Anish Shriram of Livingston Boy Scout Troop 12 became an Eagle Scout during a Court of Honor on Saturday, November 27. The Eagle Scout rank is the highest honor attainable in Boy Scouting, equivalent to the Girl Scouts’ Gold Award.Shriram began his Scouting career in fifth grade, following in the footsteps of his brother, Nilay, who registered for Cub Scout Pack 16. Shriram ended up joining Troop 12. His first camp-out was an arduous seven mile hike up mountains and alongside cliffs. During that memorable hike, the Scouts ended up getting so lost that a cohort of vehicles was designated to pick them up.Shriram continued under the leadership of his first patrol leader, Nishay Bhatnager. Even today, Shriram notes that he looks back fondly to his experiences “camping surrounded by drifts of snow, flooded sleeping areas, large insects, and most importantly, the ever-vibrant Scouting community that made up Troop 12.”He served multiple terms as patrol leader, den chief, and troop historian. He currently serves as a member of the LT. He maintains that the best part of his leadership roles “was the opportunity to teach and interact with those looking up to him.” Whether it be through lugging stalks of celery, cartons of oil, and loaves of bread for a nutrition demonstration, or countless plants and animal searches he led on hikes, teaching has, and will continue to be, his passion, he says.In September of 2019 Shriram began working on his Eagle Scout service project. After months of preparation, meetings with officials at various non-profit organizations, and long conversations with local donors, he partnered with the African Library Project (ALP) to collect and ship over 2,500 books for a new community library in Lethoso, Africa.Nearly the entire troop participated in the packing and preparation stage, creating a suitable environment for the books to be processed and shipped – all the while devouring three pineapple cheesecakes. Shriram was honored as a 2019 Global Literacy Champion. He continues, to this day, to participate in ALP efforts, helping organize and fundraise for Harambee, an organization which works to promote education and literacy in Sub-Saharan Africa, and coordinate northeast book drives.Shriram has earned 33 merit badges, the World Conservation Award, the Robert Henry Carl Memorial Award, the Den Chief Service Award, and the National Youth Leadership Training Certificate, and was inducted into the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s honor society.Shriram says he “absolutely loves ...
