Congratulations to NJ's newest Eagle Scouts

Jenn Ursillo who anchors the afternoon news and fills in for Eric Scott on the morning show, introduced me to her friend Jennifer DeGennaro whose son Matthew is on a very patriotic journey.

I had the honor of speaking at the VFW in Freehold, Monmouth County over the weekend to celebrate the achievement of two NJ young men. Matthew DeGennaro and Tyler Russ have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout as they head off to college and a career as a US Naval Officer. Both are graduates of the Colts Neck High School JRTOC unit and both served as cadet staff their Senior Year.

Matthew and Tyler have received full Navy ROTC scholarships to their respective Universities and completed Navy Basic Training on July 18-August 5 in Great Lakes, IL. They depart today, Monday, August 12, for Regimental training at their colleges.

Matthew DeGennaro and Tyler Russ with Bill Spadea

I was proud to speak about courage, sacrifice, duty, honor, and patriotism. We need to prepare and encourage more young men to pursue a career in service to their communities and country. We should be teaching patriotism in school, not pronouns. We need to reverse the course of teaching young people to hate their heritage, their faith, and their nation. Instead, schools from kindergarten through high school should be teaching American greatness and the pride we should have with the blessing of being Americans.

Bill Spadea speaking at the Freehold VFW

Of course, that blessing comes with a tremendous need for sacrifice. We can have a free country if we can maintain national borders and violence-free streets. We cannot have peace or prosperity without the sacrifice of servicemembers, police, fire, EMTs, and others who heed the call for duty.

These are the heroes who put their own life and safety at risk for complete strangers. As Americans, we should understand the biblical statement that when much is given, much is expected.

Here's a bit about these two future heroes from Jennifer DeGennaro:

Matthew De Gennaro’s Eagle Scout project was on the property of the Tinton Falls Police Department, Canine Training facility. The first part of his project involved obtaining funding and donations from Lowe’s Home Improvement Center in Marlboro. He worked with the store manager and was able to secure all the necessary supplies and equipment that were needed to construct the six (6) sniff-boxes for the Tinton Falls Canine Unit. He has several phases to the project that commenced with a 2D design of the sniff boxes and measuring out the layout for each 6’ x 6’ x 6’ cube made out of plywood. The plywood was cut to spec in his home garage and then transported to the site to be constructed and painted. He was able to secure enough volunteers to complete the build of six boxes in one 8-hour session. Matthew oversaw the volunteer efforts and helped build and paint all the sniff boxes. The sniff boxes will be used to help train the Tinton Falls Canine Unit at the refurbished facility that had been shut down for several years. As part of this project, Matthew also cleaned up several other shields and training equipment that was onsite.
Matthew recently graduated from Colts Neck High School as a c/LT S9- Public Affairs Department in the Colts Neck High School JROTC magnet program. He was awarded the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Bronze medal as well as The American Legion Bronze Medal for Military excellence. He placed in the top 5 for DECA State competition in Principles of Business Management and 3rd overall in the Monmouth County District and a top 10 DECA finalist for his Franchise Business Plan. He completed the National Youth Training camp with Boys Scouts of America during the summer of 2023. He was a varsity athlete for the CNHS Track and Field team and Editor of the CNHS JROTC yearbook. Matthew also attended NJ American Legion Boys State where he was an elected Senator in 2023. Matthew is the proud recipient of the National Presidential Preparatory Scholarship Navy ROTC at SUNY Maritime, where he will be studying Physics and International Trade and Transportation and commissioning with the United States Navy after graduation.

Tyler Russ completed his Eagle Scout project at the Lake Topanemus waterfront in Freehold, NJ. He assembled and installed several fishing line recycling containers designed to keep discarded fishing line from harming wildlife and keep the park clean. In addition, he installed and erected flagpoles on the waterfront that displayed the flags of all of the branches of the U.S. military and POW/MIA flag.
Tyler recently graduated from Colts Neck High School as a Company Commander and Officer in the Colts Neck High School JROTC. He was a Captain of the NJROTC Athletics Team and received distinction as the two-time NJROTC National Individual Push-up Champion in 2023 and 2024. Tyler is also a four-year varsity wrestler, completing his senior year as District Champion, Region place-winner, and is a two-time NJSIAA Wrestling State Qualifier. Tyler attended the NJ American Legion Boys State leadership program as a delegate and is a distinguished member of the National Honor Society.
Most recently, Tyler is a proud recipient of the Navy National ROTC Scholarship and will be attending Norwich University in the fall, where he plans to study Engineering and compete as a wrestler with the Norwich Cadets wrestling team, before commissioning with the United States Navy after graduation.