Middlefield Scout Joins Elite Group (video)

It's not everyday that someone unearths dinosaur tracks, but you can count Ben Hamilton among them, and now he's joined another elite group.

On Sunday, Hamilton was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout during a Court of Honor ceremony at the Center Congregational Church in Meriden.

"Ben embodies the scout moto,"Be Prepared," Troop 33 Scout Master Robin Heath said.

Hamilton, a recent graduate of Coginchaug Regional High School, has joined an elite list of Boy Scouts that have achieved the highest rank, a group that numbers fewer than three percent of scouts nationwide.

"I want to give my biggest thanks to my parents (Kenneth and Maureen Hamilton of Middlefield) and my sister Katie," especially for the rides to camp, he said after also thanking several of his fellow scouts and members of the community for their help throughout his journey.

Hamilton's accomplishments include attending all three Boy Scouts High Adventure camps, located in Canada, New Mexico and Florida.

He did not hesitate when asked which trip was his favorite.

"Definitely Northern Tier, because my dad got to go," he said.

For his Eagle Scout project, Hamilton cleaned and improved the Powder Hill Dinosaur Park on Powder Hill Road.

"I fixed up all the fences that had fallen down over time. I had a local sign company, New England Sign Carvers make a sign. They were awesome," Hamilton explained. "Then I got the town crew to pull out some large stumps that were leftover from a windstorm."

During the project, Hamilton worked closely with a UConn grad student who'd begun mapping out all of the dinosaur prints at the park.

"I ended up excavating part of the park and I found seven prints that were easy to identify," he said.

The project also lead to another relationship between fossil enthusiasts.

"Ben educated me as to the era of the park. We all know about Jurassic park... but wasn't our park pre-jurasic?" Middlefield First Selectman Jon Brayshaw asked Hamilton during Sunday's ceremony. "Triassic, okay so Middlefield goes back a long way."

Also in attendance Sunday were Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and state Rep. Matthew Lesser, who represents Middlefield.

"This is the sixth Eagle Scout [in Middlefield] this year... it seems to be a testament to the strength of this troop and to this community that we're producing young men of such an extraordinary caliber," said Lesser, who presented Hamilton with a proclamation from the legislature, one of many gifts he received. 

During the ceremony Hamilton was presented with the Eagle Scout badge of Pastor James Olson, who earned the honor in 1984 and choose to give to Hamilton as a token of his appreciation.

Hamilton will attend the University of Connecticut this fall to study engineering.

Editor's Note: Katie Hamilton (Ben's sister) provided photos for the gallery.