Boy Scout Phillip Harter of Troop 645 recently was presented with the rank of Eagle Scout at Our Lady of Providence Church in Crestwood on the 50th anniversary of his father, Charles, receiving the Eagle Scout honor.

In earning his Eagle rank, Phillip earned 45 merit badges, even though only 21 are required.

His Eagle project was building a feeding box for the Endangered Wolf Center. He made some adjustments to previous boxes to improve the protection from the elements while allowing new access from a side door, according to a news release.

At the ceremony, Phillip said that although only one mentor pin is usually awarded at the Eagle presentation, he elected to honor three Scout leaders who acted as mentors for him — Robin Diehl, Len Kissel and Joseph Rath.

Boy Scouts Matt Higgins, Adam Koetting, Eric Koetting, Nathan Druger, Sam Catanzaro, Andrew Copeland, and Trevor Waggoner, Phillip’s cousin, assisted in the Trail of the Eagle presentation.

J. Anthony Dill, former state representative from Affton, was the presenter. He spoke of the symbolism of the Eagle rank and the O. Henry “Gift of the Magi” story during the presentation.

Phillip has served as senior patrol leader of the troop for two years and also is an Order of the Arrow recipient.

He is an honor student at Lindbergh High School in the International Baccalaureate program and twice has been awarded Academic All-America honors by USA Water Polo.

Phillip has been named Honorable Mention All Conference in swimming, diving and water polo. He recently was selected the most valuable player as Flyers water polo goalie in the Olympic Development Program in Chicago, where the Flyer team went undefeated to capture the tournament.

Besides the typical Eagle ceremony, Charles Harter displayed his hiking and camping merit badges and awards from his long-ago days with Boy Scout Troop 688 at Crestwood School.