Scout soars to Eagle by honoring veterans
High school senior helped raise recessed gravestones that had sunken over time
LEOMINSTER » Derek Morand recently earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
Morand is a member of Troop 477 located at the Leominster Sportsman Club and is the son of Garry and Carolyn Morand, of Leominster.
To earn the rank of Eagle, a Scout must earn at least 21 merit badges, and demonstrate leadership and community service by organizing and carrying out an Eagle Project.
Morand has earned over 30 merit badges, and for his project, he raised the gravestones of U.S. veterans located at Leominster’s Evergreen Cemetery.
Over time, the flat gravestones sink and are overrun with grass and weeds making them difficult to find and to read.
Morand first thought of this idea during a Memorial Day event when the troop placed American flags at each of the veterans’ graves. While doing this, he noticed that many were overrun with grass and barely visible.
Derek, with the help of his troop Scouts, raised the gravestones over several weekends to make the gravesites clean and visible again.
His project plan was to raise one row of stones, but he had enough materials donated and enough support from his fellow Scouts to complete two rows or more than
30 gravesites.
The feedback he got for completing this project was overwhelming; both from his fellow Scouts as
well as from several visitors to the cemetery thanking them for improving the site.
Morand is currently a senior at Leominster High school, and plans to attend college to major in neuropsychology next year.