NATCHEZ — Two Miss-Lou youth received their Eagle Scout pins Sunday after months of working on projects to benefit their communities.

Charlie Nutter, 13, and Tyler Gregg, 14, joined friends and family members at St. Mary Basilica Sunday to receive the highest honor of the Boy Scouts of America organization.

Nutter and Gregg donned sashes covered in pins from various achievements and listened as Scoutmaster Lee Best began the ceremony.

“These guys have worked really hard in the past months,” Best said. “They are literally my first Eagle Scouts, and you can imagine I’m very proud of them.”

Best said the two teens were accomplished not just in their work with the Boy Scouts, but in life.

“They are scuba divers and athletes and musicians,” Best said. “And they have really grown.”

During the ceremony, each Eagle Scout’s parents — Chris and Kathryn Nutter and Robyn and Justin Gregg — pinned the insignia to their son’s chests while smiling before a clapping crowd.

Each Eagle Scout was also given a small pin that they could give to the person of their choice.

Nutter waded out into the crowd and gave his pin to his grandmother, Diana Nutter.

“I didn’t know he was going to do that,” she said. “I’m just so proud of him.”

Justin Gregg, Tyler’s father, joined the scouts as a leader when his son decided in third grade to become a cub scout.

“It’s made him far more aware and improved his character,” Justin Gregg said. “And I’ve just really enjoyed it.”

Gregg led the construction and installment of lockable storage benches at the Cathedral Junior High School locker room.

Gregg’s mother, Robyn, said he designed and led the other scouts in constructing the benches for more than five weeks.

Nutter’s project included replacing the wood and repainting one of the Natchez City Cemetery’s cistern houses. He also cleaned more than 200 headstones at the cemetery, over the 2017 summer.

Both scouts said they have wanted to become an Eagle Scout since they joined the organization.

“I knew that if I was going to do this, I was going to do the whole thing,” Gregg said. “I didn’t want to do it half-way.”

For Nutter, being a scout has meant more than just learning about camping and leadership skills and traveling.

“I started doing this with all of my friends, but then I wanted to do it for myself,” Nutter said. “I like the discipline and learning what it means to be a good person. I wanted to be a scout because I wanted to strive to do better.”

Scout Landon Lynch, who led the ceremony, said both scouts deserved the honor for their hard work, diligence and adherence to the scout’s code.

“There really just is no way,” he said, “to say enough about these guys.”