Six Bothell Teens Advance To Eagle Scouts -- Troop Sponsored By Mormon Church

BOTHELL

A Bothell Boy Scout Troop has accomplished a rarity: Six young men this year became Eagle Scouts, the highest rank in Scouting.

Sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Woodinville First Ward, Troop 627 held an Eagle Court of Honor on Saturday to honor Samuel Baxter, John Carlston, Michael Diehl, Kevin Graham, Jerome Rowden and Benjamin Thornton.

Chris Hunt, field director of the Chief Seattle Council of Boy Scouts of America, said it is highly unusual for one troop to have so many Eagle Scouts at one time.

The Scouts' interests are varied:

-- Rowden has been in Scouting since the first grade in Apache Junction, Ariz., and finished his last two years of high school in Shoreline Community College's Running Start program.

-- Diehl is honor-society president at Inglemoor High School, captain of the school's cross-country team, and will attend Brigham Young University next fall.

-- Thornton plays trombone in the Inglemoor High band, has lettered in track and will attend LDS Business College in Salt Lake City.

-- Carlston is in the Inglemoor High School computer club and the Bothell High School auto-mechanics program. He'll be in the Running Start program next fall.

-- Graham, who is interested in drawing and cartooning, has been attending Running Start and will graduate this year from Inglemoor.

-- Baxter will graduate from Inglemoor next month with a 3.9-grade-point average.

The Scouts' Eagle projects included renovating camp sites, distributing medical supplies to the homeless, cleaning up a park road and greenbelt, and building a bridge.