Louisianian receives highest Boy Scout commendation

It’s an achievement that puts you in a very exclusive club.

It’s an achievement that earns you congratulations from the president, past presidents, the governor, a bishop and a brigadier general, as well as other government officials.

That achievement is becoming an Eagle Scout.

GOLDEN ZENON IV

And it was that achievement earned recently by Golden J. Zenon IV, of Lafayette, La.

Zenon, 16, is the son of Dr. and Mrs. Golden J. Zenon III. He was officially recognized as an Eagle Scout at a ceremony on January 4 in Lafayette before a gathering of 150 family members, friends, scouts and dignitaries.

For his accomplishment, Zenon received congratulatory letters from President Obama, former President George and Barbara Bush, former President Jimmy Carter, former vice president Al Gore, Secretary of State John Kerry, Mark Welsh III, General United States Air Force Chief of Staff, Michael Donley, Sec of the Air Force; Les Kodlick, Brigadier, General of the United States Air Force; Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education; the Rev. Michael Jarrell, Bishop of Lafayette and Governor Bobby Jindal.

In his quest to become an Eagle Scout, Xenon earned a total of 44 merit badges, was elected to the Order of the Arrow and was recognized in 2012 as “Arrowman of the Year,” completed a 10-day, 60-mile Boy Scout high adventure backpacking trek and organized and lead a team of fellow Scouts that restored an iron “fence” at the Immaculate Heart of Mary mausoleum in Lafayette, La.

This article originally published in the January 20, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.