Post date: Jun 3, 2018 1:00:05 AM
On behalf of Troop 1657, congratulations are extended to Christopher Warner for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Christopher becomes the 63rd addition to the Troop 1657 Eagle’s nest. Christopher is an impressive young man with focused ambitions, a pleasant demeanor, faithful to God, and respectful of others. Christopher has set a standard of excellence in his daily life that few ever come close to achieving.
Christopher, at a very young age, experienced a series of tremendous personal tragedies that could have had a deleterious effect on him; but because of the Grace of God and his family, especially his cousin Ailsha Warner, he not only persevered but he flourished and grew tremendously while becoming an exemplary model of young adult. He is an exceptional young man who is not satisfied with talking about making a difference in his community but will put those words into action to bring those words and thoughts to life Christopher’s Eagle project was chosen for very personal reasons. He decided to perform the project not only because he wanted to give back to his community, Mattaponi Middle School, by revitalizing and beautifying the campus grounds, but most importantly, he wanted to establish a lasting memorial to a very close personal friend that passed away at a young age. The project was extremely well planned and executed largely as a result of planning and leadership skills.
These planning skills have also been applied to his personal life. He has some very defined short and long-term goals with roadmaps on how to achieve them. He is currently an honor roll student at Riverdale Baptist School (RBS). He passionately believes that RBS is the BEST school in the area i.e., better than DeMatha, McNamara, Wise etc.
During the 9th grade, he was selected to be a member of the Chick-Fil-A Leader Academy. This is a national high school leadership program that is focused on “Impact through Action” that engages students in Leader labs with a focus on improving important leadership skills in students that they will subsequently be used to create student-led Community Impact Projects. He is also a member of the Young Marines National Youth Organization. This is a program that is dedicated to teaching the importance of self-confidence and academic achievement among a list of other principles. It is focused on character building and leadership while promoting a lifestyle that is conducive to being a productive member of society. Christopher would like to use some of what he has learned from these organizations to form a Reserve Officer Training Program (ROTC) program at RBS. With his perseverance, this is something that he can definitely achieve.
In his future, Christopher plans to attend college and also join the Air Force. He would like to be work in an area such as Information Technology (Cybersecurity). He intends to serve 20 years for his country and will use the skills that he learns over his career to benefit his community and family. Ultimately, he would like to write a book about his life to inspire young boys and girls and teach them how to persevere and overcome personal tragedies and setbacks in life.
Christopher has served as an Usher and on the Multimedia Ministry at his Church, Union Bethel AME. In 2016, he was presented with the Young Man of the Year Award from his Church. He credits his faith, family (biological, Church, and extended) for helping to instill values into him and shape the course of his life. He says ‘as a young man, I am learning how to make good decisions. I am learning the word of GOD for myself and building my spiritual maturity to a higher level."
With all of these achievements, Christopher was still able to be an Assistant Patrol Leader, member of the Order of the Arrow, Troop Guide where he mentors young scouts, and a Jr. Assistant Scoutmaster within the Troop. Additionally, he has performed several volunteer activities at his Church, the DC Veteran’s Administration Center, and the Love in Action Food Pantry.
For fun, Christopher enjoys playing video games and many varieties of music. He plays the trombone and considers himself to be the best trombone player in Riverdale.
In closing to use a requote of Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, by one of Christopher’s mentors – Col (ret) Ivan Sherard - when difficult circumstances occur, we have 3 choices:
- Circumstances can destroy us
- Circumstances can define us
- Circumstances can strengthen and we can bring out our best
Chris has chosen to bring out his best and live out the Scout values [and principles]. So, once again, congratulations to Eagle Scout Christopher Warner and his family.