Earning the rank of Eagle Scout is an accomplishment that only a handful of Boy Scouts of America achieve. Alex Crouchman’s accomplishments in scouting go far beyond this feat. He is not just an Eagle Scout — he is a super scout. In 2010 when the Marietta resident earned the rank of Eagle at age 15, scouting celebrated its 100th anniversary. At that time, of the 114 million registered youth members of scouting, just over 2 percent became Eagle Scouts.

Crouchman, a member of Troop 795 that meets at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in east Cobb, earned another feather in his hat. He is the 184th scout in the history of scouting to earn all 134 BSA merit badges and only the third in Georgia in over 100 years.

“That is not much more than 1 in 1 million who achieve that goal,” said his father, Phillip Crouchman. His mother is Linda Crouchman.

To earn the badges, Crouchman became a qualified scuba diver; passed a FEMA Search and Rescue course; learned to rock climb, snow ski, water ski and ice skate; recovered a capsized sailing boat, canoe, rowing boat and kayak; cycled 50 miles; hiked 20 miles; backpacked for five days consecutively — and this is merely an overview of 13 of the 134 merit badges he earned.

Crouchman set his sights on earning all the merit badges at the beginning of his scouting career when an adult leader joked that he was trying to earn all 134 merit badges.

“From there on, I made the commitment to (earn all 134 badges) so I should carry it through,” Crouchman said.

For Crouchman, an honor student at Pope High School, earning the badges was not solely about the numbers. “Doing the merit badge was a good way to get an introduction to (the activity),” he said.

“I continued to realize that you could learn something from all of them, getting the experience. That’s the biggest reason I kept earning them,” said Crouchman who moved to Cobb County from England for his father’s work.

Though his scouting resume contains countless achievements including various leadership programs, the Charles Summers Triple Crown Award for completing all three BSA high adventure programs, and 11 Eagle Palms, Crouchman said his most significant accomplishment was attending summer camp as the troop’s senior patrol leader where he was in charge of coordinating 100 scouts.

Scouting provides life lessons such as leadership and determination that Crouchman said he will use forever.

“Scouting forces you to try things outside your comfort zone. You just have to go forward and try doing it the best you can. If you just go and try and do it, you’ll progress much quicker. Just go for it,” he said.

“Scouting is so much more than tying knots and learning first aid,” Crouchman said.

To learn more about BSA, visit www.scouting.org.