"Working for a Common Goal"

[SSScout 1619]

Frederick, Maryland

 

 

 

 

Tue, March 27, 2007 Frederick News-Post

 

 

Home > Local News

 

""Working for a common goal""

Troop helps fellow scout become Eagle

Originally published March 27, 2007

 

 

By Pamela Rigaux

News-Post Staff

 

 

Photo by Travis Pratt

 

 

 

((Boy Scout Matthew Acosta leads Troop 1023 installing benches along neighborhood trails in Urbana as part of his scout project)).

 

 

 

 

IJAMSVILLE, MD -- Rain didn't stop Boy Scout Troop 1023 of Kemptown from helping their fellow scout, Matthew Acosta, become an Eagle Scout.

A dozen scouts took turns digging holes deep enough to set four handmade benches alongside walking trails in the Windsor Knolls subdivision Saturday morning.

 

"An Eagle is one of the highest ranks you can achieve," Acosta said. "When you go to college, people will look at whether you're an Eagle Scout or not."

 

The rank doesn't come easy. It requires a project. Not just any project will do.

 

"For an Eagle project, you have to have a beneficiary to benefit from the project," Acosta said. "A lot of people walk these trails."

 

The pine wood benches took a long time to make, he said. First he had to find a model. He did that via the Internet. Then he had to make the benches using a chop saw.

 

"We cut all the pieces, put them together," he said.

 

Digging 33-inch holes into the ground to place the benches next to the trails took endurance. Scouts used a regular shovel, and a few extras such as a post hole digger. The tool looked like it had a pair of blades fastened to the end of a long handle.

 

Acosta kept checking the hole's depth with a measuring tape. At one point, he picked up a rather longish looking pole called a digging bar, and jammed it into the hole.

 

The pole jammed against a rock.

 

"It sounds hollow," Bill Hagen, an adult supervisor said.

 

Acosta repeatedly jammed the rock, then let another scout take over. "It's shale," he said of the piece scouts eventually broke through.

 

The benches are designed to stand 15 inches up from the ground. Originally, Acosta had made the seats 18 inches high, but learned it would not be as comfortable for women and kids, he said.

 

He will help his friends achieve their Eagle projects, he said. Chris Cervenka said he is going to make a sand volleyball court for Urbana High School. Joe Abretski said he is building storage cabinets for The Hartley House.