Ever since he led a service project creating STEM kits for children at the Katherine Hanley Shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic, Shivam P. knew he wanted to dedicate his Eagle Scout project to the shelter. Working with the community manager, they came up with the idea of building two bookshelves to help alleviate some storage issues they were having. He added in the school supply and book drive afterward to go along with the shelves since they would be delivered around the back-to-school season.
One of Shivam’s most challenging steps was creating an intricate and thorough plan, which took a considerable amount of time. He needed to go into detail on many parts to get approval, so it took a long time to research everything and ensure that his project could be carried out effectively. Additionally, he designed the shelves himself instead of using an existing design, so he had to add details to prove that the shelves would hold up over time and wouldn’t break.
Shivam started this process in July 2023 and completed his project on August 19, 2024, after spending 114 hours on it. The shelves were built from scratch, had a custom staining job, and ended up being 3 feet tall and 4 and 3 feet wide.
When asked what were some key lessons/skills he learned during his journey to complete his Eagle project, Shivam said, “Managing multiple people was a skill I didn’t think I would learn as much as I did on the day of the project. I had general plans for what people would work on, but on the actual day of the project there were more people than jobs, so I had to find out how to give everyone a task to do while not overcrowding any one area and reducing efficiency. I ended up having some people be extra quality checkers to make sure that certain pieces were assembled properly, which worked to give everyone a meaningful task.”
The shelter can accommodate up to 20 families, and the inclusion of these shelves will help store items such as books in the children’s room, give the shelter more storage space, and provide something small enough that the kids can easily access the books on the shelves.
Lucas conducted his project on June 1st and 2nd, the first weekend, and June 14th and 15th, the second weekend. Both weekends were very successful. As Lucas states, “We successfully fed everyone at the shelter who wanted food and there was enough food left over for lunch the next day. I found good prices on bread, butter, and ground beef, so I wound up with extra money for fruit salad for the second weekend. Hungry Root sent us some free kiwi fruit in our family’s meal kits, so I threw that in. People at the shelter were really happy about the fruit, especially the kiwi.”
Lucas began his project on April 4, 2024, had his plans featured in an Arlington Connection and The Gazette Packet article in early June, then followed through and completed his project on June 15, 2024, after 132 hours. He completed his Eagle Board of Review on November 19, 2024.
