Eagle Scout Award to Naomi Burakovsky

Naomi Burakovsky completed her Eagle Board of Review in February and will honored at an Eagle Scout Court of Honor soon. Naomi is the daughter of Yana and Leonid Burakovsky of Pleasanton, California.

She is a member of Troop 2942, sponsored by St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. Thanks go to her Scoutmaster, Lorraine Ferguson for her dedication to Scouting and help along the way.

Naomi has been active in Scouting since Scouting for over four years and she is a member of the first all-girls Scouts BSA troop in Livermore. Throughout her time in the troop, she took on several leadership roles, including Senior Patrol Leader, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader, Assistant Patrol Leader, Scribe and Historian. These experiences taught her responsibility, teamwork, and how to lead by example.

Scouting has given Naomi a community and sparked her love for the outdoors. The skills, lessons, experiences, friendships, and memories that scouting has given her are invaluable. Scouting has shaped her into a better and more genuine person and she could not be more grateful to the adult leaders who have become her role models today and to her scout friends who she will be close to for the rest of her life.

Naomi’s Eagle project, Youth Voices for Mental Health, is a youth-led initiative that empowers middle school students to build mental health resilience by providing resources and tools for self-help. It aspires all youth to feel confident in preventing and addressing mental health challenges through both self-help and reaching out.

As part of this project, she led a group of scouts in creating over 300 mental health resources for the middle school students of Joe Mitchell School. One of the resources were mental health bracelets which were made for the students. She also gave a presentation to these students about mental health and wellbeing. The project consisted of 34 helpers and took over 150 hours.

Naomi will be a senior at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton. Her interests includ Hiking, Camping, Research, Public Health, Acrobatic Gymnastics. She was a Troop Guide at National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT), Presenter at LEAD (Leadership Education and Discovery), National Champion of Acrobatic Gymnastics, Neuroscience Club, and member of the Students Interested in Medical Science Club

To earn the rank of Eagle Scout, a Scout must be active in their troop, provide leadership, earn 21 merit badges including the areas of citizenship, camping, communications, cooking and lifesaving or emergency preparedness as well as demonstrate that they live by the principles of the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. They must also plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project benefiting a religious institution, school, or community group.

Anyone interested in joining any level of Scouting can contact the Twin Valley District Executive, Elijah Gonzles, elijah.gonzales@scouting.org.