Lincoln VanHeynigen received his Eagle Scout status at a ceremony on Dec. 28 in Westfield.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
WESTFIELD — Lincoln VanHeynigen was recognized at a formal ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 28 at 10 a.m. at the First Congregational Church in Westfield for his recent attainment of Eagle Scout with Westfield’s Scouting Troop 109. In attendance were Mayor Michael McCabe, state Sen. John Velis and state Rep. Kelly Pease.
Troop 109 Scoutmaster Tim McMahon and former Scoutmaster David Flaherty headed up Saturday’s ceremony. Also present were current and former Troop 109 Scouts, including three Crean brothers, Bobby, Joey and CJ Crean, all of whom attained Eagle Scout status.
Troop 109, which has been affiliated with St. Mary’s Church for 25 years, merged at the end of 2024 with Troop 821, sponsored by the Westfield Sportsmen’s Club, under the leadership of Scoutmaster Jason Pitoniak. VanHeynigen is the last to attain Eagle status for Troop 109. Among the scouts transitioning to Troop 821 is Brandon Cekovsky, who will be attaining Eagle status early in 2025 for his flag retirement incinerator that was recently installed in a ceremony at the Westfield Sportsmen’s Club.
For his Eagle Scout project, VanHeynigen built a series of benches for Westfield YMCA Camp Shepard, where he had volunteered one summer and observed that campers waiting to be picked up outside the bathhouse had nowhere to sit except on old logs.
During the Eagle Scout ceremony, VanHeynigen, a junior at Westfield High School, spoke about what scouting has meant to him. He said most important were the memories he has. He first recalled cutting his finger one year with a knife because he wasn’t paying attention, which he said was an important lesson for his future.
VanHeynigen also talked about the trips taken by Troop 109, including a 100-mile canoe paddle in the Adirondacks, going to the National Jamboree and National Youth Leadership Training, and on a trip to Gettysburg, just to name a few.
Lincoln’s father, former Councilor Matthew VanHeynigen, said he never joined scouting himself as a youth, but always loved the outdoors, and he served as a committee chair for leadership with the troop. “It’s been a great troop for the activities we’ve done,” he said.
Also representing the VanHeynigen family at the ceremony were Lincoln’s mother Melissa VanHeynigen and brothers Beckett and Spencer.
Flaherty, who served as scoutmaster of Troop 109 for 10 years before McMahon took over the role, said that one difference between Troop 109 and other scouting troops was the number of scouts that received Eagle status. He said there were about 25 under his tenure, and more since. McMahon said that number is probably low.
“Our troop has on average had a very high success rate in getting Eagles,” Flaherty said.
He believes that one of the reasons for their success rate was the number of outdoor activities and high adventure trips, such as Appalachian Trail hikes and trips to national parks. The ones they visited included Bryson Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park, Sequoia, Mount Whitney and Yosemite. They also went on a 100-mile canoe trip in upstate New York five times. “We got around,” he said.
Flaherty said Troop 109 also did “a ton” of service projects. In addition to the Eagle scout projects, all of the scouts participated in other ones, such as a very successful annual bottle and can drive. Troop 109 also ran the pancake breakfast and a scavenger hunt for Westfield’s 350th anniversary.
Flaherty said one of the reasons for the merge is lower numbers in scouting, especially following the COVID-19 shutdown, when a lot of the cub scouts packs — the feeder units to boy scouts — lost their locations and adult leaders.
“In Westfield, we used to have a half dozen cub scout packs. Now we have one,” he said, adding that all over the country, the numbers have dropped swiftly.
Flaherty said it’s good to see the troops are continuing together in Troop 821.
McMahon called the merge “bittersweet.” An Eagle Scout himself, he said his oldest son, who is graduating college this year, and his younger son, who is graduating high school, both attained Eagle Scout status and additional awards.
“My boys are aging out, I couldn’t commit to day to day scouting — our numbers made it tough to keep two troops going,” he said.
Troop 109’s charter officially ended on Dec. 31, but since scouting follows the school year, they made the decision to merge in June. McMahon said he has been helping six scouts from Troop 109 move over to Troop 821, where he is still involved as an assistant scoutmaster under Pitoniak. He will also be helping to lead the committee for the National Jamboree for the Western Mass Council in 2025.
“I went a couple of years ago,” he said.
McMahon agrees with Flaherty that COVID-19 had an outsized impact on scouting and on many youth activities.
“Collectively, if you look at all youth activities, they took a huge hit. Most of our years, the troop membership was about 25 scouts – until about the last year, when we had about a dozen,” he said.
He also pointed to the loss of cub scout troops as one reason, and said he believes it will take a generation to come back from COVID-19.
McMahon attained Eagle Scout status in 1990 in the Katahdin Area Council in Maine. Asked what is the best thing about scouting, he said, “To me, a couple of things. The lifelong skills they don’t really teach at school; leadership, and the lifelong friends you make along the way.”
