I'd like to congratulate Provo Eagle Scout, Neal Smalley for earning ALL 137 merit badges! With the Eagle Scout being the ultimate pinnacle of success for Boy Scouts, Smalley could have taken that Eagle and just sailed through the rest of Scouting. Instead, he soared.
According to his mother, Pam Smalley, Neal had more to learn. When family and friends asked what he would do next, he announced that he was going to aim high and earn all 137 merit badges in the Scouting program. The now-17-year-old Smalley just recently accomplished his goal and joined a small, elite group of young men to earn every merit badge available in Scouting.
“I have been in Scouts since I was 11,” Smalley said. “I locked down and aimed for this goal after I got my Eagle at 13. Earning all 137 merit badges was the result of four years of focused merit badge work.”
His Scoutmaster, Scott Anderson of Troop 707 located in Orem and Provo, was one of several people who helped Neal on his journey. In all his years in Scouting, Anderson has known only one other young man who completed all 137 merit badges.
“It is extraordinary he was able to do that,” Anderson says. “You definitely have to be committed to accomplish it. Neal is very focused and committed. He had some struggles with a couple of merit badges and had to work hard to get them.”
Smalley’s scouting sash is filled up front and back with all the merit badges he has earned, including a few on the inside because there isn’t enough room to put them all on one sash.
“I think if you enjoy scouting and have all the people who will help you follow through with that goal, it is worth pursuing. There are a ton of memories I now enjoy that I would have missed out on if I hadn’t done it,” Smalley said.
Read the whole article from the Daily Herald: https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/central/provo/provo-scout-soars-past-eagle-earns-all-137-merit-badges/article_14ca4a0d-b287-5110-9662-e7d6e2cbd525.amp.html
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