Darius Bhadha
Darius started his Scouting adventures in the first grade. He began as a Tiger Cub with Pack 302 associated with Monte Vista Elementary School. He earned his Bobcat, Wolf, Bear and Webelos badges including the Arrow of Light. Paul Backes was his Den leader all five years.

Darius began his Boy Scout journey in Troop 288 in March 2007. During his six years in Boy Scouts, he had dedicated Scoutmasters including Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Neubrand, Mr. Turner and other leaders including Mr. Markonich, Mr. McDonald, Mr. Hanes, Mr.Leef, Mrs. Fritz, Mrs. Markonich, Mrs. Wilt, Mr. Kawahara, Mr. Ferraro, Mr. Schwing, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Diradourian, and others. With their guidance and assistance he was able to attain his Eagle Scout rank.

He earned 28 badges: citizenship in the world, citizenship in the nation, citizenship in the community, communications, cycling, canoeing, camping, environmental science, engineering, family life, life saving, first aid, nature, pottery, small boat sailing, swimming, emergency preparedness, rifle shooting, personal fitness, home repairs, path finding, finger printing, motor boating, Indian lore, wilderness survival, rowing, sculpture and personal management.

His leadership positions and training included senior patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader, Order of the Arrow – troop representative, instructor, troop guide, patrol leader, assistant patrol leader and scribe.

Order of the Arrow – Spe-Le-Ya Lodge #249.

Scouting adventures included Emerald Bay, Chawanakee, Fiesta Island, rock climbing, white water rafting, canoeing, Camporee, Lucerne gliding, snow sports, beach camping and rocket outing.

Scouting has exposed Darius to many activities and adventures that would have been left unexplored otherwise.

For his Eagle Project, he helped label and sort new and non-fiction books at his elementary school library, La Crescenta Elementary School, according to their Accelerated Reader (AR) level to help students select books according to their reading level, and to make it easy for them to take the appropriate AR level tests.

He enjoys playing water polo, socializing, driving, running marathons, competing in triathalons, hiking, snowboarding, listening to music and swimming.

Darius successfully completed his third L.A. Marathon on March 17.

Darius is a junior at Crescenta Valley High School. He is on the high school water polo and swim teams.



Easun Arunachalam
Easun attended his first and only Cub Scout meeting at Dunsmore Elementary School when he was in kindergarten. His Scouting career hadn’t yet begun – probably because he hadn’t met a Neubrand. The summer before his freshman year, he was encouraged by Chitra Ramanan to try Troop 288. He did and meeting Todd Neubrand there was all it took to get Easun hooked.     Under the invaluable leadership of Scoutmasters Todd Neubrand and Andy Turner, he achieved the rank of Eagle in just over three years. The vibrant atmosphere of this Troop, along with the able leadership of dedicated adult volunteers, makes this a well-oiled machine. Easun intends to give back to the Troop by becoming an ASM when he turns 18.

Easun earned the following badges: environmental science, first aid, finger printing, electricity, electronics, family life, personal management, personal fitness, swimming, citizenship in the community, citizenship in the nation, citizenship in the world, camping, communications, path finding, engineering, art, photography, emergency preparedness, bird study and robotics.

He held the leadership positions of assistant senior patrol leader, patrol leader, assistant patrol leader, librarian, scribe and instructor.

Memorable Scouting adventures included Lilly Meadows, Mount Pinos, Point Mugu, white water rafting, West Coast Jamboree, wilderness survival, Chantry Flats, Devil’s Punchbowl, Sespe Wilderness, Camp Trask and Cooper Canyon.

Easun’s Eagle project was to build tables and benches using concrete, wood and ceramic tiles to provided much needed seating at his high school. It took a dozen volunteers and over 300 hours to complete this project over a period of three weekends.

Easun is grateful to all the Scouts and adult volunteers who contributed their valuable time, expertise and guidance. Special thanks are extended to his two project coaches Vincent Moultrie and Robert Ferraro.

In his spare time, Eason enjoys birding, cycling, chess, all things Google, listening to TED talks.

As a senior at CVHS, he is awaiting college admission decisions. As of mid March, Easun has been accepted to UC Berkeley as a regent scholar, UCSD regent scholar, USC and Georgia Institute of Technology. For the past six months, he has been working on a research project on glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and most aggressive malignant primary brain tumor, at City of Hope. Easun hopes to pursue medical research for a career.



Lucas Julian Markonich
Lucas was born into Scouting, being the third son of Steve and Shirley Markonich. His parents and older brothers Kevin and Tim were actively participating in local units when he was born.

Lucas started his Scouting career as a Tiger Cub with his best friend Niki Pappas at Cub Scout Pack 310 in first grade at Lincoln Elementary School. Throughout his days in Den 6 and Flaming Arrows patrol, Lucas earned all the Cub Scouting awards and ranks including the Arrow of Light under the guidance of his Den leader (Mrs.) Ronnie Tucker (2001-2004), and his father, his Webelos Den leader (2004-2006) and his Cubmaster Michael Strawn.

Lucas bridged into Troop 288 on March 28, 2006 following in the footsteps of his Eagle Scout brothers Tim Markonich of Troop 288 and Kevin Markonich of Troop 391.

His Boy Scout journey began with the Phoenix patrol, then THE patrol and finished with the Venture Penguin patrol. Lucas has great appreciation to those in his troop who helped raise him to Eagle Scout, especially Bob Fletcher, Todd Neubrand and Vartan Diradourian.

Being part of Order of the Arrow, Spe-Le-Ya Lodge 249 and the 2010 National Jamboree contingent was a great Scouting experience. Getting to know others Scouts outside of his home Troop, making new friends and becoming a part of the National Jamboree Troop 803 has been rewarding to him. He gained his thread of Scouting brotherhood through experiences by these associations.

The badges he earned included camping, personal fitness, personal management, environmental science, citizenship in the nation, citizenship in the community, citizenship in the world, family life, first aid, lifesaving, swimming, communications, collections, tracking, geology, leatherworking, path finding, canoeing, archery, oceanography, fingerprinting and veterinary medicine.

Leadership positions held were assistant patrol leader, patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader.

Favorite Scouting adventures were summer camps at Chawanakee and Camp Emerald Bay, 2010 National Jamboree (Troop 803), white water rafting trips, shooting, kayaking, snow sports, flight simulator, wind tunnel, go-karting, among other camping outings.

Lucas’ Eagle Scout project was refurbishing cabinets and building six storage dollies for a local church, the Spirit of the Foothills. His hobbies are PC gaming and reading.

Lucas is a senior at Crescenta Valley High School. After graduation, he plans to attend Glendale Community College for general education, then transfer to Cal Poly Pomona to major in animal health science and then attend Western University of Health Sciences to become a veterinarian.



Nicholas (Niki) Hill Tucker Pappas
Niki started his Scouting career as a Tiger Scout with Lucas Markonich in Cub Scout Pack 310 while in first grade at Lincoln Elementary School. He earned all the Cub Scouting rank awards including the Arrow of Light as a member of The Flaming Arrows of Den 6 under the guidance of his Cub Scout Den leaders Steve Markonich and his mom Ronnie Tucker and his Cub Masters Michael Strawn and Mr. Dols.

He joined Troop 288 when he bridged from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts on March 24, 2006.  Niki and his family are very appreciative and thankful for all the support and guidance he has received from all of the dedicated and helpful leaders in Troop 288, especially for the selfless and thoughtful leadership of Bob Fletcher, Todd Neubrand and Andy Turner, the three Scout masters during his seven years in Troop 288.

He has had many memorable Scouting adventures and learned many valuable lessons which have enriched his character for life.

Niki earned 21 merit badges: first aid, swimming, citizenship in the community, citizen in the world, cooking, leather work, personal fitness, communications, environmental science, oceanography, geology, camping, lifesaving, citizenship in the nation, family life, personal management, canoeing, rifle shooting, shot gun shooting, archery and basketry.

He held the positions of instructor and patrol leader.

Scouting adventures that are memorable include Mount Pinos, hiking, Kern, white water rafting and kayaking, Chawanakee (thrice), Polar bear swimming, rifle and shot gun shooting, canoeing, Joshua Tree, rock climbing, Leo Carillo Beach camp and participating in the camaraderie of many a campfire.

For his Eagle Scout project, Niki refurbished (cleaned, repaired, replaced rotting boards, sanded and refinished) two large existing outdoor benches located in the courtyard of St. Luke’s of the Mountains Episcopal Church.

His hobbies are writing, filming packages and films for CV TV, surfing the Web, playing video games, listening to and downloading music, going to concerts and hanging out with friends.

Niki is a senior at CV High School. He is planning to go to Glendale Community College this fall and currently participates in GCC’s Jump Start Program. He will be transferring to a university in two years. He will major in English with the goal of becoming a published novelist.



Saikiran Ramanan
Saikiran started his Scouting career as a Wolf Scout in Pack 333, located at Mountain Avenue Elementary School. After achieving the Arrow of Light, Saikiran moved to Troop 288 in 2007 to continue his Scouting career. While progressing through the Scouting ranks, Saikiran took on more responsibility by involving himself in Troop leadership. He first started as an assistant patrol leader, moved on to patrol leader, then Den chief for Pack 310 and an instructor, and finally the assistant senior patrol leader in 2010, which led to his elected role as the senior patrol leader in early 2011. Since then, Saikiran has attempted to continue his Scouting career.

He earned 29 merit badges/awards: family life, citizenship in the community, personal management, reading, music, swimming, citizenship in the nation, personal fitness, communications, environmental science, citizenship in the world, electricity, electronics, art, chemistry, fingerprinting, engineering, home repairs, photography, path finding, emergency preparedness, small boat sailing, first aid, pioneering, sculpture, camping, wilderness survival, robotics and Order of the Arrow.

For his Eagle project, he converted the unusable space underneath the ramp at the American Legion Post 288 into water-resistant, usable and lockable storage space for the American Legion Post.

His hobbies include building mechanical and electrical things, reading and reddit.

Saikiran is currently a junior at Clark Magnet High School and hopes to go to a university to study engineering.



Tanner Haynes
Tanner joined Scouting as a first-year Webelo with Pack 310 at Lincoln Elementary School. During his short tenure, he managed to earn his Bobcat along with a small variety of activity badges and belt loops. The short time he spent as a Cub Scout encouraged him to further his Scouting career when he bridged into Troop 288 in March 2004. Over the next seven years, Tanner grew in the spirit of Scouting under the guidance of several Scout masters including Mike Webster, Bob Fletcher, Todd Neubrand and Andy Turner and other adult leaders such as Mr. Cohen, Mr. Leef, Mr. Chrisney, Michael Strawn, Vartan Diradourian, Mrs. Carter, and countless others.

Merit badges earned were emergency preparedness, first aid, citizenship in the world, citizenship in the nation, citizenship in the community, environmental science, swimming, lifesaving, archery, leatherwork, camping, communications, canoeing, geology, personal fitness, personal management, motorboating, rowing, woodcarving, rifle shooting, family life, pioneering and wilderness survival.

Assistant patrol leader, patrol leader, quartermaster, librarian, and summer camp patrol leader were some of the leadership positions held.

Favorite Scouting adventures were white water rafting, camping, hiking and summer camps (Camp Mataguay, Camp Kern, Camp Emerald Bay, Camp Chawanakee, Camp Fiesta Island).

For his Eagle Scout project, Tanner repaired and painted the parking lot wall for Crescenta Valley Community Church. His hobbies are gaming, reading, trap and skeet shooting, and theater.

Tanner is a freshman at UCLA majoring in theater and psychology.