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Spring Hill – ‘What have you done today to make you feel proud?’ It’s the slogan written over the door at Challenger K-8 School in Spring Hill. Bay News 9 sat down Friday with one student who has a very exceptional answer. Dale Tumbull and Harrison Rosser, 7th graders at Challenger, are best friends. Every day, the two students head to lunch together and sit at the same table, with the same buddies. But Thursday, something out of the ordinary followed something extraordinary as Harrison began choking on chicken he had for lunch.

Did you know that two-thirds of all astronauts have had some type of involvement in Scouts? According to a report by NASA 11 of the 12 astronauts to walk on the moon were Boy Scouts. While Cub Scout Pack 1202 isn’t quite planning their walk on the moon, they are however practicing the scout slogan to “do a good turn daily”.

A number of Queen Creek Boy Scouts from Troop 203 saved one of their fellow scouts from drowning on Apr. 21, 2012 and the boys were honored by the Mayor Gail Barney at a Town Council meeting on May 2. Twelve-year-old Warren McGregor was given the highest recognition for his role in saving his friend, 13-year-old David Lee, when Lee appeared to have lost consciousness in the water during a seemingly normal afternoon of poolside fun.

Mechanicsburg, PA – Cumberland Valley High School student Garrett Long still can’t believe what happened over the weekend. The 17-year-old was waiting to order food at the McDonalds along Route 114 in Silver Spring Township Saturday night when he heard a desperate cry for help.

It all began when 17-year-old Boy Scout Josh Lappen, in the process of earning that Eagle Scout status, looked to fulfill his community service requirement. Wanting to do something for the environment, he reached out to a local state park to offer free manual labor.

15-year-old Joe Vitale has his sights set on an Eagle Scout ranking, but more importantly, he has a goal to globalize his volunteerism and bring education to those less fortunate. Vitale is currently fundraising so he can build a school in Laguna Seca, Guatamala. The idea formed from a trip he took with his family in 2007 to Guatamala, where he said he was inspired meeting local children. Their school, he said, was more like a shack.

Mt. Morris – Noah McHenry and Lee Cornish were looking out the car window when they saw the building collapse on a man in a white shirt. Headed home Saturday afternoon from the Naval Park in Buffalo with two fellow Boy Scouts, Cornish and McHenry screamed for Mitch Cornish, the driver, to stop the vehicle and turn around.

Wayne, NJ – For Jeffrey Shanley, devising his Eagle Scout project was more about offering life than anything else. “It felt great to make this happen though. I knew I was doing a good thing”.

It took one article in ESPN magazine around the time of the World Cup to inspire Patrick Hardtke to dedicate his Eagle Scout service project to the kids in Haitian orphanages. “The article was talking about all the nations that have kids that were just playing soccer and they didn’t have anything to play with,” said Hardtke, 15, of Oak Hill. “They were playing in like sandals and they tied together pieces of tape and stuff. I saw one about Haiti and they had just had the earthquake, so I thought it would mean a lot to them if I collect stuff and sent it to them.”

It wasn’t Arlene Hamel’s time. When she was 34, the Sterling Heights woman was struck by a car as she walked across 8 Mile at Gratiot in Detroit. She had “too many broken bones to count,” her sister said, along with traumatic brain injury. Five years ago, Arlene was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery and radiation, and lived to tell. Last year, doctors found uterine cancer. She had another surgery and, again, radiation. Still Arlene prevailed. She was pronounced cancer-free earlier this year. Arlene was out to dinner to celebrate the holiday with her family. She’d just placed her order and had started to munch on the breadsticks when she began to choke. Will, 21, from Rochester Hills wasn’t thrilled about having to work on the holiday. His family had planned and Easter dinner with his grandparents, and the menu included some of his favorite foods…

Jack Landers, a 7-year-old Cub Scout from Maricopa, receives the Medal of Merit Tuesday during a ceremony in Casa Grande. Jack Landers, now 7 and a second-grader, was with his father, Dave, practicing soccer a year ago at Pacana Park. The ground was wet and his father slipped on the ball, causing him to put all his weight into his ankle as he fell. He broke six bones in his left foot and is still recovering from the injury that put him in a wheelchair for three months. Jack, who had just started in Cub Scouts, not only stayed composed, but remembered some of the lessons he learned in the program to help his father. For his bravery, Jack was awarded the Medal of Merit. It is given to Scouts and Scout leaders who have performed a meritorious act above and beyond what is normally expected in the Boy Scouting program. “Me and my dad were playing soccer and my dad slipped on the mud,” Jack said. “His ankle got twisted, so I went back to the car to get his cell phone, his wallet, and a towel, Then called 911.”

Be prepared. It’s the Boy Scouts’ motto, and 15-year-old Scout Dennis Stack IV says he tries to live by it. So when Hurricane Irene hit in August, Dennis and his father, Dennis Stack III, were ready. They bought a week’s worth of food, made sure their generators were in working order and stocked up on flashlights and batteries. In the wake of the storm they helped pump more than four inches of rain from the basements of neighbors in need.

A group of five preteens with plastic bags full of assorted acorns sloshed through muddy trails in the Atchafalaya Basin on Saturday morning. The children walked side-by-side in a line and pushed the acorns into the marshy ground before taking two steps forward to plant another future tree. “I’m here because I want to help rebuild the forest,” 10-year-old Dylan Frey said.

The Crossing Over ceremony from a Webelo Cub Scout to Boy Scout is something that only happens once in a Scout's life. Most of the time, a child can assume his parents will be there for the occasion, but on Sunday, Erik Stelter knew his dad would be there. That's because his father had traveled 36 hours from Djibouti, Africa, for the ceremony

Boy Scout Steven O'Connor was hailed as a hero Saturday. "I'm just very proud of that moment, and just, I don't think anybody could have reacted as fast as I did," O'Connor said. Two years ago on Father's Day, O'Connor's quick thinking saved his 6-year-old sister from a near drowning in a backyard swimming pool. "I just saw her arms flailing, and the reaction was to dive, (to) save her," O'Connor said.

Calm, quick thinking and acting without hesitation helped an 11-year-old boy save the life of his father last June, and his actions also earned him a bit of recognition. Dean Arcand, now 12, was presented with the Boy Scouts of America's Heroism Award at a surprise ceremony Thursday night at the Luxemburg Sportsman's Club. Dean is a member of Luxemburg's Troop 1042.

On Jan. 28, Cub Scout Pack 141 showed their support for our returning soldiers at the local USO Reception held at the Savannah International Airport. The USO (United Service Organizations) is a private, non-profit organization that lifts the spirits of America’s troops and their families. The Pembroke area Cub Scout pack donated six cases of popcorn (648 packages!) that they collected through donations during their annual popcorn campaign to benefit area soldiers.

Officials with the Boy Scouts Bay Area Council are getting their ships — and their waterfront base — in shape for children and high school students. Within the next few years, the Sea Scout Base, 7511 Broadway, which provides kayak, sailing and water training, will add a multistory building, a marina and a walkover across Interstate 45 from a parking lot to the base.

I remember the first time I put on a Scouting uniform. My mother hadn't even ironed on the patches yet, but as a young Cub Scout, the shirt had the unmistakable power of making me stand a little bit taller. One day a week I took a different bus after school, one that would drop me off near our den mother's home in Charlottesville, Va. I loved to sprint the two long blocks to the divine Doneitta Quillon's house to meet my fellow young rabble-rousers. Doneitta put up with so much, was so patient and long-suffering, she could have taught the prophet Job a thing or two.

A 13-year-old Boy Scout and a Carmel Police dispatcher are credited with saving a two-year-old child from tragedy when he opened the door to his home and ran out.