The Tonganoxie Junior High School eighth-grader’s two older brothers have achieved the Eagle Scout status.

“We’re definitely a Scouting family,” said Nancy Henre, Michael’s mother.

Last month, Michael completed the requirements to become an Eagle Scout by working at Eagle Cemetery, which is on Leavenworth County Road 30, south of Dempsey Road.

“We got dirt and we filled in two dump truck loads of dirt,” Michael said.

He and members of his Scout Troop 144 of Kansas City, Kan., and three Eagle Scouts from Tonganoxie’s Troop 357 handled the work.

They spread the dirt to smooth out low levels in the cemetery, and they spread grass seed, which Michael is hopeful grows next spring.

Michael first learned about the cemetery a year ago, when his brother, Chester Henre, 16, worked on his Eagle Scout designation. Chester raised 29 headstones, with help from Troop 357 in Tonganoxie. For his Eagle project, Michael’s oldest brother, Ryan DeGrange, built a storage unit at the United Methodist Church in Tonganoxie, with the aid of members of Troop 5 in Kansas City, Kan.

Their mother said that Chester had decided he would complete the work for his Eagle before he turned 16.

“Michael then decides he’s going to top his bother and has his by the time he’s 14,” she said. “They set goals for themselves, and that’s part of it to set goals and reach them.”