Archives for November 2024

Scouts BSA Troop 58’s Grant K. painted a large mural of different explorers throughout history on a wall at the elementary school he attended: Newton-Lee Elementary School. The reason for the mural’s design is that Newton-Lee’s mascot is a compass, and the slogan is “We are Newton-Lee Explorers on a voyage to success.”

Another Scout from a different Troop who originally considered doing this mural as his Eagle project posted a survey to their fellow teachers asking which important historical explorers they would prefer to be on the wall. Grant used those historical figures selected from the survey.

With this mural featuring explorers from many different fields, backgrounds, and time periods, Grant is confident that it will help promote diversity and help students remember to explore their personal interests through brave and creative ways.

The mural is located outside the Exploratorium room, which is dedicated to exploration and encourages innovation and creativity. It took five days to paint since Grant and his group had to paint on days when the school staff was available but after hours so they didn’t disrupt the students and teachers.

After a total of 170 hours worked on this project, which includes meetings, planning, sketching, and painting, Grant completed his Eagle Scout project in early April 2024 and his Eagle Board of Review on June 3, 2024.

For his Eagle Scout project, Davis J from Troop 654 decided to help a local nonprofit focusing on food insecurity for at-risk populations better provide essential services by assessing and building a system to help them better understand their physical infrastructure.

Be the Good Project was founded in 2020 to provide food for those facing food insecurity in parts of Virginia, The District of Columbia, and Maryland. One of their programs is 25 Free Little Food Pantries distributed across 238 square miles, providing 24/7 access to food staples for those in need.

While Be the Good Project has dedicated volunteers who help keep these pantries stocked, they do not completely understand the physical status of the Free Little Food Pantries, some of which had been emplaced as long as three years ago.

Davis developed an assessment tool using a Google Form that asked volunteers to inspect a Free Little Food Pantry. His form asked questions like what the status of the paint was, whether there were holes in the roof, whether the shelves were in working order, and what the area around the pantry was like (the pantry’s accessibility).

This form then auto-populates a Google Sheet that captures the physical data about the pantries. The spreadsheet is then sortable, allowing Be the Good Project to sort the pantries by maintenance status and need for repair. This allows Be the Good to prioritize what pantries they want or need to repair with their network of volunteers, allowing them to continue their mission of providing food to those in need within the local community.

Volunteers (in groups of 2-3) from his Troop, his high school sports team, and friends in his neighborhood helped survey the 25 locations on a rolling basis over two weeks. This allowed the volunteers to complete the survey at a time that was convenient for them while simultaneously making sure all surveys were completed in a timely manner. The surveys, which included pictures of each site, were completely automated, so the only tool that his volunteers needed were their mobile phones. Each survey took about five minutes to complete, but the drive time varied because some locations were 50 minutes away.

This project took 101 hours to complete, starting July 22, 2024, to August 25, 2024. Davis completed his Eagle Board of Review on October 2, 2024.

“I really enjoyed doing this project as it allowed me to help a great local nonprofit,” Davis remarked. “The project will also have a lasting impact in my local area by helping Be the Good more efficiently provide food to those dealing with food insecurity.”