William John Adler III
Billy is the eldest son of Suko and Bill Adler. He attended St. Bede School from kindergarten through eighth grade. Currently he is a sophomore at Loyola High School.

Billy maintains nearly a 4.0 GPA while enrolled in honors and AP courses.  Although school keeps him very busy, he has managed to stay very active with his Boy Scout Troop.

Billy bridged over from the St. Bede Pack to the JPL Troop. As a Scout, he is an active member of the Order of the Arrow Brotherhood and continues to work as a staff member at the National Youth Leadership Training. This summer, Billy was selected to participate at the National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience at Philmont, N.M.

With the support of his fellow Scouts and the La Cañada community, Billy ran two successful bone marrow registry drives. Through these efforts, he earned the Oakie Medallion Award. Additionally, Billy earned the Ad Altare Dei, World Conservation Award, and 40 Boy Scout merit badges.

Residents of La Cañada may have seen Billy’s Eagle Project in action. Once again with the aid of his fellow Scouts, friends and the La Cañada community, Billy’s Eagle project was a successful hygiene supply drive for Catholic Charities, collecting over 5,000 hygiene supplies for the needy.

In addition to helping the sick and the needy through Boys Scout activities, he also volunteers at a special needs school and tutors younger Loyola students. Billy enjoys studying Latin at Loyola.

He has earned summa cum laude on the National Latin Exam as a sophomore, and other awards as a freshman and a sophomore. Billy looks forward to studying languages in college.

Jesse Henry Castro
Jesse Henry Castro was born on Dec. 18, 1995 at Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale.    He began his Boy Scout career in the first grade as a Tiger cub in Pack 304 at Fremont Elementary School. He advanced through the ranks of Cub Scouts, earning his Arrow of Light in the fifth grade, and bridged over to the Boys Scouts troop 509 in 2006 at the age of 11.

He began participating in many troop outings: Joshua Tree National Park, Camp O-Ree, rock climbing, Big Bear mountain ski resort, Kern River, Mt. Pinos mountain bike riding, deep ocean fishing, hiking, kayaking at Channel Islands, Silver Strand State Beach, Topock Gorge canoe trip, and attended Camp Cherry Valley for three years.

Positions that Jesse has held as a Boy Scout include patrol leader in 2008, troop guild in 2010 to 2011 and he is presently a TLC instructor. In addition to Jesse’s leadership roles, he was elected to the Order of the Arrow in 2008.

For his Eagle Leadership Service Project, Jesse and his fellow Scouts re-built eight benches for the senior residents at the Twelve Oaks Retirement Home. The benches that the residents had been using were dilapidated, rotten and dangerous.

This was a much-needed improvement for the residents.

The project went smoothly and with the right number of Scouts helping, it was finished at the estimated time. His total time spent planning and carrying out the project was 180.5 hours. This project taught him organizational skills, leadership and responsibility in giving back to the community as well as time management.

In addition to Scouting, Jesse is presently a junior at Crescenta Valley High School where he is involved in sports. This is his third season playing football and his current position is receiver on the junior varsity football team. Jesse’s favorite subjects in school are mathematics and English.

Jesse is interested in studying to become a lawyer and plans on applying at Pepperdine University, Oregon State, Michigan and Cornell Law School in New York during his senior year in high school. Also during his senior year he is going to apply for scholarships. Jesse’s current grade point average is 3.8.

Aside from school and Scouting, he enjoys restoring old cars with his father. Jesse’s current project is a 1970 Ford Mustang. He and his father spend hours together working on his car. Jesse also likes to attend car shows with his family.

He has earned a multitude of merit badges. Special Awards include the Mile Swim, Order of the Arrow, Recruiter badge and Oak Badge Leadership patch.

Jesse is grateful for the dedication and hard work of the leaders and parents of Troop 509 as well as his fellow Scouts. Scouting has given him valuable opportunities to build character and develop his leadership skills. The many life skills he has learned will help him to grow more in his life. He also thanks the Lord Jesus Christ for continuing to guild him in his life.

Kevin O’Toole
Kevin O’Toole was born in Pasadena at Huntington Memorial Hospital on June 2, 1994, the fifth child of Martin and Joanna O’Toole. Kevin started in Cub Scouts in the first grade as a Tiger Cub with Pack 507 at St. Bede Elementary School. He earned the Arrow of Light Award before joining Troop 509 in May 2005.

Leading up to his Eagle Project, Kevin advanced through the ranks, was a patrol leader, troop historian, senior patrol leader and troop instructor. He earned 39 merit badges, attended Oak Badge/National Youth Leadership Training, summer camps at Cherry Valley on Catalina Island, and many other backpacking and camping trips.

Kevin’s most memorable experiences were attending a 10-day, 80-mile backpack trek at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, and the National Scout Jamboree in Virginia.

For his Eagle Leadership Service Project, Kevin constructed 10 wooden tables and renovated a large cabinet for St. Bede Church. The project lasted over a span of nine months and consisted of purchasing lumber, cutting, drilling, sanding, staining, varnishing, assembling and polishing. To raise money, Kevin held a fundraiser at St. Bede Church selling donuts. The project totaled several hundred man-hours, and the tables can be seen in use around St. Bede.

Kevin just graduated from Saint Francis High School. He earned honor roll placement for four semesters and scholar roll for four semesters. The college board named him an AP scholar with honor and he was also named a commended student by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

He played football and ran varsity track and cross-country. He was awarded the Scholar-Athlete Award and lettered three times.

He was an officer in the Key Club and was also a member of the AHEAD Leadership Program for three years. He was a member of stage crew, chorus and was an anchor on his school’s morning television network. He volunteers at Brothers Helpers, a soup kitchen, and also works at Huntington Memorial Hospital in the Emergency Room. For this he was awarded the David Dreier Youth Volunteer Award.

Next year Kevin will attend Texas A&M University in College Station, Tex. to study either architecture or mechanical engineering. He will be a member of the Corps of Cadets and plans to join the Navy after college.