and has played an important role for the last nine Eagles to come out of the Troop.

“I can’t think of a more deserving young man to receive this award then Jamey Hurst,” Ellis said.

More than 75 of Hurst’s friends and family filled the First United Methodist Church in Demopolis to witness the special event that is an Eagle Scout Ceremony.

Hurst began as a Bear Cub Scout in the 3rd Grade. Rosemary Fish was his Den Leader. He decided he wanted to earn his Wolf, so he worked on that the same time as he was working on Bear.

“I had so much fun during my time as a Cub Scout,” Hurst said.

He earned Wolf rank along with 1 gold and 1 silver arrow points. He earned Bear rank along with 3 gold and 1 silver arrow points.

In the 4th Grade he became a Webelos Scout. Sam Fish, Mike O’Neal and his father Harris Hurst were his leaders. Webelos is a two-year program.

The Webelos program offers 20 activity pins. Jamey along with Samuel Fish earned every pin available. The highest award in Cub Scouting and the only Cub Scout award that is allowed on the Boy Scout uniform is the Arrow of Light Award. Jamey was awarded this rank in December of 2000.

When in the 3rd or 4th Grade he completed the “God and Me” award. Afterwards he completed the “God and Family” and “God and Church” awards also. Brother Art Luckie mentored Jamey on these accomplishments.

It was a lot of work on both their parts. Each program took several meeting after school and a fair amount of homework. Jamey plans to complete the “God and Life” program upon entering the 9th Grade. When he completes this he will be the 1st Scout in Troop 41 to earn all four awards.

“Finishing the ‘God and Life’ program is a very important of my future plans as a scouter,” Hurst said.

Jamey’s Boy Scouting career began in December of 2000. He hit the ground running, advancing very fast through Tenderfoot, Second Class, and was a 1st Class Scout by July 1, 2001, just 7 months.

The summer of 2001 was the National Jamboree Trip. Mr. Ellis required all scouts going on the trip to be 1st Class Scouts. This was a big motivator.

A lot of Boy Scouts collect patches. Jamey is no exception. He began collecting patches at the National Jamboree. His Grandmother, “Ne” has been instrumental in expanding that collection considerably during her travels all across the United States.

Jamey has attended summer camp at Camp Horne at least 6 times, 3 as a Cub Scout and 3 as a Boy Scout, plus 2 nights with Order of the Arrow. That figures out to 26 nights in a tent.

His father Harris has worked with Jamey on several merit badges. One of the most memorable for Hurst was hiking. The Hiking merit badge is physically tough.

There is a little bit of First Aid and written summaries required for each hike. Earning this merit badge requires 5-10 mile hikes plus 1-20 mile hike.

“Hiking is a way for me and Jamey to build a closer father and son bond,” Harris Hurst said.

This merit badge took over a year and a half to complete. Jamey and his father hiked in the Smokey Mountains and saw black bears and picked blueberries in Spence Field.

Jamey has earned 42 merit badges (Woodworking, completed but not awarded yet totals 43). Some of the merit badges are much easier than others, but some are very difficult to earn. 21 are required for Eagle.

When operating as intended a Boy Scout Troop is ran by the boys. They elect their leaders. There are various leadership positions in the Troop, the highest being Senior Patrol Leader. Jamey is Senior Patrol Leader now. He was the Assistant Senior Patrol leader last year.

Along this journey Jamey has grown not only in stature, but he has matured mentally as well.