Oak Forest HS's Morrissey Attains Rank of Eagle Scout

When the Oak Forest High School Drama Group closed the show on “Bye Bye Birdie,” it marked the last day Senior Ronan Morrissey called the shots on the Oak Forest High School stage. For four years, Ronan Morrissey has been a mainstay in the drama program of Oak Forest High School as the leader of the stage crew and the backstage manager since his sophomore year. Although he has experienced life in front of the curtain, as Ronan has starred as the Christmas Madrigal’s Court Jester the last several years, he much prefers life behind the curtain, making sure things go the way they are supposed to go, and managing little disasters in the calm way he has behind the scenes.

This thinking about others is what made Ronan think of his beloved drama program when he was wondering what to build for his Eagle Scout project this year. Yes, in addition to his busy life stage managing and various challenging AP classes at Oak Forest High School, Ronan Morrissey also impressively achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, a rank that is only given to 4% of all scouts in the United States.

Working towards a rank of Eagle Scout takes a single minded focus that began for Ronan seven years ago. He said, “Working toward this taught me how to work on long term goals.” Part of attaining the rank of an Eagle Scout is completing an Eagle Project. Ronan got the idea for his Eagle Project at a speech tournament at Sandburg High School. “We discovered a ticket booth there,” Ronan said. Oak Forest High School Drama Group does not have a ticket booth, so this sparked his imagination and the first person he talked to was Mr. Stevens, the OFHS Drama Director. Mr. Stevens gave him the thumbs up to go ahead on the project, should Principal Dr. Brad Sikora agree to it. After a meeting with Dr. Sikora where he was enthusiastic about the project, Ronan was given the greenlight to proceed. “I started working on the project in April 2016 and ended working on it in September 2016. I planned out how I was going to build it, who was going to help me, etc. In July, we built it, and in September, we put the finishing touches on it,” Ronan said. “Mr. Stevens’ reaction was priceless. He was really surprised at how well it turned out. Although a lot of people really helped a lot, it surpassed Mr. Stevens’ expectations,” Ronan said.

Ronan officially presented his Eagle Scout project in November and his Eagle Scout Rank was awarded on November 18. In January, Ronan was able to join the ranks of other Eagle Scouts by joining the National Eagle Scout Association. Famous members of this association are Neil Armstrong, Steven Spielberg, Gerald Ford, and even Oak Forest High School Spanish teacher Michael Blakley, so Ronan is in good company.
Becoming an Eagle Scout represents a lot of hard work, but striving for this rank also “taught me to follow the scouting law in everyday life,” said Ronan. The scouting law is being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.