Juan Diego senior completes a whirlwind of accomplishments

Friday, Sep. 04, 2015

RIVERTON — Sean Edwards, a senior at Juan Diego Catholic High School, has used his time and talents over the past six months to achieve his Eagle Scout Award, play lacrosse, attend the United States Naval Academy Summer Seminar, attend Boys State (See story, right.) and serve a medical mission in Tonga.

“Overall these experiences have been really great because I have done a lot of new things; I think they will help me grow in the future,” he said. “Now I’m applying to different colleges; this is an interesting and exciting time in my life.” 

Edwards, a member of Saint John the Baptist Scout Troop 1966, earned his Eagle Scout Award with several projects at the Zachary & Elizabeth Fisher House on the grounds of the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City: He volunteered to serve meals to veterans’ families staying in the Fisher House while the veterans received medical treatment, and also raised funds to purchase a tree he planted on the Fisher House property and paint for a shed. He learned leadership and organizational skills by having other scouts assist him.

“Removing the old tree before the new one could be planted was a lot of work,” Edwards said. “The food for the two dinners was donated and served to all of the families staying in the Fisher House on two consecutive weekends. I also had music provided by a group from St. John the Baptist Parish.” 

A highlight for Edwards was the stories veterans or their family members shared during the dinners, he said.

Douglas Edwards, Sean’s father, who also is an Eagle Scout, is proud of his son’s accomplishment, he said. “Sean is thinking about going into the military and wanted to focus his project on veterans,” he said. “It was hard watching him dig out that tree and not helping him.” 

While earning his Eagle Scout Award, Edwards also played goalie for the Soaring Eagle varsity lacrosse team, of which he has been a member since his freshman year, and he traveled nationally while playing for two club teams.

In June, he turned 18 and became a First Degree Knight of Columbus at St. John the Baptist Parish in June, becoming the group’s youngest member. 

Edwards also was one of 1,500 candidates selected out of more than 6,000 applicants to attend the Summer Seminar at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., the first week of June. The weeklong seminar included getting up at 6 a.m. for physical training, character- and team-building classes and courses such as aeronautical engineering and physics, he said. He also completed an obstacle course the day after it had rained.

“It was muddy, but fun,” he said.

To end the summer, Edwards and his sister, Alysa, accompanied their mother, Dr. Annemarie Edwards, to Tonga on a medical mission with a group of 36 people in July and August. 

“We traveled to Tonga to assist patients mainly with diabetes who had already lost limbs,” said Annmarie Edwards, a podiatrist. “We treat a lot of people in Utah who fly in from Tonga, really sick with raging infections.”

While the doctors were working at the hospital in Tonga, Sean Edwards and the rest of the group helped a family by building a three-room addition on to their home; the 14-member family had been living in a one-room home, sleeping on the floor.

Before departing for Tonga, the group raised $17,000 to purchase supplies to build the addition. The building involved making concrete by crushing rocks, roofing, building bunk beds and digging a hole for a septic tank.

The group also taught preventive education classes at the local high school; close to 50 percent of the people on the Island have diabetes, said Annemarie Edwards. Sean and his sister taught exercise classes from a youth perspective. 

“The kids took us seriously during the classes; they realized they need to take care of themselves,” said Sean Edwards. “The lifestyle in Tonga is so simple and peaceful. The Tongan people are friendly and appreciative. It felt really good to help them. I learned a lot. I actually gave them my clothes and shoes when we left and came home in my swim trunks.”