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The Copper Country’s latest Eagle Scout is Patrick J. Sullivan of Laurium. Hancock Boy Scout Troop 207 promoted Sullivan at a special ceremony on Saturday at Calumet High School.
His Eagle Scout project was a way to retire of US Flags that are worn and tattered in the communities of Mohawk, Calumet, Laurium, Houghton, and Hancock.
Sullivan built five Flag Retirement boxes and placed them around these communities. He decided this was a worthy project after noticing several worn and tattered flags. He also realized there were only a few places to drop off these flags and wanted to make it easier for community members to be able to dispose of them properly.
Sullivan designed the boxes and then briefed potential sponsors for each box. Each sponsor made a contribution towards his goal which allowed him to acquire the materials needed for each box.
The brief was given to Calumet American Legion Post 90, Mohawk American Legion Post 230, Calumet Knights of Columbus Council 1245, Houghton High School JROTC, and Darnell Construction. Patrick also briefed Troop 207 and both the Calumet and Houghton JROTC programs on how to properly retire the flags once collected from each location.
Locations of the boxes to place your flag for proper retirement are:
- Mohawk American Legion Post 230,
- Laurium Village Hall,
- Calumet Township Office,
- Houghton Portage Library,
- and Hancock City Hall
The flags will be gathered once a quarter, or as needed, and properly retired during the annual Troop 207 Boy Scout Camp and the JROTC Summer Camp programs.
Sullivan started his Boy Scout adventure with Troop 65 while his family was on an Army assignment in Wiesbaden Germany in 2012. While Scouting with Troop 65, he traveled extensively and made lifelong friends while attending scout events in Poland, Switzerland, France and throughout other areas of Europe.
His most memorable events in Troop 65 was participating in the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion and hiking in the Swiss Alps.
He joined Troop 207 in Houghton-Hancock in 2015 and continued to share the Boy Scout experience while working in a variety of Scout positions. Sullivan worked three summers at Camp Hiawatha, near Munising, as a Camp Counselor. One of his most memorable events with Troop 207 was serving in the Governor’s Honor Guard on Mackinac Island, also known as the Mackinaw Island Scout Service Camp. This is a Michigan Boy Scout tradition since 1929. Scouts serve as guides and preform flag raising and lowering ceremony for flags around the island in a week-long detail.
Prior to Sullivan, the last local Boy Scout to receive his Eagle badge was Korey Ericson of Hancock in October 2017.
