The community hall at St. Mark's Church was dimly-lit Monday night as Boy Scouts, their parents, and others proudly watched 18-year-old Tyler Boden advance to the most elite rank of scouting: Eagle Scout.
Eagle is the only rank a scout can carry into adulthood. Of all the boys who have gone through scouting, It has been achieved by only two million scouts in the past hundred years or so. And it 's usually a harbinger of future achievement: two of the 12 Apollo astronauts who walked on the moon were Eagle Scouts. Scouting makes strange bedfellows: Donald Rumsfeld and Michael Moore were Eagle scouts. Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore, LDS President Howard W. Hunter, and L. Ron Hubbard all attained the rank, as did film directors Steven Spielberg and David Lynch.
And this night Tyler Boden of Altadena's Boy Scout Troop 1 would join their number in a solemn Boy Scout Court of Honor.
Attaining Eagle requires completion of many achievements and projects of increasing difficulty over years. But it also takes a single-minded dedication to a long-term goal that may be even harder for today's teenagers who live in a fast-paced world of Facebook, video games, and other 24x7 technology distractions.
It's challenging for any boy. And particularly challenging for Tyler, because he's autistic.
While that developmental condition is still poorly understood, it hasn't stopped the 18-year-old high school senior from making his own future and reaching for the noble aims of the Boy Scouts.
"I'm just unbelievably proud of him -- it's a great achievement for any kid, any scout," his mom Nan Boden said. "It was really difficult for him. There were times when I said, I couldn't do this, but he persevered."
Pictured: Altadena Sheriff Capt. Steven McLean presents
Tyler with a commendation from Sheriff Lee Baca at
his Court of Honor ceremony Monday.
While the scouting has ways for special needs kids to advance, even into Eagle rank, Nan says "he didn't use any of them -- he just did it in a brute force way."
“Sometimes I get frustrated with challenges,” Tyler said. “Boy Scouting helped me learn how to stay calm and to finish what I start.”
A central characteristic of autism is difficulty relating to other people. Autistic people often cannot pick up on common social cues and may keep intensely to themselves, even if they have a prevailing hobby or acute interest, as the condition is commonly portrayed in the media.
That perception of autism makes it all the more rewarding that Tyler has been able to adhere to the twelve points of the Boy Scout Law, which includes being kind and helpful. While traits like compassion, consideration, and cooperativeness may seem simple to most people, for the Altadena teenager they are nothing less than extraordinary.
Each aspiring Eagle Scout is required to do an extensive project, and Tyler choose one to help others by building a 4’x6’ welded-steel animal hutch for Danny’s Farm, the local petting zoo serving children with developmental disabilities that was code enforced out of Altadena earlier this year.
Cathy Gott, founder of Danny’s Farm, has known Tyler since he was a preschool classmate of her son, Danny.
Pictured: Tyler, his animal hutch, and
his crew at Danny's Farm in Altadena.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to watch Tyler grow into such an incredible young man. His kindness and generosity was exemplified when he delivered a beautifully crafted animal hutch to Danny’s Farm. His hutch is home to darling critters that bring love to children in need. We are so proud of you, Tyler!”
Allan Yovanovich, from Troop 1 in Altadena, has been Tyler's scoutmaster since 2005, and he finds the young man's accomplishment particularly rewarding.
“Being part of Tyler’s development as a scout, and as a young man, has been one of the highlights in my twenty-plus years as a scoutmaster.”
“We are so proud of all that Tyler has overcome to reach the rank of Eagle. There were many times that Tyler doubted himself, but he persevered. We can’t thank Troop 1 and the Boy Scouts enough for the training Tyler received to teach him to always strive for high ideals, but to approach each goal one step at a time. That patient, step-by-step approach has made possible Tyler’s remarkable transformation.” said mom Nan, 45, who has a Ph.D. in computer science from Caltech and is CEO of an Arcadia high-performance computer networking firm. Tyler's dad Andy Boden, 48, has a Ph.D. in particle physics from UCLA and is the Deputy Director of the Caltech Optical Observatories at Caltech.
The foundation of Tyler's success is the innovative programs of Village Glen School in Sherman Oaks, where he will graduate in June with his high school diploma. This specialized school addresses kids with social and communicative disorders, giving them a strong academic education while teaching the interaction skills for living in the busy 21st Century.
Tyler first entered Village Glen as a first grade student in 1999 and, though he has faced the challenges associated with autism, Tyler is now an independent young man who has achieved success both academically and socially.
His Village Glen homeroom teacher Dana Pournelle says that “Tyler is mature beyond his years in many ways. I can always depend on him to help with managing schedules and watching out for his peers on academic field trips. He has a couple of good pals in his homeroom, but he really helps all the students.”
People with autism are often portrayed as having a childlike and insular vulnerability. It took many years for him to come out of his shell, but Tyler's accomplishment shows that those with unusual challenges can rise above their supposed limitations.
Next year the 6-ft-3 teenager will attend Pasadena City College, where he plans to study computer technology. “I plan to keep living in Altadena and to become a computer hardware engineer. I want to work with computers, maybe even one day build a supercomputer.”
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Tyler's uncle John L. Jackson is largely responsible for the story and interviews.
