Three Northern Virginia teens are proving that if you set your mind to it, you can do almost anything.
With a cabinet secretary and two Members of Congress watching, Leo, Nick and Steven Cantos will be named Eagle Scouts.
They are the very first blind triplets ever to reach that rank in the 109 year history of scouting.
“It feels awesome. It feels incredibly awesome,” said Steven Cantos, 18.
“I feel like I'm on top of the world,” said Leo Cantos.
Only four percent of sighted scouts ever make it to Eagle. The triplets got no special breaks, they had to do everything a sighted scout would.
Their achievement comes at least in part with the help of their adoptive dad, Ollie Cantos. He found them at ten, bullied and almost homebound, with no idea of what they could accomplish.
“I was mostly kind of alone,” said Steven.
“I had no friends, and I didn't want to live,” said Nick.
Ollie Cantos took them in and set an example. An attorney with the Department of Education, he lost his sight at birth just like his boys.
“I love my sons more than words can describe,” he said. "They're such amazing human beings…I'm especially proud the way they pushed the envelope for themselves.”
“This was incredibly difficult, not easy… The project is intensely difficult because it's supposed to build character and teach you discipline,” said Steven.
They had to work their way through 21 merit badges and prove they were citizens of the world. They even fired guns at a shooting range, much to the shock of the range's managers.
One reward for their work, new high-tech glasses called Aira. Equipped with a camera and connected to the web, they'll give them instant access to the eyes of an operator on the phone who can actually see where they’re going.
The triplets are all planning on college -- and huge careers.
