Troop 405 honors 200th eagle scout Jay McEntire

  • Joseph Allen “Jay” McEntire is honored with an Eagle Court of Honor.
    Joseph Allen “Jay” McEntire is honored with an Eagle Court of Honor.

    Troop 405 Eagle Scout Jay McEntire was recently honored with a Court of Honor at Christ Lutheran Church. He is the troop’s 200th Eagle Scout.

    The event began with a welcome by Eagle Scout Mason Wakefield, who served as Court of Honor chairman. Presentation of the colors was followed by an invocation by Minta Mcintosh. Then, Scoutmaster John McEntire welcomed attendees. Next came a reading of Jay’s scouting history by Committee Chairman Jason Sugges. Serving as voice of the eagle was Mike McAlister. After this, Eagle Scout Dustin Hammit administered the Eagle Scout Charge and Oath to Jay.

    Next, the Eagle medal was pinned on Jay’s uniform by his mother, Ruth, and an Eagle neckerchief added to his uniform shirt by his father, John. After Jay presented an Eagle mother’s pin to his mother and an Eagle father’s pin to his father, the program continued with Jay presenting pins to both sets of grandparents. Jay also presented mentor pins to Sean Gingras, Mike McAlister, Jason Suggs and Dr. Chuck Hermesch. The final presentation to Jay was a Certificate of Good Citizenship by Barbara MacMillan, commander of American Legion Post 174.

    Jay began his scouting journey in the fall of 2012, when he joined Cub Scout Pack 405 as a Tiger Cub. His favorite memories from Cub Scouts were the yearly trips the pack made to sleep aboard the U.S.S. Lexington aircraft carrier in Corpus Christi. After progressing through the Cub Scout program, he earned his Arrow of Light and joined Troop 405 on February 27, 2017.

    Jay has been very active with the troop. He earned 55 merit badges, logged 134 days/nights of camping and traveled 259 miles by foot and paddle. Jay has also provided over 165 hours of service to his community.

    Jay's positions of responsibility included patrol leader, instructor, assistant senior patrol leader, senior patrol leader, Order of the Arrow troop representative, and his current position, troop guide. He received the Troy Williams Spirit of Scouting Award in 2017, was the troop’s Scout of the Year in 2020 and received the Troop Leadership Award that same year.

    Jay is a brotherhood member of the Tonkawa Lodge, Order of the Arrow, and Scouts BSA’s national honor society, where he served a term as the San Gabriel Chapter's Vice Chief of Inductions.

    When it comes to camping, Jay was literally all over the map. He attended summer camps at Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch in west Texas in 2017, Bear Creek Scout Reservation near Kerrville in 2018, Camp Trevor Rees-Jones near Athens in 2020 and Camp Strake east of Huntsville in 2021. He attended winter camp at the Lost Pines Scout Reservation near Bastrop in 2017, 2018 and 2020. He also took part in spring break camping trips at Mission Tejas State Park in 2017 and Davy Crockett National Forest in 2018. He also completed a weeklong merit badge camp with the Sea Scouts in the summer of 2017.

    Jay did not shy away from high adventure. In 2021, he completed a canoeing expedition at the Northern Tier High Adventure Base in the National Boundary Waters Wilderness Area in Minnesota, where his crew of nine paddled over 58 miles in the backcountry waters. In July 2022, Jay took part in Scouts BSA’s crown jewel of high adventure, Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. There, he and 16 of his fellow scouts shared in a mountain trail backpacking expedition covering over 100 miles in 12 days.

    With all this activity, Jay also made time to complete our council’s week-long National Youth Leadership Training Conference in 2019 and he became a BSA Lifeguard in 2021. For his Eagle Scout Service Project, Jay spent 94 hours planning, gaining approvals, purchasing materials, organizing resources, and managing a team of 11 scouts and 5 adults in the painting of a map of the 48 contiguous United-States. This giant map — measuring 24-feet wide by 17-feet tall — was painted on the pavement near George Washington Carver Elementary School’s playground for all the students to benefit and enjoy in the years to come.

    Jay is a member of the youth ministry at First Presbyterian Church and has participated in local school band programs since middle school. He made the All District Band in 2018 and the All Region Band in 2019 and 2020. Jay was also a member of the All Region Jazz Band in 2020 and advanced to UIL State Solo and Ensemble in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, Jay was the Georgetown High School Band’s Freshman of the year. Regarding scouting, many of his service hours were earned by him playing taps at veteran and patriotic events. Jay is a junior at Georgetown High School. After graduation he plans to attend college and study music.

    Troop 405 offers an active scouting program to boys ages 11-17. The program includes monthly campouts, opportunities for community service, an annual summer camp trip and an annual high adventure trip. Troop 405 meets from 7-8:30 p.m. on Monday evenings at Christ Lutheran Church. For additional information, contact Scoutmaster John McEntire at 512-966-8300.

    Calvin Gray is a committee member who works with Troop 405.