By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



A Brookside teen has earned the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout at the young age of 15.

Tyler Price, a sophomore at Gardendale High School, headed up a project at Five Mile Creek in order to earn the honor.

Tyler and other Boy Scouts built a wooden 8-foot by 6-foot bridge at a washed-away area of Five Mile Creek at Brookside’s Greenway Trail.

Brookside Mayor Roger McCondichie said the project, which also included clearing the area, is a big benefit to the community.

“He wanted to do something that would be there for awhile, something that people would enjoy,” said Tyler’s mother, Tammy Price. His father is Greg Price.

Tyler has been involved in scouting since he was in the Cub Scouts in first grade. Eagle Scout is the highest rank in Boy Scouts of America.

Tyler said he was able to earn the rank because of motivation from his parents and by “sticking with it and working hard.”

“As I got older, I set goals that I wanted to achieve,” said Tyler. “This was just one of them.”

His mother agrees that she pushes her son hard when it comes to the Scouts.

“The service end of the Scouts is what his dad and I like,” said Tammy. “You have to be focused and you have to be determined.”

Tammy is involved in Tyler’s Boy Scout Troop 205, of Dora, by serving as a badge counselor.

She makes sure the boys fulfill all of the requirements before earning badges.

“I encourage all of them,” she said. Tyler has 29 complete badges and two incomplete, meaning he still has a few requirements to meet for them.

The most difficult, and perhaps the most rewarding, badge for Tyler to earn was the disability awareness badge. Earning it required working with people with disabilities for at least 100 hours.

For that badge, Tyler helped at a Scout troop in Homewood that is for disabled children and adults.

“I watched him get upset,” said Tammy. “I watched him question why. I watched him grow up.”

Tyler said that being a Boy Scout has made him a better person.

“It helps you grow up quicker,” he said. “It teaches you how to be a leader. It teaches you a way of life that is good to have.”

In addition to earning his Eagle Scout rank, Tyler recently attended the 2007 Congressional Student Leadership Conference in Boston, Mass.

The invitation-only leadership program is for exceptional high-school students with a record of academic achievement and community involvement.