Four long-time West Windsor Boy Scouts — Nigel Swenson, Ryan Linskey, Griffin Petri, and Matt Duffy — earned the Eagle Award. Troop 40 held the Court of Honor ceremony on December 20 at High School South. Each of the Eagle Scouts developed a project to benefit the West Windsor community.
Nigel Swenson joined scouting in December, 2007, and has served as a librarian, patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader, and instructor. He earned membership in the Order of the Arrow, the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America, in 2012. He attended several scout camps, including National Jamboree in 2010 and Philmont Scout ranch in 2011 and 2013. When Swenson served as a counselor in training at Camp NoBeBoSco, he led the merit badge fair, the swim tests, and the bridging buddies program. A graduate of High School North in 2014, he is a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan.
Swenson led a project to clean and repaint the dock at Van Nest Park, which had been fouled by geese over the years. He also added a goose fence to prevent geese from coming onto the dock. Keeping the geese away will help to preserve the dock and protect the 2009 restoration of the aquatic habitat restoration of the Grover’s Mill Pond at the park.
Ryan Linskey, who began his scouting career in the first grade with Cub Scout Pack 66, earned his Arrow of Light before bridging to Troop 40 in 2008. He has held leadership positions including patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader for outside organizations, instructor, and senior instructor.
Linskey successfully completed BSA’s National Youth Leadership Training in 2011. He celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts at the 2010 National Jamboree in Virginia, attended a Jamboree in West Virginia, and enjoyed coral reef sailing and snorkeling in 2012 at Sea Base.
A senior at High School South, where he served as a peer leader and plays cello in the school’s orchestra, Linskey has been elected to be South’s National Honor Society’s community service chair. With his passion for theater arts, he has performed in South’s fall dramas for the past four years, held stage management and student director positions in the spring musicals, and handled similar responsibilities in the school’s annual One Act Plays. Linskey plans to major in theater in college while pursuing a liberal arts education, in preparation for a career as a Broadway director.
Linskey led scouts and High School South students in transforming the school’s prop and costume storage room into a clean, organized, safe, and useful storage space that will serve the school’s theater community for years to come. The team put in 260 hours of work over 19 sessions to build two large shelving units and eight moveable clothing racks, and to sort, organize, and catalog a large volume of costumes and props.
Griffin Petri joined scouting as a tiger cub, and bridged to Troop 40 in fifth grade. He has served Troop 40 as a den chief, quartermaster, assistant senior patrol leader, and instructor. He also earned membership in the Order of the Arrow and attended National Youth Leadership Training. Petri, who has led campouts including the Klondike cold-weather campout and the State Police Camporee, served as senior patrol leader at Camp NoBeBoSco, and attended the National Jamboree in 2010 and Philmont Scout ranch in 2011. Petri has competed nationally and internationally in rowing, finishing 10th in the nation in youth nationals in the men’s lightweight 4 division.
After discovering his love of first aid in scouting, he became a state-certified emergency medical technician and volunteers at Princeton First Aid. A senior at High School South, he plans to major in public health and emergency management and join the student-run EMT squad.
A former volunteer for the recently disbanded Twin W First Aid Squad, Petri designed a 16-foot concrete walkway with four landings to connect two buildings at Twin W and enable squad members to move supplies and equipment between the buildings. A team of 27 volunteers (and one cement truck) worked for more than 360 hours.
Matt Duffy joined West Windsor Pack 66 in first grade, achieved his Arrow of Light award in 2008, and bridged into Troop 40. Matt has served Troop 40 as instructor, patrol leader, webmaster, and assistant senior patrol leader, and is now junior assistant scoutmaster. Duffy attended Camp NoBeBoSco for six years, attended the National Jamboree in 2010, sailed and snorkeled in Florida at the Sea Base Coral Reef program in 2012, and attended the 2013 National Jamboree. He has led district camporees, including the West Point Camporee in 2014. He completed his National Youth Leadership Training in 2012, was inducted into the Order of the Arrow in 2013, and subsequently attained Brotherhood status.
A senior at High School North, Duffy has worked on the school’s stage crew for musical and drama productions and was a member of the cast of the school’s production of “Alice in Wonderland.”
He enjoys computer programming and gaming and used his computer skills to build his own computer. Duffy is interested in studying artificial intelligence applied to quantitative finance after high school.
Duffy designed, constructed, and installed two wheelchair-accessible picnic tables at the playground in Zaitz Park in West Windsor. The tables were placed on beds of woodchips outlined by Belgian blocks.
