'Disability or not, it's a major accomplishment': Meet Newport's newest Eagle Scout
Chris Del Guercio is a people person, one who likes to get things done. So, he had no problem assembling a team and securing permission for his Eagle Scout Merit Badge project.
Dubbed the “mayor of Newport” by his exceedingly proud father, Chris, 21, recently led a team to repair, renovate and beautify a gazebo at the Riverview School in East Sandwich, Massachusetts. Chris, who has Down syndrome, boards at Riverview, a school which, its website explains, educates students with complex language and learning challenges.
The project went well. The gazebo and gazebo area look sweet. And Chris, in scouting since the fourth grade, attained Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America (rebranding to Scouting America).
“It felt amazing because that's the highest rank I ever got,” Chris said Wednesday from Riverview. “I really want to help my community.”
Paul Del Guercio, Chris' dad, was an Eagle Scout, and Chris' older brother Michael, 22, achieved that rank in 2020, just before the COVID-related shutdowns. Chris' ascension to Eagle Scout was extra special, Paul noted, as he became the 100th Eagle Scout in the history of the Narragansett Council Troop 3, which formed in 1947.
How do you become an Eagle Scout?
Scouts must earn at least 21 badges, including 14 specific ones, before they can achieve Eagle Scout. It is not unusual for someone with a learning challenge to achieve Eagle Scout, said Tim McCandless, scout executive and CEO of the Narragansett Council. But it's not easy.
He said Boy Scouts has supports in place to help scouts with special needs achieve high ranks. “We encourage it and we facilitate it,” McCandless said. “But only 7 percent of all scouts achieve Eagle Scout. Disability or not, it's a major accomplishment, and especially for someone navigating extra challenges in life.”
Refurbishing the gazebo
The gazebo, Paul said, was in rough shape. The surrounding area needed work, too. The Del Guercios consulted with carpenters and painters, bought the materials and recruited a team of 20-plus scouts, friends, family and Riverview students to swing the brushes, work the scrapers and sandpaper, and rake the decorative stones.
Chris could be found doing some sanding and painting. But he saw himself more, Paul said, as the general contractor. Organizing. Giving suggestions. Giving orders. He knew what he wanted and made sure anyone and everyone on the job site knew it, too. He did do it with a smile.
“I like to tell people what to do,” Chris said, then adding with emphasis, “and what not to do.”
The unofficial 'mayor of Newport'
Chris, his dad said, is a warm-hearted, sympathetic guy who loves to be around and about town. That's why Paul calls him the mayor of Newport.
“He's such a friendly kid. He'll go up and talk to everyone,” Paul said. “He has a very good memory, a very pleasing personality.”
Chris said he embraces the mayor moniker “because I know everything around Newport.”
The actual mayor of Newport, Xaykham Khamsyvoravong, gave Chris a key to the city in recognition of the Eagle Scout achievement.
An inspiration to other kids – and adults
Lauracatherine Olack, the equal opportunity officer for the Surface Warfare Officers School Command in Newport, is Chris' scout master with Troop 3. A Navy chief petty officer, she said Chris has been an honor to work with.
“He's definitely inspired not just youngsters, but adults, too,” she said. “He's nothing but positive. He's all smiles all the time. He exudes positivity all the time.”
Troop 3 not only helped Chris with his one-day project, Olack turned it into a camping weekend, the first campout for two of the troop's new members. The turnout to help Chris was so strong, she said, that “They kind of ran out of tools. They had to get creative.”
Chris returns home to Newport for summer break on June 15. He is scheduled to once again work as a camp counselor at the YMCA camp in Middletown. He'll be with campers ages 7 and 8.
“And they are tiring,” he said.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Newport RI man with Down syndrome achieves Eagle Scout rank
