RESERVE — A lot of things can flash through your mind while hanging off the side of a mountain.

Just ask Reece Bordelon.

The Riverside Academy junior was on a camping trip in Gatlinburg, Tenn., with his Boy Scout troop in 2014 when a fellow hiker asked him a serious question.

Needing to think about it, Reece closed his eyes for a second — just long enough for him to take a wrong step off the side of a mountain.

“I literally walked off the side,” he said. “It was a real steep incline. I just grabbed a root and held on.”

When asked what went through his mind at that moment, Reece replied, simply: “Just don’t let go.”

It wasn’t even Reece’s first brush with death. The first came when he was 8 years old and survived a bout of bacterial meningitis.

“They thought I was going to die,” he said.

Reece, 16, survived the incident unscathed, but perhaps not unchanged. He went on to achieve his Eagle Scout status in June of last year. It is the highest rank in scouting and most difficult to achieve.

“It’s about citizenship in the community, in the nation and in the world and family life,” he said. “It’s about leadership. It all has to do with a lot of paperwork, so nobody wants to do it.”

He also is a member of the Beta Club, an offensive lineman on the Rebels’ football team, the goalkeeper on the soccer team and a leader in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

“He is a great kid,” said Riverside Academy principal Dr. Perry DiCarlo. “He’s always working hard. He does all the right things. He’s never in trouble. He’s a good one.”

It’s all about doing for others, he said.

“That’s kind of the theme of my life,” Reece said. “It’s not a thing for other people, it’s a thing for me. It makes me feel better about what I do.”

Reece has been in scouting since he was about 7 years old, when his older brother, Julian, was urged to join.

“My brother had social issues,” Reece said. “He didn’t talk to people. So, my dad found that scouting would be a good way to help him out. He got involved when I was too young to join, but even though I was too young, I still helped with his pack.”

Julian was an achiever as well, attaining his Eagle Scout badge. That just pushed Reece to follow.

“I always wanted to chase my brother,” Reece said. “I wanted to hurry up and get out of Cub Scouts so I could catch him.”

Then Reece let up a little.

“I thought about why am I doing this,” he said. “Then I thought, well, why am I playing football or why am I playing soccer? It’s for the brotherhood. We love each other and make it a family.

“Then I went to Gatlinburg and I fell off the mountain and they helped me back up. From that point on I knew I always had someone behind me to save me if I needed them to be there.”

After a brief lapse in focus, a friend and fellow scout pushed Reece to achieve his goal.

“My friend Alex Watkins, he was chasing me (in scouting),” Reece said. “That competition helped fuel me back into it. I ended up getting Eagle. ”

Reece achieved his ultimate goal by hosting a blood drive, which brought in 24 units of blood.

Since then, Reece has not let up.

He has since helped other scouting friends achieve their goals. He helped one get a church parking lot repainted and another refurbish a playground. He also volunteered at the St. Charles Parish Bridge Run.

Reece wants to help more people in the future. As a child, Reece also suffered from kyphosis, a type of scoliosis in which the spine becomes rounded forward.

Because of all the x-rays he endured, he wants to become a radiologist.

“I figure that’s my way I can help people like me,” he said.