PARSIPPANY — An Eagle Scout Court of Honor was held on March 25 at Parsippany PAL Youth Center for Rishi Sai Konkesa for achieving the highest rank by the Boy Scouts of America, that of Eagle Scout.
The pathway to Eagle can be described as a steep trail leading up to three peaks, the highest being that of Eagle Scout. Officially, the trail starts with the Tenderfoot rank and continues through Second and First Class ranks. Then, the mountain climbing begins. The path is marked with merit badges, leadership responsibilities, service projects, and the practice of Scouting skills and ideals. The first peak reached is that of Star Scout, the second is Life Scout, and, finally, Eagle Scout.
Eagle Scout is the highest advancement rank in Boy Scouting. Since 1912 more than two million Boy Scouts have earned the Eagle Scout rank. In the words of the Eagle Scout Promise, Eagles do their best each day to make their training an example, their rank and their influence count strongly for better Scouting and for better citizenship in their troop, in their community, and in their contacts with other people. To this they pledge their sacred honor.
In Parsippany, there have been 68 other boys receiving such honor since 1957. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than two million young men. Only 4% of the Boy Scouts actually earn this rank.
Rishi began his Scouting experience in Cub Scout Pack 5 joining as a Webelos 2 Cub Scout. Following his time in Pack 5, Rishi joined Troop 173 in fifth grade and quickly advanced through the first few ranks through special guidance of Robert Ebel, Danny Metcalf, and Scoutmasters John Worthington and Les Wu.
As a member of Troop 173, Rishi held a variety of leadership positions including Scribe, Troop Guide, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader, and Senior Patrol Leader. His most valuable experience in his Scouting experience is his time as Patrol Leader where he learned invaluable communication, organization, and leadership skills.
In addition, Rishi accumulated over 127 Scouting related service hours and participated in both the National Youth Leadership Training Conference and the Woodsman Thong leadership training programs.
For his Eagle Project, Rishi designed and marked three walking trails around Lake Parsippany Park. He also constructed a kiosk containing a map of the park along with contact information for town officials and town resources for parks and recreation. Along with the trail system, Rishi constructed a 45-foot walking path along with a small garden in order to reduce foot traffic on a grassy area. He thanks his Eagle Scout coach, Shane Moravsik, for helping him complete his project in a timely manner.
Rishi is a senior at the Morris County School of Technology in the Academy for Healthcare Sciences. In school he participates in the National Honors/Technical Honors Society and serves as treasurer for the Health Occupations Students of America Club, Robotics Club, and Student Council.
He is also an active member of the Parsippany Hills High School tennis team and the Morris County Relay for Life event for which he has served as a team leader for two years raising over 2,000 dollars in donations for cancer research.
During the past two summers, Rishi served as an Intern at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, MD where he conducted research in microvilli formation. During this experience he was fortunate to develop a research paper for which he earned a semifinalist position in the Siemens Science Competition in Math, Science and Technology. He currently serves as an intern at the Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research. In the future, Rishi wishes to pursue a career in medicine and would like to return to the community some of the benefits he has received from it. He also plans to remain active in Scouting after college and help younger Scouts along their Scouting journey because he recognizes the positive influence Scouting has had on him during his formative years.
During his Scouting career, Rishi accumulated 79 total camping nights earning the BSA National Outdoor Award for Camping with three gold devices. In addition Rishi earned 30 Merit Badges including:
- Archery
- Basketry
- Camping*
- Citizenship in the Community*
- Citizenship in the Nation*
- Citizenship in the World*
- Collections
- Communications
- Cooking*
- Emergency Preparedness*
- Environmental Science*
- Family Life*
- Fingerprinting
- Fishing
- Indian Lore
- Leatherwork
- Model Design
- Music
- Nature
- Personal Fitness*
- Personal Management*
- Pioneering
- Pottery
- Rowing
- Small Boat Sailing
- Space Exploration
- Swimming*
- Wilderness Survival
- Wood Carving
To earn the Eagle award the Scout must complete 21* required merit badges. Rishi earned a total of 30 Merit Badges.
Boy Scouts of America Troop 173 Eagle Scout Honor Roll includes Norman Schofield, Jr., Michael Gottschalk, James Searing, Geoffrey Brown, John Chervenak, Guy Corbett, Tim Corbett, Robert Burney, Juan Correa, Richard Lauber, Tim Roche,,Christopher Callahan, Thomas Cook, Stephen Corcoran, Stephan Pirylis, Brian Stewart, Patrick Roche, Edward Chiorazzi, Brian Pomarlen, Simon Healey, Keith Henderlong, David Chezem, Alex Lin, Robert Strechay, Jr., John Oleske, Daniel Strechay, Joseph Strechay, Kevin Smithers, Joseph Stevens, James Ward, Jason Viglione, Michael DeGuarde, Michael Smith, Tim Foster, Christopher Malcolm, Mark Viglione, Gary Hwang, William Barcliffe, IV, Jonathan Cook, Daniel Aguanno, Anthony Valvano, Eric Kratz, David Kratz, Thomas Corigliano, David Kinskey-Lebeda, Ryan Diggle, Mike Fulton, Dan Fulton, Brian Galley, Shane Moravsik, Paul Rossnagel, Jesse Garbarino, Shay Grabinsky, Joseph Stretavski, Brendan Barwick, Eric Galley, Bobby Ebel, Sean Michie, Michael Ludwig, Matthew Luther, Chris Gardner, Chris Worthington, Cameron Boone, Daniel Metcalf and Rishi Konkesa. Noah Munn will be honored with a Eagle Scout Court of Honor in the upcoming weeks.
