Central Illinois Eagle Scout earns national recognition for saving a life

FAIRMOUNT, Ill. — Lily Simon, an Eagle Scout, saved a drowning friend at a pool using lifesaving skills she had learned just days earlier in scout training at Camp Drake.

Simon was hanging out at the pool with friends when she noticed someone struggling in the water.

"She wasn't splashing water much, she wasn't making a bunch of sound, she didn't know how to swim. She was just silently drowning," Simon said.

Simon sprang into action, using techniques from her recent training.

"She was grabbing my shoulders, all of that, trying to grab onto something. I had to go underwater, push her off of me, go back, grab her again, and then pulled her to the shallow end of the pool," Simon said.

Simon did not tell anyone about the rescue until she was teaching younger Scouts about the importance of learning lifesaving skills.

"I learned how to flip over a small boat, I learned how to shoot a shotgun at the range, I learned how to save lives at the pool," Simon said. "And now I look over and there's the young Scouts that are around the same age I was, and it's amazing to see them do those same things."

Simon was recognized with the Scouts Medal of Merit for the rescue. The Medal of Merit is awarded to Scouts who show uncommon concern for the well-being of others.

"It was just so cool to get to look out into the crowd and get to see everybody sitting there who helped, whether it was running the camp, hiring the people. It was just so cool to see everybody who helped me accomplish it," Simon said.

At Camp Drake, Simon said the experience embodies what scouting offers.

"It's just everything you could possibly want wrapped in one thing," Simon said.