Matt Hlady epitomizes what it means to “Be Prepared,” the motto of the Boy Scouts of America.
The 16-year old “encyclopedia of knowledge” recently earned the Boy Scouts of America’s top honor – Eagle Scout – after nine years of dedication to the Marion Cub Scout Pack 32 and Boy Scout Troop 32. He is the troop’s only scout that achieved this honor this year.
“Matt is an extremely well disciplined learner, student, leader and scout. The scouts all look up to him a great deal due to his vast knowledge of seemingly all things,” said Scoutmaster Doug Breault.
Only a sliver of Boy Scouts end up achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. About two million out of 84 million have since 1911, which is about 2 percent overall – according to Breault.
Hlady began his scouting career with the belief that his involvement would look great on a college resume. “Yes, I was thinking about those things in fifth grade,” Hlady admitted.
But as he immersed himself, scouting ended up meaning much more, he said.
“After a while, it wasn’t so much about college credit. I found out I was learning useful things earlier in life. I wasn’t exactly gregarious, but I actually learned I liked being around people,” Hlady said.
Achieving the Eagle Scout rank requires a capstone public service project, and Hlady took on improving a public path at the Brainard Marsh Wildlife Refuge on Delano Road in Marion. The 440-yard path leads to a beach on the Weweantic Estuary, where seals commonly are spotted on the rocks.
He led about 15 scouts in the undertaking, which was a joint venture with the Sippican Lands Trust. In particular he worked with Bill Saltonstall, the head steward of the trust, to devise a strategy to get the work done.
“We pretty much rebuilt the trail that leads down to the beach. The trail was an absolute mess,” he said. The work entailed cleaning out the broken glass, removing weeds, filling in potholes, laying down a weed suppressant tarp, and covering the path with dense gravel stone.
“I was surprised by how quickly they were able to move seven cubic yards of pile out onto this path,” said Bill Saltonstall. “They did a morning’s work in what I thought would take a couple of days. Matt was so organized in getting help down there,” he said.
“Matt turned out the people. That is often the hard part on a Saturday morning … The path is great. It was Matt’s ability to organize all the people that made it possible to do. He did a great job,” he added.
Breault also complimented the scout’s execution of the project at Hlady’s Court of Honor, the ceremony where Hlady officially was awarded his Eagle.
“Matt ran his Eagle project very efficiently, ahead of schedule, and showed excellent leadership skills. The final outcome of Matt’s project will be available to our town for decades to come, and we thank him,” he said.
Breault also credited him for engaging the younger scouts and keeping the troop going even when scout numbers dipped.
“Helping the lower ranking scouts learn various scout knowledge has been a big part of Matt’s scouting life. Matt participated in many boy scout events, and this was great considering Matt’s entire original patrol was gone, and he was placed in our new Dragons patrol with boys two to four years his junior,” he said.
Breault said perhaps most impressive about Hlady is his sheer knowledge.
“I remember once reviewing one of his badges and I was questioning him about the various treatments for things, and I mentioned cancer, and he replied ‘Which type? If you mean…’ and he went on to ramble off about seven different types of cancer. I might be forgetting parts of exactly what happened, but I remember that the depth of his knowledge blew me away,” he said.
In life outside of scouting, Hlady maintains high honors at Tabor Academy, plays in the wind ensemble, jazz band and performs in musicals. He is also involved with the youth group at Unitarian Universalist Church in Fairhaven, and earned his black belt in Ken-Po karate.
For Hlady, he encourages scouts to pursue the Eagle rank – and said to start early to enable enough time to complete each rank.
Now with Eagle Scout on his resume, he is planning to attend Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio and study martial arts and creative writing.
By Laura Fedak Pedulli
