Max Stephen Bonner, Jr., a member of the Scouts BSA Troop 455 and a resident of Oakland, TN, has earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank that the Boy Scouts of America offers. Since the 1910 inception of the Boy Scouts of America, only 4 percent of Boy Scout members have ever attained this prestigious honor.
Max participated in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scout Troop 455 programs at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Lakeland, TN. At the age of 16, Max graduated Salutatorian from Gateway Christian School Class of 2020. Today, Max is a Sophomore at The University of Memphis. Max is a member of the Hickory Withe Baptist Church of Hickory Withe, Tennessee.
Max is the son of Magalys and Max Bonner, Sr. and brother of Stephanie Bonner of Oakland, TN. He is the grandson of Matias and Elodia Osorio Salinas and the late Billie and Betty Bonner of Grenada, MS (formerly of Quitman, MS).
Max achieved the required merit badges, rank advancements, leadership positions, service and camping hours to receive the Eagle Scout award. For his final project, the Eagle Project, Max led the construction of six cedar wood picnic tables for Herb Parsons’ Lake in Fayette County Tennessee. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency operates the lake, which is named in honor of Herb Parsons, the famed exhibition shooter from Fayette County Tennessee. Max identified the need for picnic tables in the park area that would be naturally resistant to insects and rot. On June 12, 2021, Max led a group of 15 fellow Scouts and adult leaders building the six picnic tables and completing the donation. Damon Boyce was the representative for the TWRA throughout the project and received the donation on their behalf.
Max said, “I would like to extend my most sincere thanks to all of the volunteers participating in my Eagle Project. Also, I would like to thank all the volunteer leaders and parents at Troop 455 for all the hours spent helping me develop through the Scouts BSA program. I am especially appreciative of the people that were mentors to me during my years at Troop 455: Max Blake, Jr., Charles Haney, Chance Kornrumpf and Dave Kraehmer. The experiences that I enjoyed, the skills that I learned and the maturity that I developed while in scouting will be part of my life forever.”
On November 2nd at International Harvester Managerial Park in Lakeland, TN, a Court of Honor ceremony attended by fellow scouts, parents and friends was held honoring Max as he took the oath of an Eagle Scout.
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the nation’s largest and most prominent values-based youth development organizations. The BSA provides a program for young people that builds character, trains them in the responsibilities of citizenship participation, and develops personal fitness. The BSA offers year-round programs for youth of ages 5 to 21 through Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Venturing, Sea Scouts, and Exploring.
In 1907, Lord Baden-Powell, an English soldier, devised the Scout motto: BE PREPARED. He published it in Scouting for Boys in 1908. Two years later, in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was founded.
