Brad McMillan not only received the highest rank in Boy Scouts yesterday, but he was pinned by the highest-ranking scout in America.

It's not every day that a scout from Hawai'i has the chief scout there to witness the Eagle Court event, said Robert Mazzuca, Boy Scouts of America chief scout executive. He came all the way from Irving, Texas, to fulfill an idle promise he made to McMillan a year ago to challenge him to finish his Eagle Scout project — to repair steps and a bridge at Pupukea Camp on the Kaunala Trail.

"I made a promise and I had forgotten I had made that promise," Mazzuca said before last night's ceremony. "There's a couple lessons here. First of all, it's important to keep your promises, and second it's important to remember what you say to young people. They are listening."

Last year, 52,000 Boy Scouts made the rank of Eagle Scout nationwide, Mazzuca said. That's the most scouts to achieve the Eagle rank in a single year in the 100-year history of the Boy Scouts of America.

Nationwide there are more than 4 million scouts from Cub Scout to Eagle Scout. Only about 5 percent of all scouts make the rank of Eagle Scout. Hawai'i has about 20,000 Boy Scout members, of which 9,000 come from the Pacific region.

The 17-year-old McMillan started out as a Cub Scout and joined because of the promise of camping and fun, he said yesterday before his ceremony. The ceremony for the Kahuku High School junior was just for him yesterday because it's all about an individual's accomplishment, Mazzuca said.

"My Eagle project was to put in a bridge and repair some steps," McMillan said. "We had to haul in all our tools and the gravel on our backs. I had to organize about 40 to 50 volunteers, including my dad.

"Becoming an Eagle Scout is great. I can remember being a younger scout and seeing others become Eagle Scouts and thinking that's something I wanted to aspire to."

Becoming an Eagle Scout is all about putting in the time in leadership positions. It's just not enough to do a community service project, you have to lead people and channel their volunteer spirit, Mazzuca said.

"It's a major event in a young man's life. It has to be approved by the Scout Council and it has to be a legitimate project," Mazzuca said.

"Becoming an Eagle Scout makes Brad a marked man," he said. "I believe that society has the right to expect more from these men because they have proven that they have the capacity to do more."