Teen organizes 5K event to make Eagle Scout

Get ready to run.
On Sunday, September 21, the Howard Beach 5K Run/Walk for Fitness will kick off at Charles Park.
But unlike other events of the same ilk, this marathon will potentially help a local youth achieve a life-long goal.
Jonathan Green, of Howard Beach’s Troop 139, has organized the run/walk as his Eagle Scout Community Service Project, which requires him to “delegate authority and draw on what has been learned.”
A candidate for the vaunted rank, he hopes the event will promote fitness.
“[The goal is] encouraging personal fitness, improving health, and creating greater awareness of health issues into our daily lives,” he said. Having participated in numerous 5K runs and marathons, including the New York Marathon, the New Jersey Marathon, and the Philadelphia Marathon, Green has also invited local law enforcement, firefighters, and paramedics in order to talk to kids and scouts as part of an educational health fair.
The 17-year-old has risen through the ranks from Scout to Tenderfoot to Second-, then First-Class, to Star to Life and now — hopefully — to Eagle Scout.
“For me, Eagle Scout is really significant,” Green said, explaining that his father, two uncles and four cousins have achieved the rank, some in the same troop. “It was natural for me to work at it to achieve the same rank.”
Running, he said, is also a family activity.
His father runs marathons and his sister, in college, is on a cross country and track team.
So on September 21, Green’s hobbies will intersect.
“He is very responsible,” said Scout Master Thomas Scorcia of Green.
Scorcia told The Courier that Green had to organize everything about the run/walk from start to finish, including getting sponsors as well as the required permits from the NYPD.
He explained that the paperwork for a candidate’s Eagle Scout Community Service Project is sent to the national level, and, once completed, the scout goes before a Board of Review.
Eagle Scout is the highest rank, Scorcia said, explaining that, once achieved, “you have the ability to teach others.”
But, he said, “it could take months” before Green knows whether he has been promoted.
The Howard Beach 5K Run/Walk for Fitness starts off with registration at 9 a.m. at Charles Park. Entry is free. Refreshments will be served.