ATLANTA—Clay “Elliott” Anderson Jr., 17, of Atlanta earned the Eagle Scout Award, the highest rank presented by Boy Scouts of America/Scouts BSA. He is a member of Troop #631, chartered by Woodward Academy in College Park. Anderson received the Eagle Award at a Court of Honor held on Monday, April 11 at Woodward Academy’s Gresham Chapel.  

Clay “Elliott” Anderson Jr., 17, earned the Eagle Scout Award, the highest rank presented by Boy Scouts of America/Scouts BSA. He built a project for a food pantry. Anderson is a leader at Holy Spirit Church.

Anderson is the son of Cristina and Clay Anderson and is in the 11th grade at Woodward Academy. He is a member of Holy Spirit Church where he serves as an elite altar server and trains incoming altar servers. 

To earn the rank of Eagle, a scout must attain 21 merit badges, including completing a community service project. Anderson’s community service project benefited Solidarity Sandy Springs by providing eight custom-built shelving units for the food pantry that serves 200 people daily.  

“Because Solidarity Sandy Springs was formed so quickly to prevent children and families from going hungry during the COVID lockdown, most of their storage was patched together from donations of tables and older shelving and was inadequate, making the store messy and requiring constant restocking by volunteers and staff,” said Anderson.  

Anderson began as a Bobcat Cub Scout at the age of 6. He was awarded the Light of Christ, Parvuli Dei, Ad Altare Dei, Pope Pius XII and Pillars of Faith medals by the Archdiocese of Atlanta Catholic Committee on Scouting.