Boy Scout has earned badges — all of them

ELK RIDGE — Seventeen-year-old Chris Haskell's Boy Scout uniform is so encrusted with awards, it's hard to tell what color it is.

"When he started Scouting, he had a much smaller sash," said his mother, Julie Haskell. "It filled up and he kept on earning merit badges. I had to pick them all off and resew them on an extra-long sash."

On Tuesday, the Elk Ridge youth officially earned his 19th Eagle Palm award, one of the highest honors the Boy Scouts of America offers.

"That's quite an achievement," said John Gailey, spokesman for the Utah National Parks Council, Boy Scouts of America. "You don't see that very often."

It takes five years of steady work to earn 19 Eagle Palms, Gailey said. Snagging one Eagle Palm takes three months of dedicated service to the community and five merit badges. Scouts cannot begin work on Eagle Palms until they have completed their Eagle award, which requires 21 merit badges and an 80-hour community service project.

Since Chris Haskell earned all the merit badges the Scouts had to offer before his 14th birthday, the past four years have been a lot of review.

And shoveling walks, food drives and mentoring younger Boy Scouts.

"Earning Eagle Palms is kind of like taking a master's course," said Kevin Reece, Chris Haskell's Scoutmaster. "Instead of just getting your bachelor's, you go back and study things a little further."

Chris Haskell has been enthusiastic about adding little round patches to his uniform since he first became a Scout as a shy 11-year-old. At 13, just after he finished building a concrete retaining wall around a community tennis court for his Eagle project, Chris Haskell said a close family friend challenged him to earn all the merit badges.

"I thought about it for a moment and decided it was a good idea," he said.

Since that moment, the teen hasn't wavered in purpose. Now he's reached his goal, Chris Haskell said he feels "relieved."

"It was a lot harder than I thought it would be," he said. "I got frustrated sometimes, but when I take a challenge I see it all the way through."

Scouting forced the teen to try things he would never have been interested in otherwise, he said.

Some experiences, like studying law terminology and taking a swing at golf, he would have rather done without. But others, like analyzing pollution in Utah County and whizzing downhill on a snowboard, introduced him to new life passions.

His mother laughed when she recalled her son's first attempts at cooking for the family while he was working on his Family Life merit badge. Now, she said, he makes better pancakes that she does.

"Mistakes make victory," Chris Haskell said.

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