Young Leaders – A Scouting Family Legacy Continues

Left: Eagle Scout Jack McMillan on a wilderness hike.

Below: Jack and his father, Scott McMillan, visiting the USS Wisconsin battleship in Norfolk, Virginia in 2018.

New Leader of the ‘Pack’

eagle sCout Part of a faMily sCouting legaCy

by Bek Mitchell-Kidd photography provided by McMillan Family

Jack McMillan can now check mark “Eagle Scout” on his extensive list of accomplishments. A Davidson resident and member of Troop 58, McMillan recently received Scouting’s highest honor in November 2022.

McMillan had been working toward the award for a couple of years, with a significant part of that process being a community service project. He chose to build a gaga ball pit at the Fuzion Teen Center in Mooresville, which serves as a social hub where teenagers can enjoy a safe environment, develop socially and explore faith.

“Jack worked for days in the heat, digging, measuring and putting the wooden gaga ball pit together,” says Sarah Allen, Fuzion’s executive branch director. “He also had to order signs for the game, ask for donations, get supplies and more. His job is not over yet, as he is excited to introduce and demonstrate the game to the teens.”

Scouting runs in McMillan’s family and, while McMillan credits his dad with inspiring him to get involved, he knew he would join a lengthy line of family scouts.

“Many family members including my grandfather and cousins were also scouts,” he says. And the pride the family feels in the younger McMillan’s achievements is obvious.

“Jack has had to overcome some health challenges,” his father says, “and to watch him mature into the strong young man he’s become during the past eight years of Scouting is hard for me to put into words. He has such a positive optimistic attitude on life.”

To obtain the rank of Eagle Scout, participants must also earn a series of merit badges. McMillan has 26 of them but is most proud of his wilderness survival badge. To earn that badge, he had to spend time in the woods equipped only with a few items including a flashlight and a pocketknife.

“My group was the only one that built a sustainable waterproof leanto out of sticks, vines and leaves, where we spent the next two hours protecting ourselves from a downpour,” McMillan says.

The lessons and skills McMillan has learned continue to help him in his daily life. For example, he draws on the challenging experience — which included a bout of “pink eye” — during a ten-day trek at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.

“I will keep it in my memory forever,” he says, “witnessing the sunrise at an altitude of 9,000 feet helps me to remember that, even when times are tough, discomfort is okay because it’s how you grow.”

Part of the Scout oath is to “help other people at all times,” and this resonates with him.

“I try to live by this pledge every day,” says McMillan. “I especially try to help the elderly. I believe in paying it forward because, if a lot of people witness charitable deeds, they may try and do the same.”

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