ALTON - William Roderfeld, 17 and a junior at Marquette Catholic High School, recently was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout by the Greater St. Louis Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America in a ceremony.

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Roderfeld, the son of Ron Roderfeld and Patricia Steinman, officially earned his rank of Eagle Scout last Nov. 14 after completing a project of installing three new flagpoles in a visible area of St. Ambrose Catholic Church to honor Veterans from the parish.

Roderfeld's idea for the project came from the parish's priest, and was an extension of a project that he's been involved with for many years as a scout.

"For the past few years, I have been helping Troop 7 put flags up in Upper Alton on all the holidays," Roderfeld said. "With doing the flags in Upper Alton, it gave me the idea of what I wanted to do for my Eagle project. Since I belong to St. Ambrose Church, I asked Fr. Steve Janoski if he had any ideas for an Eagle project at St. Ambrose. He said it would be nice to have all the flags more visible from where they are now, and he would like to have a Vatican flag included."

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Roderfeld, who's a member of Troop 6007, sponsored by Resurrection Lutheran Church in Godfrey, was advised by Scoutmaster John Bridgeman, and took just over five months to complete. The project was completed last Oct, 11.

Roderfeld has also been a very active Scout for many years, earning the Arrow of Light award, the highest award in Cub Scouts, and is currently an active member of the Order of the Arrow in the Nisha Kittan Lodge, the BSA's version of the National Honor Society, has completed the National Youth Leadership Training course and has also hiked the Philmont Scout Ranch, a rugged 73-mile trail located in Cimarron, N.M., last June with a crew of eight scouts and their leaders from his troop.

In addition, Roderfeld is a member of the troop's Color Guard, who's responsible for putting up the flags in the Upper Alton area on each holiday, has earned 42 merit badges and has served as Librarian, Assistant Patrol Leader and Patrol Leader for the troop.

Roderfeld has been a member of the boys golf, bowling, volleyball and bass fishing teams for the Explorers. Roderfeld qualified for the IHSA Class 1A sectional golf tournament as an individual, and was a member of the bowling team that advanced to the sectional tournament.

Roderfeld gained much experience from working on the project, and also learned many valuable lessons from it.

"I learned how to take an idea, and build it into a finished project," Roderfeld said. "The project allowed me to teach younger scouts how to do jobs that were new to them. It also gave me the opportunity to spend time and work with adults and scout I normally would have not interacted with. After high school, I will attend college, and I'm considering a career in the engineering field."

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