St. Patrick Troop 10 welcomes new Eagle Scout
Daniel Galush of St. Patrick Boy Scout Troop 10 in St. Charles will receive his Eagle Scout rank at the Eagle Court of Honor Sunday, Sept. 17. The ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. at St. Patrick Catholic Church, 6N491 Crane Road in St. Charles.
Daniel has recently graduated from Marmion Academy in Aurora. He played soccer for all four years, with the last three on the varsity team. He played goalie and, as a junior, he was named Chicagoland Soccer Player for the week.
He also played baseball at Marmion for two years and played travel baseball for two years. He also enjoys art and was selected as a finalist in the Illinois High School Art competition.
Daniel has been an altar server at St. Patrick for nine years. He has been a volunteer at vacation Bible school, as well as participating in Camp Wow on a couple of occasions and the Stuebenville Youth Conference.
He is the son of Jeffrey and Kimberly Galush and has two older sisters, Christine and Margaret.
Daniel began his Scouting career as a Bear Scout in third grade. He really enjoyed Cub Scouts and earned his Bear and Webelos badges. He particularly enjoyed participating in the Pinewood Derby competition, and one year advanced to the regional competition.
After he crossed over to Boy Scouts, he loved the camping trips because he loves being outdoors. He especially liked summer camp and always attended until his last year. Daniel earned most of his merit badges at summer camp and earned a total of 36 badges. He also earned the "Leave No Trace" and "Ad Altare Dei" awards.
Daniel held several positions within Troop 10, including Librarian, Historian, Chaplain's Aide, Assistant Patrol Leader, and Patrol Leader. He enjoyed many different campouts and experiences with Troop 10, including the opportunities to go canoeing, hiking and skiing.
His Eagle Project involved designing a memorial for all the Marmion alumni who died serving in the United States armed forces. Marmion Academy had previously made a memorial for some, but not all of the alumni who had died in action.
Daniel felt it was important that all the alumni who had died in action be recognized. After meeting with Anthony Tinerella, headmaster at Marmion Academy, Daniel's first task was to develop and design the memorial.
He first built a model out of poster board and computer printouts of the names. The next challenge was to determine the material of the medium in which the names could be carved. This was very challenging because Daniel decided that the best material, from an artistic viewpoint, would be glass.
Unfortunately, there are not many companies in the United States who could manufacture the glass with the names carved in it that would be durable enough to be installed outside in the northern Illinois environment.
As he was researching and contacting different glass companies, Daniel began meeting with Donald Dardis at DuKane Precast in Naperville. Together, they developed a structure in which the glass could be mounted. Daniel had a few meetings with Tinerella and Tom Moore, Marmion facility manager, to present and get approval of both the design of the memorial base and the glass, as well as approval for the cost of the glass.
Eventually, Daniel decided that Sheri Law Art Glass Ltd. in Homer Glen was uniquely qualified to produce the glass for the memorial. The cost of the glass exceeded $10,000, which required approval and fundraising by the Marmion administration.
Finally, a number of Scouts and Scout parents assisted in digging a large 20-foot-by-4-foot-by-10-inch deep hole for the foundation, drilling the footings and pouring more than 80 large bags of concrete.
The digging of the foundation, the installation of the forms and the pouring of the concrete could not have been done without the professional guidance of Tom Greiter, who was Daniel's Eagle Scout mentor.
Daniel is very grateful for Greiter's guidance, recommendations and encouragement during the entire Eagle project. He also would like to thank Dardis, Moore, and Shawn and Mark with Sheri Law Art Glass.
He is also thankful to DuKane Precast, which donated the structure, and Superior Industrial Equipment, a Sycamore business that donated all the materials and rental equipment for the building of the foundation. In addition, he would like to thank Rental Max for providing a discount for all the rental equipment.
Daniel is very grateful for all the assistance he received from the adult troop leadership. He feels his achieving the Eagle Scout rank was only possible with the help of Tom Greiter, Dave Markowicz, Scoutmaster Jeff Oesterlin and so many of the adult leaders of Troop 10.
Daniel's Scouting experience has spanned approximately eight years and has provided him with many learning experiences, adventures and friendships. He is grateful for the many opportunities he has had. His Scouting experience with Troop 10 has helped him grow and develop abilities and leadership skills that will help him for the rest of his life.