Boy Scout bags state record for merit badges

PALMER — Colony High School senior and competitive swimmer Zach Bloom just became the most decorated Boy Scout in state history.

How decorated? He needs three sashes sewn together to fit all his merit badges.

At a ceremony last week, Bloom was awarded his 137th merit badge and Silver Palm for earning at least 15 badges beyond the 21 required to become an Eagle Scout. Of the 110 million boys who have been Scouts during the organization’s 105-year history, only 253 Scouts have ever accomplished this feat.

“As parents, we try to set the bar high,” said Rick, Zach’s father.

Earning those 137 badges wasn’t easy. Several times in his 11 years of Scouting, Bloom came close to earning all possible badges, he said, only to have another badge added to the list by the Boy Scouts of America. In fact, the number of badges fluctuates with the times, removing requirements for skills that have been deemed essentially obsolete and adding badges for new skills, such as one for Digital Technology.

According to scouting.org, there are currently 135 badges available, meaning Bloom actually has two more than those now in existence. However, the national record is 140, as some Scouts historically have earned more badges than were available to Bloom during his Scouting career.

Bloom’s accolades probably also have a lot to do with the fact that he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout a week before his 14th birthday, whereas many Boy Scouts tend to make the Eagle designation just before they turn 18.

If he had waited, other things may have gotten in the way.

“As soon as I started turning 16, 17, I noticed I have different priorities,” Bloom said.

Still, he set a goal, and he achieved it.

Becoming an Eagle Scout and then a state record holder was always a matter of, to steal a line from Jedi Master Yoda: “do, or do not — there is no try.”

Bloom was motivated by his older brother Spencer — also an Eagle Scout and now a dental assistant in the U.S. Air Force. At a young age, Bloom always wanted to do better but also feeling encouraged by his brother’s influence.

“He’s always pushing me to be the best I can,” Zach said. “Whenever he achieves something I always wanna one-up him ’cause I guess it’s just a brotherly rivalry that we have with each other.”

Now that he’s 18, however, Bloom must accept his graduation from Troop 325 and the end of his Scouting era as his brother did.

“It’s kinda sad because I won’t ever be able to do it again just because I’m past that magic age,” he said, “but at the same time it's a relief because I’m finally done getting all the goals that I’ve ever wanted to achieve, and now I can move on to bigger and better things.”

One of those “bigger and better” things is going to college. Bloom said he’s interested in neurology, and is currently considering attending Cornell University in New York, University of Notre Dame in Indiana, or Hamline University in Minnesota.

“I’m just trying to find out who has the best to offer,” he said.

Bloom said he’s talked to several swim coaches about scholarships, which definitely seem within his reach after his performances for Colony last season. Bloom was one of the first athletes added to the new record board at the Palmer Pool this year, as a member of the winning 200-yard medley relay team at the Colony Tri Invitational. He also broke an individual school record at the same meet in the 500-yard freestyle set 15 years ago.

That was in August. Bloom made the news every weekend he participated in a swim meet after that, including the Region III and State championships, where he first won the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events (region meet), then went on to place in the top 10 in the same events, plus the 200-yard medley relay (state).

Boys Scouts, he said, certainly fueled that fire.

“Swimming’s always been my favorite sport, anything in the water I really enjoy,” he said.

In his entire high school career, Bloom set 15 school records, won four region championship titles and captained the boys’ team. He was also named an “Outstanding Swimmer of the Year” last season.

Needless to say, the Swimming badge was one of his first earned, followed by the Oceanography, Fishing, Kayaking, Small-Boat Sailing, Water Sports, Whitewater and Scuba Diving badges.

The list of badges Bloom obtained is as diverse as the boys and young men who join Boy Scouts, however, he said he did find himself stretched out of his comfort zone in learning to bugle and play golf, for example.

“I remember multiple times when I wanted to quit but, at the end, now that I’m seeing all the opportunities and doors that are opening, I’m really thankful that I stuck with it and I accomplished what I wanted to,” he said.

Bloom also holds a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo and has won multiple regional and national competitions related to the sport.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.