During his Eagle Scout service project last year, Westerville Central High School senior Haden Fulkerson decided to document his steps, laying out a road map on how others can get the most out of their Scouts experience.
His journal eventually became “SOAR: An Eagle Scout’s Guide to Advancement and Leadership,” a self-published guide that offers insight and advice for Scouts at every point of their journey from one of their own.
“There are books by adults intended to help Scouts,” said Fulkerson, whose book was published earlier this month and is available on Amazon. “There are books by adults intended to help adults. But the angle I played at is something really new. I think it could help people my age.”
The book covers a variety of topics for Scouts, from tips on leading service projects to advice on becoming a more impactful leader. The book also offers insight for adult Scout leaders interested in innovative approaches to engage their Scouts.
Fulkerson started writing as a junior during his Scouts service project, which focused on creating an outdoor classroom at WCHS’ land lab by removing invasive trees and replacing them with native plant life, installing a bench and creating a path.
He drafted 40,000 words in four months but stepped away from the project at the onset of the pandemic last February. He picked up his draft in November, determined to complete his work. He considered publishing his writing as an article before settling on a book.
“The best way to get this information across and truly help people and give back to the organization would be to have a book anybody in the country could see and read it,” he said.
He was interested in showing how the Scouts program helps build skills that are transferable to various career paths, making connections with notable Eagle Scouts who became academics and athletes. For his book, he included interviews with Peter Agre, a professor of biological chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who shared a Pulitzer Prize in chemistry in 2003 and three-time Olympian Willie Banks.
“Even if Scouts haven’t decided what career path they wanted to go on, they are going to see how they are part of a program that sets them to do this,” he said.
He worked with an editor on his book and sought help from WCHS graduate and Eagle Scout Jake Bibbo to create the cover art.
“I really hope this book inspires people to lead to serve and work really hard to better themselves,” he said.
Fulkerson is proud to be an author at 17 but plans to spend the rest of the school year focused on his senior year and the upcoming track season.
This fall, he plans to study psychology, business and political science as well as run track and cross country at Emory University.