Photo by Bill Green Jared Snyder, a 12-year-old Boy Scout, spent a month this summer working with Thurmont Police Chief Greg Eyler to earn his Emergency Preparedness merit badge.

The 12-year-old Boy Scout spent a month this summer working with Thurmont Police Chief Greg Eyler to earn his Emergency Preparedness merit badge.

"I learned how he prepares for, prevents and responds to emergency situations in our community," Jared said.

With his First Aid badge already sewn onto his sash, Jared was able to work toward the Emergency Preparedness patch, a necessity in becoming an Eagle Scout. Jared is a Life Scout, the rank between Webelos and Eagle Scout.

He said he had to learn how to help someone being electrically shocked, how to signal an aircraft, what to do about carbon monoxide, how to extinguish a fire on another person and how to save a drowning person.

"We did a bunch of different scenarios," Jared said of the learning experience.

"I think it's going to be really helpful because it showed us a lot of stuff that we will need if we ever get lost," he said. The Scout said the process to earn the badge wasn't particularly difficult.

In a final presentation to Jared's Troop 270, he helped demonstrate two situations in which emergency preparedness is necessary: a person shocked by a hair dryer in water and a person bitten by a snake.

He was awarded his Emergency Preparedness badge during his troop's September Court of Honor.

"It was a privilege working with Jared," Eyler said. "He is very professional and takes pride in being a Boy Scout. I could tell he is serious about his assignment and he wanted to do the best he could with it."

Eyler serves as the unofficial emergency preparedness coordinator for the town. Jared said he will work with the chief again to earn his Crime Prevention merit badge.

Jared began as a Cub Scout in the first grade and "really enjoyed it," he said. He has continued on as a Boy Scout for 21Ú2 years. He is the senior patrol leader of his troop, and is in the Order of the Arrow.

The Thurmont Middle School eighth-grader can name all 31 of his merit badges. He plans to earn the Hiking or Swimming, Personal Fitness, Personal Management and Family Life badges on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout.

Jared said he will probably stick with Scouts until he is 18, the cutoff for boys to participate.

"I'm going to have to go to college so I can be an anesthesiologist," he said. Jared wants to be a firefighter, too, but the medical field is his No. 1 choice for now.