Renowned astronaut, adventurer headlines Chattanooga Boy Scouts banquet

Nathan Goza, right, leads a large crowd of former scouts and attendees in the Boy Scout Oath at the outset of the 12th Annual Friends of Scouting Luncheon at the Chattanooga Convention Center on Wednesday. Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher stands with him as color guard member Joel Hunt holds the American Flag.
Nathan Goza, right, leads a large crowd of former scouts and attendees in the Boy Scout Oath at the outset of the 12th Annual Friends of Scouting Luncheon at the Chattanooga Convention Center on Wednesday. Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher stands with him as color guard member Joel Hunt holds the American Flag.

Scott Parazynski does a little bit of everything.

The Stanford School of Medicine graduate practices medicine, flies airplanes, dabbles in business and has flown five space missions.

He's climbed some of the world's tallest mountains, literally and figuratively.

And he can trace his life's success to the lessons he learned as a Boy Scout.

"The reason I am standing here today is because of Scouting," Parazynski told the Friends of Scouting Luncheon on Wednesday at the Chattanooga Convention Center. "It exposes young men to a number of different fields, and the great leadership they are under gives them direction they take with them for the rest of their lives."

Parazynski, who has been honored with the National Eagle Scout Association's Outstanding Eagle Scout Award, was keynote speaker for the annual event that raised $289,340 for the Boy Scouts of America Cherokee Area Council.

The council covers 11 counties in the region, including Hamilton County. Its membership grew 2.5 percent in 2015 to 4,592 youth participants, who logged more than 15,000 community service hours through the year.

Police Chief Fred Fletcher chaired the event, thanking local Boy Scouts for their contributions to the community before introducing Parazynski to share his most heroic stories from his time in space and on the slopes of Mount Everest.

Parazynski said he turned back midway through his first trek up Mount Everest after rupturing a disk in his back, but returned in 2009 and reached the summit.

The view from the top was great, but less vast than the views from space. Parazynski conducted seven space walks during his 17 years as an astronaut, including a daring maintenance job on solar panels at the International Space Station.

"Life's greatest lessons don't come from textbooks," he said. "I don't want to downplay the importance of education in any regard. But what I've found in my pathway through life is that it's the risks we take, the people we meet and the places we go that open up untold doors and the great opportunities that have changed my life."

Fletcher, who is the son of an Eagle Scout, offered Parazynski a plaque designating him a recipient of the "overachiever merit badge."

Fletcher said Parazynski exemplifies how to strike a balance of being insatiably curious and well-behaved.

"Scouting prepares our youth to be tomorrow's leaders," Fletcher said. "I can't think of a better piece of evidence than our keynote speaker today."

Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.

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