Brandon with his parents Jamie and Alan Neilson at his Court of Honor. Photo: Karen Lake
Brandon Neilson, age 16, heard a scream for help coming from the pool at Santa Margarita Catholic High School. He ran to the pool deck to see a maintenance worker kneeling over the pool, trying desperately to save his fellow co-worker. Brandon said later, “I looked down and saw this guy at the bottom of the pool. I just had to do something.”
Brandon took off his jacket and shoes to dive in to retrieve Jose Luis Mendoza, known on campus as “Luis”, from the bottom of the pool. Brandon pulled his body to the surface while others helped pulled Luis onto the deck. After the rescue, Brandon helped Sam Medina, another maintenance worker, perform CPR until the Orange County Fire Authority arrived.
It wasn’t by chance that Brandon knew what to do. Brandon is a member of Boy Scout Troop #752 sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (www.mormon.org) . Brandon had earned his swim merit badge (www.boyscouttrail.com/boy-scouts/meritbadges/swimmingmb.asp) and the rank of Eagle Scout. The swim badge includes the ability the demonstrate water rescue methods and how to identify the conditions that must exist before performing CPR on a person.
The partnership of Scouting and the young men’s program for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stretches back nearly one hundred years. Thomas Monson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, discusses the strengths of scouting (lds.org/study/prophets-speak-today/unto-all-the-world/president-monson-discusses-strengths-of-scouting?lang=eng&query=scouting), “It is impossible to measure the great good that has come from Scouting during the last century. Skills have been learned, values have been established, good deeds have been done, and lives have been enriched. Scouting skills have saved lives.”
The Church officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America in 1913, after the Scouting movement was formally started in the United States in 1910.
