Two Cub Scouts recognized for outstanding achievement in their religious studies

On Thursday Sept. 18, 2008 Cub Scout Pack 255 held its first meeting of the season and awarded the prestigious and particularly hard to achieve Religious Emblem to two scouts, Sterling Russell, age 8 earned his award for Jewish studies and David Pantera, age 10 earned his award for Catholic studies.

While cub scouts can earn many patches for service work and various achievements, the Religious Emblem patch is the only one boy’s can wear on their uniform all the way through Cub Scouts, Boys Scouts, and Eagle Scout and as an adult leader. Each level of advancement in cub scouts has a religious component.  For the religious component, the scout can earn the Religious Emblem of Faith for his religion.  It typically takes 9-12 months working closely with the boy’s parents and religious leader to study the requirements around the boy’s faith to earn the emblem.  Along with the patch, the boy also receives a medal, which is awarded at the boy’s place of worship.

Kent Dowling, Executive Director of the Pacific Skyline Counsil of Boys Scouts of America commented, "These boys have gone "above and beyond" to learn about their faith. This dedication and commitment will serve them well throughout their lives. Very few Scouts earn this prestigious award and we are proud of them." 

Roy Stahl, Pack 255 Cub master noted that,"These are only the 2nd and 3rd boys in our pack in recent history to tackle and succeed with this award."

Maggid (Rabbi) Jhos Singer of the Coastside Jewish Community said, "Sterling has shown great enthusiasm for his culture and religion by learning about so many important elements of Judaism and in creating fun crafts like a Tzedakah (Charity) Box and a giant dreidle for Hannukah.  He was also very intrigued with the story of the boy David taking out the giant Goliath."

Father Honesto Gile of St. Timothy of San Mateo said, "It takes a lot of work to achieve the Peruvi Dei medal for scouts of the Catholic Faith.  We are very proud of David."

Sterling Russell:

Sterling is a member of the Wolf Den in Cub Scout Pack 255.  Sterling attends Coastside Jewish Community (www.coastsidejewishcommunity.org) in Half Moon Bay and is a student at its religious school.  Sterling and his mom worked on his Jewish Studies for his "Maccabee Award," for the past nine months, starting when Sterling was a Tiger, when he was in 1st grade, the earliest a boy can join Cub Scouts.

Sterling’s studies included learning the Hebrew names of his family, translating common Hebrew words, studying Torah (Old Testament) stories, learning about important Jewish people, studying Jewish Holidays and making lots of arts and crafts.  His favorite item he and his Mom worked on was a small replica of Moses in the bulrushes placed in a baby food jar with a peanut shell substituting for Moses’ basket.  Sterling used a children’s bible, coloring books, the Internet and music to draw from for his studies.

Sterling will be awarded his Maccabee Award (a pin that he’ll wear on his Cub Scout uniform) on Sept. 26, at Shabbat Services for Coastside Jewish Community.

David Pantera:

David is a member of the Webelos Den in Cub Scout Pack 255.  David attends to Catholic school and had his first communion and first confession when he was 7.  David and his family, thought it would be a good idea for him to earn the Religious Emblem for the Catholic faith, Pervuli Dei. They went to the scout store and purchased the workbook and began working on it.

David spent about six months working on the workbook. It was a lot for a nine-year-old, but it was fun. It touched on themes like caring for the destitute, taking responsibility, helping your community, interpreting the meaning of Bible stories, love, and regret. He was also required to talk to the Priest and learn about everyone who works in the church and what they do,

David was presented the award in a lavish ceremony at St. Thomas Moore church in San Francisco on 24 February 2008. The ceremony is held annually by the Archdiocese of San Francisco to present the Catholic scouting awards from Cubs all the way to adults. This year, David was the only recipient in the Archdiocese to receive the Pervuli Dei. There were three Cubs earning the corresponding Cub Scout award, a handful of Boy Scouts who’d earned the Boy Scout version, and several adults who had attained one of the four levels of Catholic awards available for Catholic scout leaders.

David goes to St. Timothy School in San Mateo.  The Priest that helped David is Fr. Honesto Gile, Jr.

Cub Scout Pack 255 has programs for boys in First through Fifth grade and meets monthly at Farallone View.