Eagle Scout & Distinguished Eagle Scout Award

The Honor

Distinguished Eagle Scout Award

The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award is the highest honor bestowed by the National Eagle Scout Association (NESA). Established in 1969, the DESA recognizes Eagle Scouts who have achieved extraordinary national-level distinction in their profession and maintained a strong record of voluntary community service.

The criteria are stringent. A nominee must have earned Eagle at least 25 years prior — a threshold chosen because it typically takes that long to build a career, earn peer recognition, and accumulate the kind of sustained civic contribution the award is meant to honor. Nominations are submitted through local council NESA committees and reviewed by a selection committee composed entirely of Distinguished Eagle Scouts. A substantial percentage of nominations are declined.

Since 1969, the DESA has been awarded to just over 2,000 Eagle Scouts — roughly one in every 1,000 who have earned the rank. It is one of only two Scouting America awards for adults that depends on the recipient's participation in Scouting as a youth.

The award consists of a gold eagle medallion — identical in design to the silver medallion on the standard Eagle Scout medal — suspended from a red, white, and blue neck ribbon. Recipients also receive a cast bronze plaque with a gold eagle and citation, a lapel pin, and a gold eagle device for wear on the Eagle Scout square knot.

Bill Jennings earned Eagle Scout on September 9, 1976 in Memphis, Tennessee with Troop 225. His nomination for the DESA was submitted in 2017 by Chris McGugan, a longtime colleague at Cisco Systems, who simultaneously nominated Bill for the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame. The nomination documented Bill's role leading engineering teams responsible for more than 80% of today's Internet traffic — from the first monolithic network processor at Cisco, to precision atomic clocks at Symmetricom that underpin the GPS satellite system, to agricultural sensor networks at FarmX. Alongside that career, Bill served as an Assistant Scoutmaster, a Philmont Ranger, the Order of the Arrow Section Chief for Tennessee and Kentucky, and recipient of the E. Urner Goodman Founder's Award and the Vigil Honor. McGugan, who knew Bill as both a professional colleague and through Scouting, wrote: "Not only is Bill a distinguished engineer, he continues to be cheerful and serves his family, community, and Church in spite of the hardships he has endured. I can think of no other Eagle Scout more deserving of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award."

Notable Recipients

Gerald R. Ford
38th President of the United States

Neil Armstrong
Astronaut · First person on the Moon

Steven Spielberg
Film director

Jim Lovell
Astronaut · Apollo 13 commander

Sam Walton
Founder, Walmart

J. W. Marriott Jr.
Chairman, Marriott International

Ross Perot
Businessman · Presidential candidate

Bill Bradley
NBA champion · U.S. Senator

The Rank

Eagle Scout

Becoming an Eagle Scout is, above all, a journey of becoming. It is less about the badges earned or the checkboxes completed than about who a young person grows into along the way — and who they remain for the rest of their life.

The Eagle Scout rank has endured for more than a century because it is fundamentally about character. From their first days in a Scout troop, young people are asked to live a code — the Scout Oath and Scout Law — that elevates honesty, helpfulness, and moral courage to daily habits. By the time they reach Eagle, these are not recited ideals but internalized ones, tested repeatedly against the friction of real challenges: leading a group of younger Scouts through the backcountry, managing a community project with real stakeholders, rising to serve even when no one is watching.

Research by Baylor University confirms what Eagle Scouts and those who love them have always known: compared to their peers, Eagle Scouts are measurably more likely to hold leadership positions in their workplaces and neighborhoods, to volunteer consistently, to be goal-oriented, and to try to exceed expectations rather than merely meet them. These are not coincidences. They are the product of a long training in self-discipline, accountability, and service.

Lead by Example

Eagle Scouts learn early that authority without integrity earns nothing. They lead not by directing others to do what they themselves would not, but by going first — earning trust rather than demanding it.

Serve Others Selflessly

The Eagle Scout service project is the rank's defining rite. Planning it, funding it, leading volunteers through it — the project demands project management, community stewardship, and genuine investment in something larger than the Scout themselves.

Be Prepared — for Life

The Scout motto speaks to more than first aid kits and weather. It describes a mindset: anticipating consequences, thinking before acting, and approaching uncertainty with calm readiness rather than panic. Eagle Scouts carry this orientation into every room they enter.

Stay Curious, Keep Growing

The breadth of merit badges — from cooking and personal finance to citizenship and environmental stewardship — is designed to produce curious, well-rounded people who understand that learning never ends. Eagle Scouts tend to become lifelong learners because Scouting made them one.

The Eagle Scout Court of Honor — where family, mentors, and fellow Scouts gather to witness the recognition — is itself a profound moment. It marks not just what a Scout has done, but who they have become: someone prepared to lead, to serve, and to honor the commitments they have made. The Eagle badge, once earned, is worn for life. And the character that earned it goes with the Scout every day thereafter.

A Few Who Wore the Eagle

Dan Reynolds
Lead singer, Imagine Dragons

Zach Galifianakis
Actor · The Hangover trilogy

Glen Schofield
Co-creator of Call of Duty

Mike Rowe
Host of Dirty Jobs

Steve Fossett
First solo circumnavigation of Earth by balloon

Guion Bluford
First African American in space

Percy Sutton
Civil rights leader · Revived the Apollo Theater

Wynton Marsalis
Jazz musician · Nine-time Grammy winner

E. O. Wilson
Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist

David Lynch
Director · Twin Peaks creator

Stephen Breyer
Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court

Michael Bloomberg
Mayor of New York City · Founder, Bloomberg L.P.

Closer to Home

Three Courts of Honor, Four Eagles: The Jennings Children

The most personal proof of what Eagle Scout means to Bill Jennings is found not in awards or keynote speeches, but in the Courts of Honor he sat through as a father — three ceremonies, for four children. Olivia and Will earned their Eagle at the same time and celebrated together in a single, shared Court of Honor.

Mark Jennings

Eagle Scout · June 3, 2024 · Troop 581

Mark earned Eagle at 12 — the youngest of the four — having served as Patrol Leader, Chaplain's Aide, Order of the Arrow Representative, and Senior Patrol Leader. His Eagle project built a concrete staircase connecting the upper parking lot to the garden at Immanuel Lutheran Church, completing a landscaping vision the congregation had held for over a decade. Mark earned 61 merit badges and eight Eagle Palms, attended the 2023 National Scout Jamboree, and serves as the Saklan Lodge's Vice-Chief of Administration.

Olivia Jennings

Eagle Scout · Troop 582

Olivia served as Patrol Leader, Senior Patrol Leader, and the troop's first female Junior Assistant Scoutmaster. Her Eagle project installed lighting and moved signage for Live Oak Adult Day Services, a senior center in San Jose. She earned the Triple Crown of National High Adventure — Philmont, Sea Base, and Summit — completed more leadership training than any Scout in her troop, including ILST, NYLT, and NAYLE, and went on to serve on Philmont's backcountry staff.

William Jennings

Eagle Scout · Troop 581

Will served as Senior Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader, Troop Guide, Instructor, and Outdoor Ethics Guide. His Eagle project designed and built 10 redwood benches for Bellarmine College Preparatory. He had backpacked more than 500 miles by the time he earned Eagle, completed the ROCS and Rayado treks at Philmont, and went on to serve as a Philmont Ranger.

Henry Jennings

Eagle Scout · Troop 581

Henry served as Senior Patrol Leader, Troop Guide, and Chaplain's Aide, while active in Venturing Crew 479. His Eagle project replaced a rotting retaining wall at Immanuel Lutheran Church with a matching landscaping brick wall. Henry completed NYLT and NAYLE at Philmont, earned the Triple Crown of National High Adventure (Northern Tier, Philmont, Sea Base), served as crew leader on a sailboat in the Florida Keys, and represented Scouts BSA at the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea.

The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award Passed Forward

Nominating a Friend: Dr. Jeffrey E. Bozanic

Bill Jennings presenting the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award to Dr. Jeffrey Bozanic — Bill Jennings presenting the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
to Dr. Jeffrey E. Bozanic

One of the privileges the DESA confers is the right to nominate someone equally deserving. For Bill Jennings, that person was Dr. Jeffrey E. Bozanic — a scientist, explorer, and educator who built one of the most remarkable careers in the history of scientific diving, and who has lived the Scout Oath as faithfully as anyone Bill has known.

Jeff earned Eagle Scout in 1972 in Huntington Beach, California. He went on to lead more than 70 diving expeditions across the globe, co-author the Antarctic Scientific Diving Manual, edit the NOAA Diving Manual, and write Mastering Rebreathers — the definitive textbook on advanced diving used by instructors worldwide. His research teams discovered more than 200 new species; four bear his name. He has been honored by eight competing organizations across his field, including the DAN/Rolex Diver of the Year award and the NAUI Lifetime Achievement Award.

Beyond the career, Jeff averaged over 1,200 volunteer hours annually for the last eight years he tracked them — assisting law enforcement with cave rescue operations, supervising the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber, and serving Scouting at every level from unit to national.

Jeanne Sleeper, former Executive Director of NAUI, put it simply: the drive and results of goal setting and hard work all started in 1972 when Jeff became an Eagle Scout. Nominating him for the DESA was one of the most gratifying acts of Bill's Scouting journey — proof that the values forged around a campfire travel far, and last a lifetime.