Three Freehold Teens Earn Eagle Scout Promotion

From the first time they put on a uniform Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts alike are told reaching the rank of Eagle Scout is the top of the mountain in the service organizations. This weekend three Freehold Township scouts will join that elite group at the top of the mountain of scouting.

Nicholas Badamo, Daniel C. Cardone and Ryan P. Tanguay, all 18-years-old, will receive their promotions during a ceremony on Saturday at Saint Robert Bellarmine Parish Hall.

In order to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout the boys all had to do community service projects and picked areas where they believed their help was needed the most. Badamo and Tanguay brought groups of fellow Boy Scouts to the historic Oakley Farmhouse in the township to work on the building that dates back to the 17th century. The farmhouse was one of the few at the time to survive the Battle of Monmouth and is listed in the National Registry of Historic sites.

Badamo’s group worked on display cabinets in the house and also worked to clean up the grounds following Hurricane Sandy. They also worked on some of the “outhouses” behind the Old West Freehold School House on Wemrock Road.

Tanguay’s group focused their efforts on the outside of the house as they relocated 13 bushes at the Oakley Farm which made a 60 foot long vegetative screen. The goal of the screen, he said, was to make a natural boundary and shelter for animals around the property. Scouts under his guidance also fixed and repainted a barn on the property which is being used to store tools and equipment on the scene.

Cardone also worked with a group of scouts, but his project was done at the Early Childhood Learning Center in the township. The work there included building and placing four child sized picnic tables to give the young learners a place to sit and enjoy the fresh air.