Lynnwood Eagle Scout celebrates earning every merit badge

Published 1:30 am Saturday, June 20, 2026

LYNNWOOD — Less than 1% of Eagle Scouts earn every merit badge offered by Scouting America.

The highest number of merit badges a scout can currently earn is 141. Skyler MacKay earned 142.

MacKay, a member of Troop 49 in Lynnwood, may be the second Eagle Scout in Snohomish County to earn every badge, according to an online registry.

Scouting America’s 141 merit badges cover a wide range of skills and activities, from bugling and backpacking to moviemaking and stamp collecting. MacKay’s sash — which is two sashes sewn together, as all the badges won’t fit on one — tells the story of his merit badge journey, starting with the cooking badge he earned when he was 12.

MacKay’s quest to earn every badge began during the COVID-19 pandemic. He started working his way through badges that he was able to earn virtually. He earned 80, then his scoutmaster bet him that he coudn’t get to 100.

“I’m like, ‘Okay, screw it, I’ll just get all of them because I’m over halfway there,’” MacKay said.

His favorite badge, he said, was nuclear science. His instructor had worked on a nuclear submarine for more than 20 years.

“He had a very fun way of explaining and bringing out the requirements in a way that was entertaining,” MacKay said. “That’s one of my favorite memories.”

Some badges were more difficult, Mackay said, like surveying, which requires scouts to learn about how land is measured using fine measuring instruments, advanced math and computing equipment.

“The way the instructor was explaining it, I just didn’t quite grasp,” he said. “That one became the most difficult in terms of understanding, but some of them are a little difficult to get for other reasons.”

Another difficult badge was scuba diving. To earn the badge, scouts have to become certified scuba divers, which can cost up to $1,000. But scuba diving became another one of MacKay’s favorites. He’s planning on earning his dry suit certification this summer. He also wants to try underwater photography, combining skills he learned from the scuba diving, photography and swimming merit badges.

“I have so many things that I know little bits about that I could go more into,” MacKay said. “A merit badge is kind of a gateway into a hobby.”

In 2021, the medicine merit badge was discontinued and replaced with health care professions. MacKay had already earned the medicine badge, which is how he’s earned 142 out of 141.

The last few merit badges came down to the wire, MacKay said. Scouting America recently released new merit badges, including artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

“I was like, I’ve got a couple of months, and now they’re adding more, how am I going to manage this?” he said.

But with the help of his community and neighboring troops, he did it all. He earned his last merit badge on May 17.

“I was glad I was going to be done,” he said. “I had set this goal for myself, and finally had finished it, and then it’s sort of like the realization that this isn’t something that anybody does.”

At a Court of Honor celebration Wednesday, adult scout leaders recognized MacKay’s accomplishment.

Vanessa Jones, the chartered organization representative for the troop, said that adults were skeptical when MacKay first said he wanted to earn every badge.

“We hear all kinds of stuff when they’re little, but this is a scout who really did it, and it wasn’t easy,” she said “… There aren’t really words to express it, to explain it, you have to be part of it to really understand it.”

MacKay joined Cub Scouts when he was six years old. He had just been placed in foster care for the second time.

“I hadn’t had really any positive male role models in my life, and my mom, being a single mother who never had any kids, enrolled me almost immediately upon coming to live with her in Cub Scouts,” MacKay said.

He’s been a scout ever since, rising through the ranks to become an Eagle Scout at just 14. The same year, he completed his Eagle Scout project, donating more than 1,500 new toys to kids as they entered the foster care system.

On June 13, MacKay graduated from Mountlake Terrace High School. On Saturday, he celebrated his 18th birthday, officially aging out of Eagle Scouts. Looking forward, he hopes to earn an associates degree at Edmonds College before transferring to another university to study cybersecurity and ethical hacking.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.