Detroit Free Press

When Andrew Schigelone was a 12-year-old Boy Scout, he had this grand idea: He was going to earn all 121 merit badges offered by the group before the deadline — his 18th birthday.

“I kind of set this goal, but I wasn’t too serious about it,” Schigelone, a senior at Gabriel Richard High in Riverview, told the Free Press.

Six years later, Schigelone of Lincoln Park received his final badge — for archaeology — on Dec. 11, becoming the first Boy Scout from metro Detroit to earn all 121, according to Scout officials.

He is to receive his Eagle Scout award and be recognized for his accomplishment at a Scout business meeting Thursday.

The Boy Scouts offer badges for everything from cooking to camping to environmental science. The scout completes certain tasks related to the topic, and then his work is inspected before it’s approved.

Schigelone, who has participated with troops in Lincoln Park and Taylor, said he didn’t think his goal was realistic until he received 35 badges over three years at a camp in Metamora.

“I went to the camp three years in a row,” he said. “Once I got all those badges, that’s when I thought I could do it.”…

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