Only 6 percent of all Boy Scouts go on to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, the organization’s highest honor. Saturday, one of Vicksburg’s own was added to those ranks.

Tyler Tunnell, a senior at Warren Central High School, was presented as Eagle Scout at Porters Chapel United Methodist Church, Saturday, in front of friends, family and community leaders.

Tunnell, the son of Randall Tunnell and the late the late Jacovia Ard Tunnell, said the road to Eagle Scout was long but worth it.

“It’s the culmination of the last six years or so of my life,” he said. “It’s nice seeing it all come to this closure.”

Tunnell had to earn badges, complete service hours and organize a community service project.

“I made a food pantry for people whose houses have burned down,” he said.

The pantry is associated with the United Way and is located at Porters Chapel United Methodist Church.

“Really, you just have to show up and apply yourself,” he said. “A lot of people get carried away with school and work.”

Scout leader Mike Rasch said he has enjoyed watching Tunnell grow during his time as a Boy Scout.

“He’s been an impressive young man who has grown over the years,” he said. “He’s gone two years to summer camp and gotten certified as a lifeguard.”

Rasch said his employer, Wayne Scott, was one of the ones who recommended him for the honor of Eagle Scout.

“Tyler has gone with me from here to Arkansas to Washington, D.C. to South Carolina and a lot of points in between,” Rasch said. “I like it when my boys stay with me the whole time.”

Several of them come back and help even after they graduate, Rasch said.

“I’m proud of him,” he said. “He’s done very well.”

Tunnell’s grandmother Maxine Ard said she remembers the first time he went camping when he was 7 and she tagged along at Camp Hood, Mississippi’s premier boy scout camp.

“We slept in a tent, and he chose a spot that wasn’t level,” she said. “I spent the night pulling him back up on his cot.”

Ard said it was difficult for Tunnell to finish all the things he needed to for Eagle Scout while juggling school and work, but they were so proud he was able to accomplish everything.

Tunnell will attend Itawamba Community College in the fall on a full scholarship, and he plans to be a nuclear engineer one day.