Rising to the rank of Eagle Scout is a great honor for the young men who make it. It is an honor, not only for themselves, but for their families as well.

When you hear Eagle Scout, you automatically think hard work, perseverance and someone who embraces the high standards set by the Boy Scouts.Sometimes all of that comes wrapped in a young man who is also funny and full of personality.That is a good description of Declan Behan if you listen to what his mentors, friends, scoutmasters and family have to say about him.Behan's Honor Court was held on Sept. 15.Behan, 17, of Jim Thorpe, is the son of Darren and Jennifer Behan. Behan has a sister, Molly, 16.Behan's Scoutmaster Ray Attewell attributed much of the youth's successes to the involvement of his family."You could always count on Declan's sister, Molly, to be part of the group. They are very close, and frankly until his dad got involved in our yearly canoeing trip we always ate MREs. Now ribs are a tradition," Attewell said. Declan's father is a chef.Attewell also spoke of Behan's willingness to help out when he sees a problem."Troop 555 is a very large troop. We sometimes have as many as 50 Scouts at one time. One of the things we need to do is to keep track of how many camping nights each of the scouts has," Attewell said. "Declan stepped in a created a computer program that keeps track for us. The program will be used for many years to come."State Sen. John Yudichak spoke of meeting and befriending the Behan family six years ago."This is a family you can always count on to be at the heart of the action in Jim Thorpe. They have taught their children the importance of giving back," Yudichak said. "The most important reason I am here today is that it is not every day that you get to salute and shake the hand of a great young man."Behan chose to build a playground at the Baer Memorial Pool in Lehighton as his project."This was not an easy project," said Mark Hoffman of Pool Pals. Pool Pals is the organization that raised the money to bring back the pool and maintain it."We have a lot of shale in Lehighton. Just clearing the area for the playground and the equipment wasn't enough for Declan," Hoffman said. "He cleared more land than was needed so that we can expand in the future."Jim Thorpe Mayor Mike Sofranko chided Behan in good fun."You and your family are a part of Jim Thorpe. You could have chosen to do your project within the town. Your name would have opened many doors for you. But you are a leader and you chose to go outside, to go where you were needed and you chose Lehighton, a rival of Jim Thorpe," Sofranko said.Sofranko also joked with Behan about having been willing to fix a parking ticket if he had completed his project in town.Behan received citations from Yudichak, state Rep. Doyle Heffley, Carbon County Commissioners Wayne Nothstein and Tom Gerhard, and Mayor Sofranko. He also received a Good Citizen citation from American Legion Post 304.Behan took a few minutes to thank everyone in attendance and to speak about his project."It is very gratifying to see kids playing on the playground," he said. "I especially want to thank everyone who worked on the project, and I speak for them all when I say we are proud of what we accomplished."