The idea grew from an offhand comment made by a scoutmaster in jest. About seven years ago, after joining Boy Scouts Troop 795 at Mount Zion United Methodist Church in east Cobb, a young Alex Crouchman had earned more merit badges than other members of his group.
“The scoutmaster made a joke and asked if I was trying to earn all of them,” recalled Crouchman, now 18 and a senior at Pope High School. “That’s the first time I remember thinking about it.”
The idea became a commitment, and over the next several years, Crouchman set about to earn every available merit badge. A few weeks ago, on the day before he turned 18 and aged out of the troop, Crouchman snagged No. 134, making him the third Scout in Georgia to have accomplished the feat.
The project extended well beyond the basic 21 badges needed to achieve Eagle Scout rank, a level Crouchman reached at age 15.
“For that, many Scouts work on three to four badges a year,” he said. “In my case, it was more like 20 a year.”
The amount of time and effort required to earn the badges varied by the required skill. Crouchman’s first badge in swimming and first aid was awarded after attending a summer camp; others required more concentration and practice.
“Fingerprinting I did in a few hours,” he said. “But for fitness, I had to track my progress over three months, so it took a lot longer than most.”
One weekend, Crouchman was watching surgery at a veterinarian’s clinic; the next, he was learning to water ski. On New Year’s Day, he spent a few hours perfecting his ice skating skills before heading to the Chattahoochee River to finish his kayaking requirements.
“The hardest ones were water skiing, which I only did for the first time a year ago, and bugling,” he said. “I had no background at all for bugling, so I just had to put in a lot of work and time on that one. But no matter what it was, I preferred doing things rather than just having to look things up and study.”
The last badge, scuba diving, presented several challenges of its own.
“I said we should hold off on that one because of the cost — and to make sure he was really going to earn the others,” said dad Phil Crouchman, who was not a Scout himself. “We didn’t start looking around until early this year, and then we found we had to go to Florida to find a diving school that was operating in the winter. It was hectic, but he got it the day before he turned 18.”
Despite his dedication to the project, Crouchman said his friends weren’t always aware that he was on a crusade to capture every badge.
“I didn’t just lock myself in a room and work on merit badges,” he said with a laugh. “I do a lot of other things, too: I’m a percussionist in the high school marching band, and I play rugby, for instance.”
While Crouchman’s double sash, crowded with badges on the front and back, is a visible sign of his achievement, it’s not the most important part of the process, said his dad.
“Doing this really meant Alex had to go out of his comfort zone,” he said. “Now, he believes he can do anything with training. It’s great to have that confidence.”
“Milestones” covers significant events and times in the lives of metro Atlantans. Big or small, well-known or not — tell us of a Milestone we should write about. Send information to hm_cauley@yahoo.com; call 404-514-6162; or mail to Milestones, c/o Holly Steel, 223 Perimeter Center Parkway N.E., Atlanta, GA 30346.
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