Service to other people and your community is a big part of being a Boy Scout. And before you can achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, you must fulfill one of scouting’s most important and challenging requirements: Plan, develop, and get scouts in your troop to help you complete a service project that is helpful to a school, a religious institution, or some other deserving organization in your community.
An Eagle service project, however, is about more than just checking off a requirement to get your Eagle Scout Badge. It’s a great way to demonstrate your leadership skills and do something that really makes a difference for the organization or people that you are helping through your project.
The project also helps younger scouts learn more about the importance of service to others and their community, and can give them some ideas for what they might do for their own Eagle project when the time comes for them. And it’s actually a lot of fun to work with your troop’s scouts on something that really matters!
My project’s beneficiary was the Upton Hill Regional Park in Arlington, Virginia. I was volunteering at the park on Earth Day 2014, so I asked the park manager if he had any ideas for an Eagle project that would allow me to help improve the park in a significant way.
The manager told me that the park had a lot of problems with “invasive plant species,” especially English Ivy.
These are plants that have been brought into a natural environment by people, either by accident or intentionally, and they often cause serious harm to a park’s natural resources, its native plant species, and even animals that live in the area.
Unless these invasive plants are controlled, they can spread quickly and eventually overtake and ruin a park’s natural beauty.
The park manager asked if I could organize some scouts from my troop to come to the park and remove the English Ivy. I thought it was a great idea and agreed to take on this challenge as my Eagle project.
To plan the project, I had to figure out how many scouts might be needed to help me do it in a reasonable amount of time.
So I walked through the park’s trails to see how much English Ivy we would need to remove. The manager also told me that the ivy that was spreading right next park’s entryway of the park was a big problem.
I also had to do some research on how and where to cut the ivy so that it would not start growing and spreading again, once my Eagle project was done. (That’s one reason it’s called an “invasive” plant!).
Finally, I had making sure that we had a first aid kit on hand just in case any scouts got poison ivy or accidentally cut themselves while using the shearing tools. I wanted to Be Prepared!
After taking all of the factors into account, it took me a quite bit of time to plan and figure out how to divide up the labor among the scouts in my troop in the most efficient manner.
As my project neared, I was a little concerned that not enough scouts would show up because the weather called for cold temperatures and rain.
However, I’m glad to report that many scouts and parents made it to the park to work with me on my Eagle project. Even though the weather was awful, we managed to finish ahead of schedule and right before the rain started pouring down. And most importantly, no one got hurt while using sharp tools to cut away the ivy or falling because of the wet ground!
When my Eagle project was finally completed, I thought a lot about it, and overall, the process removing the ivy from a great local park worked out really well. The park looked great, and the manager was very thankful for our assistance.
I also learned it takes a lot of effort to organize something that seems so easy in the beginning. And I have a lot of respect for every Boy Scout who has the determination and dedication to do all of the work that goes into a successful Eagle project.
When it's all done, however, an Eagle project is worth all of the effort as a way to serve the people in our community.
Finally, I give my thanks to every Scout and parent, especially those in Troop 1916, who volunteered to help a fellow Scout complete his Eagle project.
By Hojun Boo, Life Scout, Troop 1916