Olivia Preston of Troop 1965 in Burke, VA, spent most of her meetings over the past two years at Lake Braddock Community Center with her Scouts BSA Troop. The Community Center provides the Troop with a free meeting space and many project opportunities. When it came time for Olivia to begin her Eagle Scout Project, she knew she wanted to give back to the place that had given her and her Troop so much. So Olivia decided to make boat barracks for the Community Center to say thanks and to provide a secure space to store kayaks and canoes.
Olivia never had much experience with carpentry, so before she could even begin this project she had to familiarize herself with a lot of building terminology. After that, she created a plan and began to search for the materials she needed. It took several months to find all the materials since there was a shortage of lumber at the time. Once she had collected all the lumber, she transported it to Lake Braddock. There she pre-cut it to the required dimensions. Next, she led her volunteers in assembling the four boat racks, and installed them around the lake. 
Olivia is glad to have had time with her volunteers to assemble the boat racks and is proud of how smoothly the project went. She learned quite a bit during her project, saying, “The biggest thing I learned was how hard it is to manage projects. It took months of planning and preparation to put together a four hour service project for my peers. It makes me really appreciate my Scoutmaster and all the other adult leaders who help plan the logistical side of our Troop events.”
