Grand Detour Eagle Scout has lofty, far-ranging ambitions

Noah Hage just graduated from Faith Christian School in Grand Detour, and a few aspects of his young life have him on a path to be in elite company.

Hage joined the Cub Scouts when he was in kindergarten, and the Boy Scouts in fifth grade. On Sunday, in a 2 p.m. ceremony at First United Methodist Church in Dixon, he will be welcomed into the Eagle Scouts. Only about 8 percent of Boy Scouts reach that level.

“I just have always admired the Rangers, and I think it would be great to be part of such an elite and formidable group.”

—  Noah Hage

“I’m pretty excited,” Hage said. “It’s been a long journey from when I started to get to where I am now.”

Some of the positions Hage held in Boy Scout Troop 93 were Chaplain, Order of the Arrow Representative, Patrol Leader, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader and Senior Patrol Leader.

A service project for some organization had to be completed as an Eagle Scout requirement. Hage decided to construct two benches outside of Faith Christian School. Work would have to be completed by younger scouts, with Hage directing them as a way to show leadership.

“I got the idea for the specific benches I made while I was at my grandfather’s house,” said Hage, speaking of one of his grandfathers, Terry Johnson. “He has these same benches there that are 30 years old and look basically brand new. I figured if I was going to do a project, I’d want it to last so that it would not need to be done again. That’s how I chose these specific benches.”

Nineteen volunteers put in about 70 hours to get the benches just right. Hage’s mother, Becki, attached a plaque that read Noah Hage, Eagle Scout Project, 2021.

For Hage, the toughest part was instructing and not doing.

“It was pretty hard because there were some things I saw that I wanted done a certain way,” Hage said. “It was hard to instruct people without jumping in and doing it myself.”

One of Hage’s favorite adventures as a Boy Scout was in the summer of 2018, when he and his older brother, Christian, were part of a group that went to a 90,000-acre ranch in New Mexico for 2 weeks of hiking in the Rocky Mountains. The ranch is owned by the Boy Scouts on land donated by oil baron Waite Phillips.

“It was a really awesome hiking trip through the mountains,” Hage said. “We were carrying all of our gear with us, so we were carrying about 60 pounds, and we went about 160 miles in the 14 days we were there. …It was definitely difficult, but I wouldn’t really call it grueling. Probably the scariest moment was when my brother and I woke up with a bear outside of our tent. Other than that, it wasn’t very frightening.”

Christian Hage is a member of the Iowa National Guard who recently spent 11 months in Kosovo. (The Eagle Scout ceremony was delayed until his return). Hage’s father, David, spent 20 years in the Army and recently retired as a member of the state police. Hage’s grandfathers, Terry Johnson and Charles Hage, were members of the Marines and Army, respectively.

It was no surprise that Noah will also pursue a military career.

“All those people definitely had a huge impact on me and were very positive influences in my life,” Hage said. “I think it would be great to be like all of them.”

Hage has chosen the Army as his branch of service, and is off to a great start by acing some early tests meant to indicate if he can cut it as a soldier.

The first was the pre-screening internet-delivered computer adaptive test, or PiCAT. The second was the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB.

A good score on the PiCAT is a 50, while a little more than double that is considered excellent.

“When I was at my recruiter’s office, they had me take the PiCAT, which is sort of a shorter version of the ASVAB that isn’t timed,” Hage said. “I actually got it done faster than they expected me to, and I got a really high score. That score was high enough that I basically qualified for any job the military offers. The highest score required for any job is a 110, and I had a 129.”

The next step was at the Military Entrance Processing Station in Milwaukee. Some of those who do well on the PiCAT, about 5 percent, are chosen to take the full ASVAB test. Hage was one of those chosen.

“The guy in the room making sure nobody was cheating on the verification test, he actually came up to me said, ‘Wow, you’re one of the lucky 5 percent, huh?’ " Hage said. “He thought I was pretty unlucky for having to re-take it, but it ended up being lucky because my score went up to 131.”

After Hage’s Eagle Scout ceremony on Sunday, a going away party will be held in his honor from 3 to 5 p.m., also at First United Methodist Church. He’ll leave the next day for Fort Benning, Ga., for 8 weeks of basic training and 8 weeks of advanced individual training.

His goal is to become an Army Ranger.

“I like the idea of service and I don’t like the idea of having a desk job for the rest of my life,” Hage said. “I just have always admired the Rangers, and I think it would be great to be part of such an elite and formidable group.”