HANSON – When Scout Jack Rasa sets a goal, he meets it.
He began in Scouting at age 6, becoming a Boy Scout at age 10 in Lakeville, where his family then lived, and had the goal of being an Eagle Scout in mind from the start.
He’s attended two Scouting High Adventures on his own, joining with a Lynnfield Troop to achieve one – a trek in Maine that included 50 miles of hiking and canoeing, as well as climbing Mt. Katahdin. The other attending the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico and he is on a waiting list for Sea Base in Florida next April.
“You’re on a ship for week,” he said. The ship is equipped with a lab and will be studying the coral reefs. While there is no merit badge linked to High Adventures, they’ve lived up to their name for a youth who has looked forward to a career as an environmental police officer since he was a kid.
Attaining the rank of Eagle Scout, however, is a whole other level of challenge.
There are 14 merit badges that are required – as well as a minimum of seven others, totaling 21 – for a Scout to obtain before 18, in addition to an Eagle project, to attain that rank. Jack has 60 merit badges. There are many levels of leadership roles and other requirements (camping nights, knife handling, fire safety, etc…to achieve during one’s Boy Scout years, too. Only .04 percent of Scouts achieve the rank.
Jack has also attended 16 different summer camps, averaging three per summer from Maine to New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont and Rhode Island as well as New Mexico.
The Troop 38 Hanover Scout has been something of a merit badge machine in his 11 years of Scouting, which made it difficult at times to find a troop that didn’t view him as “too active.”
“He’s done a tremendous amount of activities thanks to the opportunities Scouting and assertive leaders have offered him,” said his mom, Pam Rasa.
“Jack has done so many things,” she said. “I think he earned every single belt loop that they had in Cub Scouts. [His Scoutmaster] said, ‘He’s earned everything, he just has to get his project done.’”
He’s fundraised by emptying bottle, can and two-litre plastics bins at the Hanover transfer station. He organized fellow Scouts to sort and bag them then place the bottles and cans in a canister which is taken to the redemption center directly from the Hanover transfer station.
Jack is equally driven in his education and career goals, planning to enter the Coast Guard after graduating from Bristol County Agricultural High School in Dighton and then to pursue a career in environmental policing.
Among the things that made Bristol Aggie a good fit was that Mass. Environmental Police work with the Natural Resource Management major to protect endangered turtles in Massachusetts and use the school as a go-to for confiscated reptiles.
Jack also hopes to attend Mass. Maritime Academy to major in environmental management.
“The environmental police have programs with both schools,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to do environmental policing since I was 7.” As a kid, he enjoyed watching the reality show, “Northwoods Law.”
Service has also been important in his life. It was, in fact, his brother’s service in the Army, including a deployment to Afghanistan, that inspired his Eagle project – doing some maintenance at the Hanson American Legion Post on Richardson Road not far from where his family lives. Craig Sutherland, his brother, had served in the Army National guard for six years including his deployment.
“Because of my brother, I think that I want to do the military so that I can also serve my country, and show respect for him,” he said. “I hope to do aviation in the Coast Guard and probably work with helicopters.
Work underway
He’s already replaced a section of stockade fence, and plans to have the flagpole repainted – with the help of the Hanson Fire Department – clearing around a back fence, replacing a ramp to a storage shed and having the gutters cleaned.
In fact, he had spoken to a gutter company and asked him to do the work at the Legion, as Eagle Scout candidates are not expected to do the actual labor themselves, but to supervise the work of others – in other words, exhibiting leadership.
As it happened Legion Junior Vice David George, who also serves on the Hanson Select Board, had a gutter service coming that afternoon, Pam Rasa said.
“[George] said he could have credit for that because it’s something we needed to get done,” she said.
“He can do just about whatever he wants, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for anyone to be on a ladder or on the roof, as that is a huge liability,” George said. “Jack will be receiving credit for all projects.”
That could include the roof itself.
Aaron Blinn, a veteran and owner of Frontline Fence, on Charles Street in Hanson and “made this happen for Jack,” Pam said, suppling the materials and put the fence in at no cost. The gutter guy did it for free, as will George with his brand-new sign.
They are looking for a local mason, who is also a veteran, to help point the firepit at the post, too.
Jack has his best friend, Caleb Clemens, and his truck coming to help move the debris out back, and the Troop will put in a day’s work to complete the rest, probably the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, weather permitting.
The sign replacement on Jack’s list for repainting and replacing the decals, which are worn, yellowed and peeling, was another task George, who owns a sign company was going to do, so he said the Scout could help him put it in and receive credit.
“He was just really accommodating,” Pam Rasa said. “He said, ‘Anything else you think of, and I so appreciate you being here and doing this.’”
Help from friends
Pam said George’s David’s ownership of a sign business made an unexpected gift fall into their laps and Jack had filed the paperwork listing the gutters and sign before David stepped forward gifting him with the gutter cleaning and sign replacement. While the medallions are not on Jack’s list, but he is working to get them done, also.
She also knows a roofer who can help with the Legion’s need for maintenance work the organization estimates would cost them about $10,000 for the materials they need. The Legion has all the volunteer labor they need for that project.
“That’s not on Jack’s list either, but I’m going to make a call and see if we can get a really killer deal on materials,” she said. “This is just a great project and its giving back to Hanson where we live.”
The work needs to be done by the end of the year, because Scoutmaster Gary Martin has moved Jack’s Eagle Court of Honor up to Jan. 6, 2024.
“I’m thinking of just scheduling a couple of dates to just get stuff done, because no matter who comes, I’ll be there and I can start some work,” Jack said.
One more thing on the holiday list of a can-do Scout.