Hillsboro High seniors and fraternal twins Aiden and Elijah Hills just celebrated a big milestone together.
They earned the rank of Eagle Scout following service projects they completed in the fall, and their court of honor ceremony was held on March 26 at the main pavilion on the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Hillsboro.
Aiden and Elijah, 18, live in Hillsboro with their grandmother, Sally Lay.
“Aiden is older by 45 minutes and was born late on Oct. 23, 2004. Elijah was born early on October 24, 2004,” Lay said. “We’ve had a lot of confusion at the doctor’s office or signing them up for school about their different birthdays, but it’s true.”
The Hills twins are members of Boy Scout Troop 406, which is the Hillsboro Community Civic Club sponsors.
For his Eagle Scout project, Aiden designed and managed the construction of a 12-by-12-foot pavilion at Hillsboro City Park.
Elijah’s service project was designing and overseeing the installation of a U.S. flag collection box in front of Hillsboro City Hall. After flags are dropped off, the Hills’ troop ceremoniously retires them.
Scoutmaster Josh Culley, who has known Aiden and Elijah since they were 11, when they first joined the troop, said most Scouts never earn the rank of Eagle Scout and, of course, it’s even rarer for twins.
“In all my years as Scoutmaster, right now, I’ve had 14 boys Eagle out,” he said.
Aiden’s project
Lay said Aiden’s pavilion project involved a lot more than just getting wood and building something.
“A lot of people think ‘it’s just a boy who has to go build something,’” she said. “For the Eagle Scout service project, the Scout is the organizer. They really are the project manager. From planning to execution, they lead fellow Scouts and even the adults to bring the project to life.”
Aiden said it cost about $1,300 to build the pavilion, and he raised the money through donations from family, friends and others.
Home Depot in Festus donated materials, and the Domino’s in Hillsboro and the old Hardee’s in Hillsboro donated food for work days on Aiden’s project, Lay said.
Aiden said the project was a good learning experience.
“I knew how to use tools, but learning about structural design, blueprints and how to be a leader on a project were the biggest things I took away from it,” Aiden said.
He said the project took 195 hours of planning and 15 hours of constructing over the course of two long days.
Elijah’s project
Lay said Elijah’s flag collection box is the size of a post office mailbox and can hold a lot of flags.
“Every time we go there and open the box, it’s stuffed with every size of flag – tiny flags you hold on a stick at a parade, to giant flags that wave on flagpoles and everything in between.”
Elijah said he got the idea for the project from his grandmother and as he researched other ideas, the flag collection box kept coming back to mind.
“I stuck with the flag box idea because the community needed it, for one,” Elijah said. “And for two, I noticed there was a lot of stuff going on throughout the world about the American flag being disrespected, so that made me want to do it.”
Elijah said he got donations from family and friends to fund the project, including about $300 from a car wash he organized at the Civic Center in Hillsboro.
In addition, Amvets Post 42 donated to Elijah’s project, Lay said.
Elijah said the flag collection box took 60 hours of project planning and 30 hours of construction.
Culley said it has been a pleasure mentoring Aiden and Elijah over the years.
“It’s been really good. They both worked very hard on their projects, and over the years,” Culley said. “And most importantly, they worked together as a team to make sure they both became Eagle Scouts together.”
Culley said Eagle Scout projects are more intensive than you might think.
“They put all their ideas together in a notebook and get it approved at the Eagle Scout Board review,” Culley said. “Then once they design everything and plan it all out, organize all the materials they need, the people they need to help them with the work, the hours they think it will take, then they go back for a final Eagle Board review. They find out after they’ve finished that it takes so many more hours than they think, and that’s really the point – learning how to put in the work, how to lead and how to adapt.”
Lay said the service projects aren’t the Hills’ only impressive accomplishments. Aiden and Elijah joined a contingent of four other Scouts and three adult crew advisers on a 10-day trek hiking on the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in New Mexico.
“Months of training prepared them for the trek. They hiked mountainous terrain day after day, carrying everything they needed in backpacks weighing about 70 pounds,” she said. “It was difficult for them at times, but it’s a remarkable achievement they will never forget.”
The Hills twins graduate high school in May, and both are looking to enroll at Jefferson College in Hillsboro. Aiden said he wants to pursue a career in welding and Elijah said he plans to seek a career in computer science.