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Striving to serve his community
(by Kim Lunsford, staff writer - August 31, 2011)
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Messenger photo by Kim Lunsford
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Jon Busch stands in full uniform showing all of his hard work and determination in each individual badge he has earned on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout.
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A Reynoldsburg youth is close to achieving his goal of becoming an Eagle Scout.
Jon Busch, 14, is a Boy Scout seeking to achieve the highest rank in Boy Scouting.
“Jon is not your everyday 14-year-old boy,” Scoutmaster Steve Ford said. “He is a good leader because he knows what needs to be done. He is aggressive in knowing what he wants but does it in a quiet fashion.”
Busch’s Eagle Scout dreams are about to become a reality as he nears the end of his project, but it has not come without challenges. Over the year that he has been working to complete his project, it came to a standstill at one point, but he never faltered from his ultimate goal.
“A lot of people look up to the rank of Eagle Scout,” Busch said. “Not many ever get to that rank. My group of friends and I always strive to get the highest awards.”
Busch’s project has included several groups of people including: Rebuilding Together, a volunteer driven initiative that serves the community through its Safe at Home and Tool Library programs; the OSU Extension Center; the Columbus Fire Department; and other Scouts within his pack. The goal of his project was to educate the Wyland Park community in Columbus about the use of smoke detectors and to install detectors into homes where they were in need.
“We went around to each of the houses asking if they wanted to have a smoke detector and teaching them about the importance of those,” he said. “We installed 60 to 70 packs that day.”
The planning of the project was the most time consuming for Busch as he worked with Rebuilding Together to come up with volunteers to help with the event.
“Jon came to us,” Rebuilding Together Outreach Coordinator Aaron Murphy said. “He wanted to make an impact on the community and help us out.”
Busch’s family has worked for several years to help Rebuilding Together in their efforts to help keep individual homeowners warm, safe and dry.
“Jon’s family has a tradition of service and community,” Murphy said. “You can tell that he cares about the project and the community he is helping out.”
Despite the delay in the project and the redirection he then took, Busch has not deterred or given up.
“Jon’s ability to overcome adversity is clear,” Ford said. “He showed so much patience in sticking with it. Everybody goes through a little bit of adversity, but there were a lot of problems with his project in the beginning. He’s pushing close to a year for completion, and that just goes to show how determined he was.”
Now, as Busch awaits official word that his Eagle Scout project has been approved, he knows he was successful in helping others through his efforts.
“We had kids come up to the scouts and asking them how they can become a scout and help others,” Jon’s Dad, Tim Busch said. “It was heartening to see these kids who don’t have a lot actually have a way to make it out of a rough community.”
Busch continues his adventures in scouting and while he waits, he is working toward his next move after Eagle, which he says is serving his troop and continuing his leadership.
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