Bierman makes Eagle Scout

On June 18, Dominick Matthew Bierman was celebrated for attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. Fellow members of Troop 555, his family, friends and dignitaries attended the ceremony at Christ Lutheran Church in Jim Thorpe.

Bierman chose to complete two different projects at L.B. Morris Elementary School in Jim Thorpe to complete the requirements of becoming an Eagle Scout. Bierman constructed two lost-and-found boxes for the school. In addition he built two “buddy benches.”

L.B. Morris Principal Holly Mordaunt expressed her gratitude to Bierman for his hard work. She explained the important role that the benches are playing in teaching “inclusion” at the elementary level.

“The students are taught that if you have no one to play with you can go and sit on the bench,” she explained. “If they see someone sitting on the bench with no one to play with, they are taught to go over and ask them to join them.”

Mordaunt also joked that the lost-and-found boxes looked awfully big at first, but that they are regularly filled to capacity.

Bierman chose the school to receive his gift in honor of his late grandfather Thomas Sangiuliano, who was once principal of the school and later the superintendent of the Jim Thorpe Area School District.

Bierman also honored his grandfather Charles Bierman with one of his mentor pins for assisting him with every aspect of his project.

His father, Shawn Bierman, received his second mentor pin. Shawn Bierman serves as an assistant scoutmaster at Troop 555.

Former Troop 555 Scoutmaster Ray Attewell praised Bierman for “always being present.”

Attewell spoke of how often it’s about the funny stories and crazy stunts the Scouts pull during their years in scouting that are spoken of at their honor courts. But he said Bierman was different.

“I thought long and hard about Dominick,” Attewell said. “And I really couldn’t think of a nickname or a funny story. What I kept coming back to was that Dom was always there. He was always present and ready to help.”

Attewell noted that Bierman was a Scout that you could trust and count on.

“Dom was one of the only kids who we would let dress up in costume for breakfast with Santa,” he said. “That’s because people will stick little babies into the characters’ arms for photos, and it’s not a lot of these Scouts I trust holding a 3-month-old.”

Carbon County Commissioner Thomas Gerhard and Jim Thorpe Mayor Michael Sofranko both presented Bierman with resolutions in his honor. Harold Litts of Elks Lodge 319 presented Bierman with his pin set.

Bierman’s honor court will be the last one presided over by Litts, who has been a fixture for many years, but who says he will no longer make the trip to deliver the pins.

Dominick Bierman is the son of Shawn and Thea Bierman and a senior at Jim Thorpe High School.