Kyle Herkins: Extraordinary Eagle Scout

After seven years of hard work, Eagle Scout and senior at LBHS Kyle Herkins has earned every merit badge possible for Boy Scouting. Only about four percent of Boy Scouts reach the level of Eagle Scout, which requires 21 merit badges. Kyle is one of about 450 scouts who have ever reached this level of Scouting prestige and completed all 138 badges and 23 palms. To put this into perspective, there are about 2.3 million Scouts annually, and there have been about 110 million Scouts in total. Each one of these badges is different, and they can range from whitewater rafting to metalwork. Many of these badges can be very challenging. 

“The most difficult badge to earn was probably bugling. It took a lot of time for me to learn to play the bugle well. Even though I play trombone, it’s just a really different instrument, and it took a lot of lessons to get it done,” said Herkins.

However, there were also many badges that Kyle enjoyed earning as well, such as scuba diving off the coast of Hawaii. The chess badge was one of his favorites. After completing 137 merit badges, Kyle earned his last badge for hiking. 

“I was pretty proud of myself. It is a pretty big achievement, and it’s something I had been working on for a very long time,” said Herkins. 

Kyle wasn’t the only one who was proud of his accomplishments. 

“It was great to see my brother’s hard work pay off,” said Kyle’s brother Jeff.