WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Brothers James and Eddie Brannan have achieved the rank of Eagle Scouts, the town's first since 2017.

 

According to a press release, since its establishment in 1911, only 4 percent of Scouts have earned Eagle rank, the organization's highest accomplishment. The rank is awarded after a lengthy review.

 

As part of the process, each completed a community-based project. James's Eagle Scout project was to rehabilitate a long-neglected courtyard at Herberg Middle School in Pittsfield. He also built two new raised planters for use by the school community.

 

"My mom teaches at Herberg so she suggested the idea to me," James said. "I worked with the principal for planning and approval of the project."

 

James collected supplies donated by a local contractor and set about working, mostly after school and on weekends, over the spring of 2020. James graduated from Mount Greylock Regional High School in 2020 and is attending the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where he is studying biology.

 

Eddie's Eagle Scout project was to build a moldering privy (a composting outhouse), part of a campsite renewal project by the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation along the Class of '33 trail. The Class of '33 trail is within the Berlin Mountain trail system, linking Williamstown to the Taconic Crest Trail. Williamstown Rural Lands supplied the materials for the project, approximately 1.5 miles from the Berlin Road trailhead. Eddie enlisted a group of volunteers to move the materials to the site before winter in 2020 and then returned in the spring and summer of 2021 to finish the project.

 

"I really appreciate the efforts of my friends and family who helped drag lumber over steep ravines and carried tools to the worksite over the course of several weeks," Eddie said. "It wasn't easy, but it got us all together safely outside during COVID."

 

Eddie is a senior at Mount Greylock Regional High School and will attend college in the fall.

 

Emily Brannan, James and Eddie's mother, served as the pair's Cub Scout leader, having restarted the Cub Pack when James was in third grade, becoming assistant Scoutmaster for BSA Troop 70 in 2013 and then Scoutmaster from 2016-2020.

 

The rank of Eagle Scout may be earned by a Scout who has been a Life Scout, the rank right below Eagle, for at least six months. The Scout must also earn a minimum of 21 merit badges, demonstrate Scout spirit, and show leadership within their troop, crew, or ship. 

 

Williamstown Troop 70 recognized the brothers for their accomplishments at a Court of Honor ceremony on Thursday, April 7, 2022, at the First Congregational Church.