Gerald L. “Trey” Wachob III and Jacob T. Essig received the rank of Eagle Scout at a Court of Honor ceremony recently at Camp Serranova in Macungie.

Both Scouts are members of Boy Scout Troop 71, which is sponsored by Solomon’s United Church of Christ in Macungie.

Trey Wachob, son of Katrina and Chip Wachob, joined Cub Scouts with Pack 71 of Macungie as a Tiger Scout.

He progressed through the Cub Scout ranks, earning his Heavy Shoulder and Arrow of Light awards in 2015.

Trey chose to continue his Scouting career in Troop 71.

As a Boy Scout, Trey earned 23 merit badges and held various leadership positions including den chief, assistant patrol leader, patrol leader, senior patrol leader and Order of the Arrow representative.

He currently serves as a junior assistant Scoutmaster.

Trey also attended National Youth Leadership Training and has served on the NYLT staff as a Troop guide and assistant patrol leader and recently served as the senior patrol leader for the 2021 NYLT Course.

Trey is a member of the National Order of the Arrow, the Boy Scout honor society made up of Scouts elected by their peers.

For his Eagle Scout project, Trey built a gaga ball pit at Camp Serranova.

Trey is a student at Emmaus High School. He plans to attend college after graduation.

Jacob Essig, son of Becky and TJ Essig, joined Pack 86 of Alburtis as a Tiger Scout.

He progressed through the Cub Scout ranks, achieving his Arrow of Light Award.

Essig chose Troop 86 to continue his Scouting career and later joined Troop 71 in 2018.

As a Boy Scout, Jacob earned 33 merit badges and held various leadership positions including assistant patrol leader, patrol leader, senior patrol leader and instructor for fire building and safety.

Jacob attended summer camps with his Scout Troops and participated in camping trips. His favorite camping trips were the Navy versus Army football games and the Aviation Merit Badge where he got to fly in a plane.

For his Eagle project, Jacob worked with Wildlands Conservancy to remove an invasive species plant from the nature trail and replace it with native plants. The invasive species is called viburnum and it grows incredibly fast, tall and dense causing it to overrun and destroy native plants, which would attract animals. It took 188-man hours to complete with 18 volunteers helping over two weekends of physical labor.

Jacob graduated from Emmaus High School in June.

He plans to attend college and major in physics.