Iowa high school’s graduating class includes 5 Eagle Scouts

DENVER, Iowa (AP) - Nearly a tenth of a northeast Iowa high school’s small graduating class are Eagle Scouts.

Denver High School’s class of 2018 had 52 students, The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported . Five of them have reached the rank of Eagle Scout through Troop 118 in Denver, Iowa.

Karter Krueger, Jonah Dunkin, Trevor Thurm and Brandon Beaty began as Tiger Cubs in first grade. Nicholas Krabbenhoft joined in sixth grade after moving from Alaska.

“It’s nice to know we’ve stayed friends through the whole thing, and to see the group achieve it together, to share the honor,” Thurm said.

The five Scouts combined have more than 140 merit badges, have spent more than 150 nights camping and have done more than 1,000 documented hours of community service.

“It has been great to see them grow and step into leadership roles,” said Brent Beaty, Brandon Beaty’s father and the troop’s former Scout Master. “You couldn’t have a better group of boys.”

Their Eagle Scout project included improving a local baseball and softball field, creating a metal sign for a cemetery, rewiring a church sound system and building a Frisbee golf course.

The troop has had 59 Scouts reach the Eagle Scout ranking and currently has 20 active Scouts and 10 active leaders.

The five Eagle Scouts will be heading to college in the fall. Dunkin, Krueger and Krabbenhof plan to pursue engineering degrees at Iowa State University. Brandon Beaty plans to study industrial management at the University of Northern Iowa, while Thurm will pursue business at UNI.

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Information from: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, http://www.wcfcourier.com