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Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

eagle scout project

A Home For Our Feline Friends

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I have been volunteering with Operation Hood for the past few years. Operation Hood helps feral cats; I was initially drawn to them because of my love for cats. So when looking for ideas for my Eagle Scout Project, I decided to help Operation Hood by making cat houses.
I originally had the idea in March, but due to COVID-19, I couldn’t begin until mid-July. During that time, I decided to reuse some old cat houses my grandfather had in storage rather than start from scratch. We also converted old dog boxes that needed to be cleaned, sanitized, and painted. After about three days of hard work transferring the cat houses to my house and then to Operation Hood, I finally could start the project. The hardest part of the project was working around the weather. Everything was planned out, but unfortunately, it began to rain a lot, like every weekend. We had to work around it. Eventually, we had to bring out canopies so we could start working on putting the fronts on the houses, staining the houses, and building the cat tree. Then we had to postpone painting the wooden ramps until the following weekend due to the rain.

This project was harder than I thought it would be. I had to figure out how to relay the ideas that I had on paper and in my head to my Scout volunteers. The project helped me with my leadership, planning, and communication skills. I also learned to plan for anything, especially the weather. During this project, some of our wood was cut wrong as well, so we had to adjust our plans slightly.

I found my favorite aspect of the project was giving back to an organization that I truly believe in. They are doing such great work and care so much for the cats. It was a wonderful feeling seeing (within 5 minutes of completing the project) cats utilizing what we just built. It made the project worth it.

An Activity For All

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Special needs children face challenges every day. As part of my Eagle Scout Service Project, I wanted to support these children in a crucial area – sensory activity. My mom does part-time substitute teaching and prefers to work with special needs students at Buffalo Trail Elementary School. One day, she mentioned that it would be nice if the students at her school could have more engaging sensory activities. This got me thinking about ways I could provide the students with their needs. Ultimately, I decided that I would design and build two sensory activity tables for my Eagle Project.

First, I researched sensory stimulation, as well as its needs and considerations. Activities help children develop appropriate responses to stimuli and can enhance their learning experience. They can also facilitate better visual, auditory, and tactile processing. In doing so, children can learn how to regulate their behaviors in a comfortable environment. However, some may be more sensitive to their environment and inclined to overstimulation. Using this information, I compiled a list of possible sensory activities that could be used. Next, I thought a table would be the most appropriate means to present and organize these activities for the students. I leveraged the activity table’s general design from a table my dad built for me when I was younger for my own activities (e.g., building train tracks, playing with Legos, playing with cars, etc.).

I then met with a Special Education Program teacher from Buffalo Trail Elementary School to discuss the proposal, gather requirements (e.g., size, height, features), and start planning the project. With the requirements in hand, I proceeded to make one of the tables as a prototype. This helped me fine-tune the process, materials, and design of the tables. I then used this experience to model the way for the second table. For example, originally, the table legs’ dimensions were slightly too small to secure the caster wheels with all four screws. For the sake of stability, I expanded the legs using an additional 2”x 2” board, enabling the caster wheels to be appropriately fastened to the legs. Once the prototype was completed, I planned out how to best execute the construction with other Scouts and participants. This included determining the order of how different pieces would be built, what teams would make what parts, how to maintain quality and safety, who would be on what team, how to motivate the team, and which participants could use what tools.

To account for COVID-19, I pre-screened the participants based on my Troop’s checklist. I also provided masks, hand sanitizers, and face shields on the build date. Social distancing was also employed (when applicable) to guard against transmission.
The most challenging part of the project was planning. There were many aspects to consider, including measurements, materials, supplies, tools, and safety. Other considerations included what activities to use and how to manage and lead Scouts to complete the project. Although it was a bit tedious and demanding, this process helped me improve my critical thinking and planning skills, including determining the budget, procedures, and logistics.

My favorite parts of the project were seeing the development of my ideas take shape. Its completion left me satisfied, especially seeing how beneficial the outcome is. What started as merely an idea became tangible objects that will benefit students over many years.
The most important things I learned from completing my project were communication, leadership, and planning skills. Being able to communicate effectively with the beneficiary, Scout leaders, and the Scouts who assisted me, whether through email or speech, was crucial to the project’s completion. With this came improved leadership skills, as I was able to better formulate courses of action and efficiently construct the tables.

Eagle of the Week – Katie Hunter!

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When I learned that Bailey’s Elementary School in Vienna, VA, needed some garden boxes, I was inspired to help. I’ve always liked the school as my mother works there, and I particularly enjoy the idea of garden boxes that would help kids learn more about nature. So I decided to reach out to the school and present my plan for my Eagle Scout Service Project.

Once I shared my plan, the school was delighted to work with me through the challenges that COVID-19 presented. I first met with the Science teacher at the school to discuss the scope of the project. After receiving approval, we designed the garden boxes and prepared a list of what we would need. I, then, began to plan how we would construct and transport the boxes while following social distancing rules.

Once the wood arrived, my family helped me to cut the wood so that I could organize it. We then constructed the garden boxes at my house. A week later, we rented a truck to transport all of the boxes. We spent the day digging holes and installing the garden boxes at Bailey’s. Then the boxes were filled with cardboard and mulch. I found that the most difficult part of the project was deciding where to place the garden boxes because the clay was very hard to dig through. My favorite part of the project was seeing how many Scouts from both boy’s and girl’s Troops 987 came out to help. From this project, I learned that being prepared is very important and that you always need to have a backup plan.

Fencing for SPIRIT

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The task seemed daunting at first. Breaking the earth for my Eagle Scout project was no easy feat. I wanted to construct the front fence of the start of a new equestrian park for a local non-profit horse equine-assisted therapy organization. Driving out to the property, parking on the side of the road, I tried to peer in to see what I was working with. I shook my head in disbelief; from the road, I could not walk even ten feet into the property. It was overgrown, trees lining the front of the property, and bugs swarming my every step. How was I supposed to build a fence where I couldn’t even see the ground? However, I chose to help the organization; helping the therapy center made me feel meaning in my work, and the knowledge that less fortunate children could benefit from it only convinced me more to take this project on.
There were many, many preconditions that I had to deal with before even beginning my fence. The grasses loomed over my knees. The thickened brush scratched at my feet. I started planning the phases like it was the procedure for a chemistry experiment. After countless hours of research and writing it to paper, I created a specific project plan that ranged from the purchase of lumber to the cleanup of the property after completion. There were times when I wanted to scrap it all up, try something else, but I pushed through and I finally set the plan in action.

On the day of the project, after all the preparation, laying out the construction flags, measuring the fence distance, and renting equipment, I thought a fence cannot be that difficult to construct right? I was wrong. Off the bat, I faced even more obstacles. Drilling holes in the ground proved to be a pain in the ass, brittle, rocky earth testing my paper plan. After all the work I put in, I was not going to be stopped by a faulty power auger. My perfect plan was put to a halt in its tracks. As I pondered the possibility of working well into the night, it dawned on me that I should implement Plan B, one that just sprung into my mind. Keeping the workers focused and not idle became a new priority as the other parts of my old plan finished. I diverted my resources to help drill holes. Through the beating sun, we finally managed to finish the project after seven hours of hard labor, in front of me was a completed 300-foot fence. I would have never thought I would transform the wilderness into an orderly, pretty fence, a trailblazer for the equestrian park.

I learned many things from my Eagle Scout project. It gave me the confidence to tackle large, complex projects and taught me perseverance. By splitting up the project into stages and planning it all out, it started to look more straightforward. It really showed how hard work pays off and that planning is a necessity with projects of this scale. But I also learned that even the most-detailed, seemingly perfect plans have plenty of opportunities to face flaws.

A New Home for A Turtle

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For my Eagle Project, I built a turtle enclosure at Rust Sanctuary, a nature sanctuary in Leesburg, VA. I’ve always loved animals especially after previous work with Rust. I had done a service project for their nature trail a couple of years back and so I asked if they help with something I could do for an Eagle project, and luckily they had a turtle who needed a new habitat.

My first step was to take a look at the old habitat and decide whether to build in the same place or find a new spot. I eventually decided to tear down the old one and build it in the same spot because of the natural light angle. I then created a virtual model of the habitat on Sketchup, a 3-D modeling app. Then I made a list of the materials we would need and bought them. Finally, I built the habitat and planted turtle-friendly plants.

Now looking back on this project, I found the most difficult aspect was trying to find volunteers as many could not help due to the pandemic. But it was all worth it in the end, to look at the structure I had built after months of hard work.