Kane County's Troop 10 Scouts receive Eagle rank

Boy Scout Troop 10 recently named two new Eagle Scouts. On May 31, Matthew Sarna and Patrick Gannon received their Eagle rank at an Eagle Court of Honor ceremony at St. Patrick Catholic Church in St. Charles.

• Patrick T. Gannon, son of Pat and Tracey Gannon, attended St. Patrick Catholic School and joined Pack 110 as a Tiger Cub. He earned the Light of Christ and Parvuli Dei religious awards and the Arrow of Light badge as a Cub/Webelo Scout.

He crossed over to Troop 10 and served in various troop positions. He participated in campouts, summer camps, and High Adventures, including The Appalachian Trail in Virginia, Glacier National Park, and The Grand Tetons. He earned 27 merit badges, the Ad Altare Dei, and Pope Pius XII religious awards.

For his Eagle Project, Patrick chose to beautify an area surrounding a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Marmion Academy, where he was a student. The project included designing a layout, weeding, creating a stone border, planting flowers and grass seed, mulching, and trimming tree branches.

His Eagle Project was successful thanks to the Rev. Basil Yender, his family, friends, Scouts, and assistant Scout Masters who volunteered their time, especially his mentor, Dave Markowitz.

The 18-year-old graduated from Marmion Academy in May. He was a member of the JROTC program and rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant. He was on the track team and earned a varsity letter. He played fifth board on the chess team and was involved in peer ministry at school.

Patrick has enjoyed being of service to others. He has volunteered at nursing homes in Aurora, food drives, Tri-City Health Partnership, and the Special Olympics.

Patrick will be attending the University of Dayton in the fall and will be studying pre-dentistry. Patrick's interest and his decision to pursue pre-dentistry started with Scouting, specifically earning the Dentistry merit badge. He is in the process of becoming an Assistant Scoutmaster and plans to remain involved with Troop 10.

• Matthew J. Sarna, son of Dan and Cathy Sarna, is the youngest of six children. Matt's Scouting career began when he became a Webelos Cub Scout in Pack 110 of St. Patrick Catholic Church. He later crossed into Boy Scout Troop 10, where he served in many leadership positions, including Senior Patrol Leader. He was tapped into the Order of the Arrow and became an Ordeal member.

Matt attended Thunderbird National Youth Leadership Training in Rochelle, Ill. in 2005, and has returned to serve on its staff for the past three years; he plans to volunteer there again this summer.

Additionally, Matt has attended four summer camps and has participated in four High Adventure trips to the Appalachian Trail, Glacier National Park, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and Grand Teton National Park. He earned the Ad Altare Dei and Pope Pius XII religious awards and 39 merit badges.

For his Eagle project, Matt led the preparation of more than 200 fence posts to be used at the historic Primrose Farm in St. Charles The fence posts were prepared from the tree trunks of invasive black locust trees that were removed from a local forest preserve.

The historically-accurate preparation method involved manually stripping the bark from the trunks using period-appropriate tools. Matt especially credits the successful completion of his project to the generous outpouring of support he received from fellow Scouts, family, friends, local businesses, and especially his project mentor, Dave Markowicz, and his park district project contact, Kirk Bunke of Primrose Farm.

During the summer, Matt is employed as a day camp counselor through Fox Valley Special Recreation Association, an organization aimed at providing opportunities for children and adults with disabilities through community therapeutic recreation.

Matt is a recent graduate of St. Francis High School in Wheaton. While in high school, he participated in many activities, including math team, scholastic bowl, Students Against Destructive Decisions, National Honor Society and backgammon club.

He also received special recognition for his contributions to the student government and as yearbook editor. He will attend the University of Notre Dame this fall.