Scouting imbues young people with all kinds of exceptional skills. Often, those skills result in major achievements in other areas of their lives. That’s where SL Headliners comes into play.
Every month, Scout Life magazine highlights amazing young people who are making headlines outside of Scouting. From earning national awards to building nonprofits that change lives, Scouts prove the skills they gain in Scouting carry far beyond Adventures and merit badges.
Read on to meet some exceptionally cool, newsworthy Scouts we’ve featured this year, then scroll down to learn how you can nominate your own exceptional Scout for our Headliners department.
Matthew DeWitt, 17, earned the Congressional Award Gold Medal
Matthew received the Congressional Award Gold Medal, which requires hundreds of hours devoted to service, fitness and personal growth — plus an expedition (for which the National Jamboree qualified). He logged service through his Eagle project and various other Scouting endeavors. His work is proof that big accomplishments inside of Scouting lead to big accomplishments outside of Scouting.
Linda Pistun, 12, founded a nonprofit (and saved a life)
Linda founded Linda’s Lab, a nonprofit focused on science education and ending world hunger. She partnered with a chef to create protein bars from the mealworm farm she started. She even wrote a children’s book aimed at inspiring environmental stewardship. And if that’s not enough, she was previously featured in Scout Life after she received the Scouting America Heroism Award for saving a young girl from drowning.
Belen Haro, 17, won a competitive U.S. State Department scholarship
Belen was one of few selected for the National Security Language Initiative for Youth merit scholarship, which she then used to spend eight weeks in Taiwan studying Mandarin. With that education, she earned an Advanced High level on her oral proficiency interview.
William Hicks, 10, became a Lego Mini-Master Model Builder
William won the 2024 Legoland North American Mini-Master Model Builder Competition with a standout Lego recreation of the Fort Worth Stockyards – a historic landmark in Fort Worth, Texas – complete with 6,500 bricks, moving parts, cattle and historic buildings. His work took him 50 hours to complete.
Miles Armstrong, 13, landed as a featured artist in Sports Illustrated Kids
Sports Illustrated Kids magazine chose Miles as a featured artist in the January/February 2025 issue. The nationwide call for submissions was for art inspired by LeBron James. Out of his three entries, the one titled G.O.A.T. Minded was chosen. He’s a big LeBron fan. And we’re big Miles fans.
Who should we feature next?
Whether you’re a Scout leader or parent, we know there are Scouts in your orbit with big stories and incredible accomplishments. We want to know about them and share their stories in a future issue.
Submit your nominations for SL Headliners at scoutlife.org/contact-us/headliners
Editor’s note: Your submissions have the best chance of making it to print if you include awesome photos and focus on what your nominee has accomplished outside of Scouting.
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