Scouts BSA Troop 1447, sponsored by Trinity Presbyterian Church of Laurinburg, announced recently that MacKenzie Sanford was approved by the Eagle Scout Board of Review for the ranking.
Courtesy photo
LAURINBURG — MacKenzie Sanford has completed all requirements to secure the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Scouts BSA program.
Scouts BSA Troop 1447, sponsored by Trinity Presbyterian Church of Laurinburg, announced recently that Sanford was approved by the Eagle Scout Board of Review for the ranking.
As part of her journey to Eagle, Sanfordhas earned 26 merit badges, with several still in the works. Sanford has completed numerous service projects before coordinating and leading her Eagle Scout service project to build vermicomposting bins at the local non-profit GrowingChange (501c3). Her project brings the community and centers of worship together to fight food insecurity by diverting food waste into a vermicomposting system, where earthworms create a nutrient-rich soil amendment for church and community gardens.
Sanford’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor, where she will officially pin on her Eagle Scout medal, will be held in the fall.
Sanford has been in Scouts since 2019, and is only the third Eagle Scout from Troop 1447. Sanford served the troop from 2020 until the summer of 2023 as the second highest position in the unit, the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader (ASPL). In the Scouting program, the troop is youth-led, with adult volunteers providing supervision, mentorship, and coordination assistance when needed. She is currently a Junior Assistant Scoutmaster (JASM), where her primary leadership focus is mentoring and advising the younger youth leaders in the troop.
Sanford is always involved in physically demanding outdoor adventures in Scouting. Last summer she completed the Cape Fear Council’s re-creation of the 1966 Border to Border, where she and fellow participants completed a 150-mile trek by hiking, canoeing, and cycling from the Virginia to South Carolina state line. Sanford has spent her free weekends over the last several months preparing for her trip to Philmont Scout Ranch, one of Scouting’s high adventure locations that challenges Scouts with more than 214 square miles of rugged northern New Mexico wilderness. She joined the first co-ed Philmont crew in the Cape Fear Council during a 130-mile, 12-day trek this past July. The highlight of the experience was the summiting of 12,441-foot tall Mt. Baldy.
Additional information about Scouting programs can be found at BeAScout.org