America’s youngest Hispanic Eagle Scout is making a difference in the autism community. The high honor didn't come without hard work for the young Orange County boy.

Many Boy Scouts work until their 18th birthday to attain the highest rank, Eagle Scout. At 12-years-old, Michelangelo Dominguez or as family and friends call him Mikey has already achieved that.

“Only six out of thousands and thousands of young men really achieve that rank," said Nancy Mirelis, with the Boy Scouts of Central Florida. "On top of that, Mikey is the youngest Hispanic to achieve the rank of Eagle.”

Mikey’s Eagle project was helping to build the bilingual Santiago & Friends Family Center for Autism. It's a center that provides bilingual therapists and services for autistic children in Central Florida.



"It’s nice to be able to have a center that is kind of to work with all those different pieces within the autism puzzle. And make sure that we’re able to provide resources for our families,” said Latino Leadership Inc. Executive Director Marucci Guzmán.

Mikey said Boy Scouts is not about earning badges or honors; it’s all about giving back to the community.

“This was an empty open shelf space. There was concrete all over the floor that was all broken up, ripped apart. There was no ceiling, the AC was broken,” said Mikey.

He not only put a lot of hard labor into this center, but also raised $15,000 for building expenses with the help of organizations like the Dr. Phillips Charities, who believed in his vision.

“You look at a young man like Mikey, you look at the other Eagle Scouts and you see the great future that is ahead of this country and ahead of this community. We want to be part of that,” said Dr. Phillips Charities President Ken Robinson.

For Mikey, things don’t stop here. He wants to get into Dr. Phillips High School’s magnet program next year. And like his parents, in the future, he wants to attend Harvard University.


Michelangelo Dominguez earned his Eagle Scout by helping to build the bilingual Santiago & Friends Family Center for Autism