By Ellie Sileo
The Eagle Scouts of Greenwich have been impressing and blessing the community with their projects for over a century. The history of the Scouts is fascinating and a continuation of this legacy can be seen across recent projects from the Greenwich Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
During a conversation with Jim Heavey, Greenwich’s Chief of Police, we added up the hours of hard work that troops have put into the last eight Eagle projects, to find out that the scouts have acquired a whopping total of 1,360 hours of dedication in the last ten months. Through explaining the Eagle Scout Service Project Process, Chief Heavey shares that Eagle Scouts commit to working on a project that, “is a gift to the community and demonstrates leadership.”
Tom Pankosky, registrar for the Greenwich Council, emphasizes that, “the impact on the community really is widespread,” and that, “the parks, churches, and schools have always been beneficiaries.”
Sciulla is a junior at Greenwich High School and in January, he led a troop of 35 individuals for a 139 hour long project to create 1 ½ miles of new trail for Pemberwick Park. During this process, Scout Sciulla also led the creation of a GIS mapping system—an innovation which uses a computer system to obtain and map data in relation to positions on Earth’s surface—, the placement of a new kiosk at the entrance, and the removal of invasive plants in the park. All of these additions allow the community to better interact with our town’s nature.
In addition to Sciulla’s project, many recent projects have focused on the improvement and beautification of the town’s parks. Both Eagles Ethan Miklautsch, senior at GHS at the time, and Aedan Browning, junior at GHS, worked in Laddin’s Rock Park in Old Greenwich for their projects. These two projects were completed over 222 hours by 19 individuals total. Miklautsch’s and Browning’s leadership of their troops led to major developments for this park including the removal of invasive plant species, the addition of a kiosk, and the planting of tree saplings to control erosion.
Similar ambitions were taken to protect and enhance the Babcock Preserve by Eagle Catherine Tucker, senior at Rye Country Day School, and the Helen Binney Kitchel Natural Park by Eagle Mark Parry, senior at GHS.
Eagle Catherine Tucker, proudly the first female Eagle scout of the Greenwich Council BSA, implemented a kiosk for the entrance of the Babcock Preserve with a map of the park, a list of dog rules, and dog waste bag dispensers attached to it, while also cleaning up the invasive plants in the entrance and parking lot areas. Tucker’s troop of 16 individuals dedicated 202 hours to this project. These improvements aim to benefit the attraction and longevity of the Babcock Preserve.
At the Helen Binney Kitchel Natural Park in Old Greenwich, Eagle Mark Parry’s troop of 15 individuals spent 233 hours building a bridge for hikers and bikers to cross the river safely. Beyond the bridge, Parry’s troop removed invasive plant species and added new plants to transform the look of the park’s entrance. This new bridge and beautification of the entrance will increase safety and attraction within the park.
Chief Heavey noted that these Eagles have made “enhancements to what we can all enjoy now in the park,” demonstrating appreciation for these innovations.
A recent project done by Doyle Zisson’s troop of 12 individuals conducted a 110 hour long restoration of the front walking trail at Zisson’s Congregation. Zisson is a senior at Greenwich Country Day School. By updating the trail markers and creating new trails on Congregation grounds, this project aims to attract more individuals to the trail outside of Zisson’s Congregation.
Greenwich’s Eagles are digging their claws into even international projects, with two recently completed Eagle projects: one working towards the effort in Ukraine and one benefiting families in Peru.
Eagle Wyatt Stratton, a senior at GHS at the time, and his troop of 12 individuals worked on the Ukraine Humanitarian Service Project, “to benefit the innocent civilians that are in desperate need of help as a result of the war.” The troop gathered and shipped out food, water, clothes, and other essentials to support those in need. As Stratton’s troop put in 54 hours of effort, they have helped many of those in destitution in Ukraine.
The Eagle Scout Service Project Outlines says that, “service to others is an important part of the Scout Oath: ‘…to help other people at all times.’” Stratton’s project clearly demonstrates this attribute of the Scout Oath by protecting Ukrainian civilians and providing them with necessities for life.
Eagle Jonathan Abraham, a senior at Port Chester High School, traveled with his troop of 9 individuals to Trujillo, Peru to tackle a 400 hour long project working with Envision and Inca Link Peru, two Christian organizations, as youth leaders to organize and lead a weeklong Vacation Bible School (VBS) for families who spend long days searching garbage dumps for items to sell to be able to afford necessities. Abraham proudly shared that “VBS allows the children to be off the streets, learn about the love of Christ, and eat every day!”
Captain James Bonney, commander of Greenwich’s marine division and father of an Eagle scout, explained that these projects allow youth scouts to gather impressive and priceless lifelong skills to create lifelong impacts.
Greenwich’s recent Eagle scouts have proven to be adaptive, creative, and overall dedicated to enhancing the communities around them.
Matthew Biagioni, a sophomore at GHS and a Life Scout in Greenwich Troop 35, recently completed the creation of a pollinator garden for his project. Biagioni worked with Ralph Mayo, principal of GHS, and Robert Conlan, a science teacher and environmental club leader at GHS. Debbie Palmer-Biagioni explained that this project “enriches the community by supporting the pollinators.”
Kevin O’Shea, Scout Executive, sums up that at the end of the day, “the projects they do support the community and the town of Greenwich in many ways.”
