A Flushing Boy Scout was recognized by local elected officials after receiving the Eagle Scout badge, the highest honor a scout can receive.
Fotis Antonatos, 17, a senior at Francis Lewis High School, accepted the honor at an Oct. 13 held at Flushing’s Mythos Restaurant. Congresswoman Grace Meng, state Senator Tony Avella and Assemblyman Edward Braunstein took part in the event and applauded Antonatos for his contributions to the community.
The Boy Scout received from Meng a flag that had been flown over the U.S. Capitol, a New York State Senate Resolution from Avella and a Certificate of Recognition from Braunstein.
Antonatos has been a member of the Boy Scout Troop 268 for 12 years. It’s based at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, located at 196-10 Northern Blvd. in Flushing, and has been continuously active since 1970. He earned the distinguished award of Eagle Scout by taking on a service project to clean up and beautify areas within Alley Pond Park in Oakland Gardens.
“It’s a place that I visited often with my family growing up, and still do,” said Antonatos. “I have many great experiences in Alley Pond Park including my Boy Scout district’s own overnight camporee.”
Antonatos began the project in mid-November of 2017 with volunteers who contributed more than 120 hours of work at the park.
The Eagle Scout Service Project, is an opportunity for a Boy Scout to demonstrate leadership of others while performing a project for the benefit of his community, according to the Flushing Troop 268 website.
Additionally, Antonatos has been involved with various Eagle Scout projects including clothes, food, medical supplies and book drives.
“I’ve made a lot of friendships in my time at the Troop, and having those people around me was great for support” said Antonatos. “I think my parents are proud of me and definitely helped me along the process. They’ve definitely put their own work into it. It’s not just my achievement, but also their achievement as well to see their son complete something like this.”
The high school senior is now focused on receiving admission into a good college.
“I want to be able to study a major that interests me, so I’m looking into computer science. But ultimately I want to be able to qualify for a career in that field and be a successful person in life,” said Antonatos.
