Eagle Scout Court of Honor Ceremony Held for Nicholas Danyluk

Nicholas Danyluk began his scouting journey in September of 1999 when he joined Cub Scout Pack 46.  More than 12 years later, Danyluk was presented as the Eagle Scout Award in a Court of Honor Sunday afternoon in front of family, friends, and fellow scouts at St. Augustine’s Church in New City.

“My drive was it was such a big thing, such a big milestone to reach- I wanted to get there,” Danyluk said.  “I wanted to be an Eagle.  My friends were Eagles; my friends were starting to get there, and I knew I could do it, too.  I knew if I made it, it’d be something I’d be proud of.”

Over 100 people gathered in the basement of St. Augustine’s for the ceremony.  Committee Chair Lemuel Kinnick introduced Danyluk and various guest speakers, including Scoutmaster Xavier Dela Riva and Assistant Scoutmasters John Kelly and Al Rossi.  Danyluk presented his mother, Louise, with an Eagle Mother’s Pin and his father, Adrian, with an Eagle Father’s Pin.  He also presented his father with an Eagle Mentor Pin. 

“He’s been helping me build my power derby cars at age six all the way through helping me build two picnic tables in our garage," Danyluk said about his father. 

With his father’s help as well as the aid of scout leaders and peers, Danyluk constructed two wheel-chair friendly picnic tables for Prime Time for Kids, an early-learning center in New City. 

“They have a slight overhang so you can pull a wheelchair up to [them],” Danyluk said of picnic tables. 

Danyluk built four educational planter boxes that will be used for teaching children about plants and gardening.  After doing landscaping work at the entrance of the playground, he placed two larger planter boxes in front of the entrance.  The planters will hold plants as well as prevent snowplows from hitting the landscaping.

The 18-year-old New City resident, who is a T.V. and Film major at Syracuse University, has been a scout in Troop 79 since 2004. 

“Joining scouting, I did it just to be with my friends,” he said.  “I became a Cub Scout with kids from my elementary school.  I thought it was a lot of fun at first.  Unfortunately, that pack that I was with dissolved.  So I joined Pack 79- went through Cub Scouts and joined Boy Scouts- and still thought it was fun. With a troop, it’s like you have another family essentially.  We’re all really good friends.  Some of these guys I’ve seen every Wednesday for the past seven years.”

Out of the 35 Eagle Scouts that have come through Troop 79, there have been 18 since 2007, according to Kinnick. 

“So this troop has been very, very active and very, very helpful in their communities,” Kinnick said.  “Nick is our 16th Eagle out of those 18. 

“One thing I remember about Nick that I’ll never forget when we were working on the Indian Lore Merit Badges and  were over at the Danyluk’s house trying to put together these Indian outfits for the Spring Camporee.  It was a great time.  We had a lot of laughs there as you can see because Mr. and Mrs. Danyluk were there enjoying this episode also.”  

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