Being prepared can cover a lot of turf.

Greg DeValk, left, has become an Eagle Scout, and his friend Robert Hoffman is close to achieving that honor.

For Ken and Trisha DeValk, it included raising a son, Greg, 18, who was diagnosed at an early age with learning disabilities and memory loss.

For Mike and Kathy Hoffman, it was learning their son, Robert, 17, had been born with abnormal bone marrow that would forever affect his memory and learning skills.

For both families, it meant searching for ways to provide the best for their sons, which eventually led to both being enrolled in Pitt Academy, an independent Catholic school on Poplar Level Road whose mission is to serve students with learning difficulties in a nongraded setting.

It meant helping involve their sons in Cub Scouts and then Boy Scouts, getting them to meetings, troop events and summer camps. It meant watching them struggle with their learning disabilities for more than 10 years as they worked to become Eagle Scouts ó a lofty level achieved by only about 3 percent of all Scouts.

Greg DeValk has already made it. His buddy Robert Hoffman is very close.

"It made me feel good about myself," said Greg DeValk. "I mean, sure, there was a lot of work involved and my parents helped me along the way, but I did it all."

"It makes me feel good that I'm in Scouts ... to get in touch with the outside, with other kids," said Robert Hoffman.

THE TWO WERE sitting at a large table at the Hoffman home, sometimes struggling to find just the right words to explain their journey, sometimes teasing their questioner.

"Do we need name tags?" DeValk asked at one point, when their names once got reversed.

He's a member of Troop 356 in Fern Creek, has accumulated 46 merit badges along the way ó well above the 21 required for Eagle Scout status. But the list of requirements beyond that covers two pages, along with a final Eagle Scout board of review.

His community service project was organizing a near task force of volunteers, classmates and fellow Scouts to clean up the Pitt Academy playground, renovate its outdoor equipment, put down two tons of gravel. "I got to drive the truck," said Trisha DeValk.

On Thursday about 60 friends, family members and Scout leaders will honor Greg DeValk at a dinner at Fern Creek Baptist Church.

Hoffman, a member of Troop 308 of the Mother of Good Counsel parish, is on the last step of his Eagle Scout journey. He's got about 36 merit badges, needs to undergo his board review ó and is putting the final touches on his community service project: painting stripes for almost 250 parking places at his church.

The Boy Scouts do offer a separate level of merit badges for "special needs" Scouts. Neither DeValk nor Hoffman wanted that. They did it their way ó and it wasn't always easy.

"Their memory problems made it very difficult," said Trisha DeValk. "They could look at something one day and the next day it's like, I think I know that, but I have to start over."

THE PARENTS give an enormous amount of credit to the Scout leaders who worked with their sons for more than a decade ó especially Chris Peru with Hoffman and Pete Anderson with DeValk.

"It was amazing how much patience their leaders had with these kids, how much extra time they took with these kids versus the mainstream kids," said Mike Hoffman.

"Whenever Greg would get discouraged and want to quit I'd tell him, `OK, it's your decision, but you have to call Pete and tell him,'" said Trisha DeValk.

"Then Greg would put on his uniform and go to Scouts. He couldn't call Pete and tell him he was quitting."

After leaving Pitt this year, both boys will attend the Carl Perkins Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center near Paintsville, Ky. Both are interested in hands-on things, woodworking and small-engine repair ó an extension of some of the things they learned in Scouting. They also expressed some interest in living in dorms ó being on their own.

"I think they're a little apprehensive about leaving their niche," said Mike Hoffman.

"I'm not really," said his son.

BOB HILL

Bob Hill's column runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. You can reach him at (502) 582-4646 or e-mail him at bhill@courier-journal.com. You can also read his columns at http://www.courier-journal.com./