Local Scout honors veterans with Eagle project
Knowing there were veterans in Starkville Manor Health Care and Rehabilitation, prospective Eagle Scout Parker Bazzill decided to use his service project to honor them.
Bazzill and other scouts from Troop 27 spent the week erecting a flagpole at the home.
The service project is among the finals steps before Bazzill is named an Eagle Scout, the highest rank achievable in Scouts
BSA. Some of the veterans watched as members of the troop put the pole in place in front of the building.
“I knew that there were probably going to be some veterans here in the nursing home, and they didn’t have a flagpole outside, so I got the idea to build them a flagpole,” Bazzill said. “They really seemed to enjoy the idea.”
He said Starkville Manor had been receptive to the idea and his reason for wanting to erect the flagpole.
“I’m just glad that we were able to do this for the nursing home, and I hope they enjoy it,” Bazzill said.
After the pole was erected, Bazzill and other Scouts and adult leaders from the troop raised a flag.
He said the project had cost approximately $1,000, which he had raised by crowdfunding.
“First we had to calculate how much money we needed for the supplies, then after we did that
and put all of our supplies down on a list, we gathered the money through a Gofundme,” Bazzill said.
He said he chose to use crowdfunding due to the difficulty of asking for support face-to-face with the threat posed from the novel coronavirus.
“We had to lay out the concrete,” Bazzill said. “We did that (Monday) we laid out all the concrete, then we put up the flagpole.”
Bazzill is a rising junior at Starkville High School, and has been involved in Scouting since the first grade. He currently serves as a patrol leader, and is a member of the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s national honor society.
“Not too long ago, we went to an island in Florida, and we got to stay there overnight,” Bazzill said. “No one else was staying there except us, and it was just a really cool experience. Because we’re
Scouts, they allowed us to be down there.”
After the project is completed, Bazzill will be required to go through a board of review and a scoutmaster conference before being officially named an Eagle Scout. In total, approximately 4% of Scouts attain the rank.
“I’m proud of him,” said Life Scout Clay Huddleston, one of Bazzill’s closest friends in the troop. “It’s really cool to see him make it, and I’m going to have to do this at some point, so it’s helpful seeing the process at least in action.”
He discussed his friendship with Bazzill over their time in Scouting together.
“Just about every time that we have a chance to work together or share a tent or cook a meal together, we take it,” Huddleston said.
Bazzill’s mother, Erica Bazzill said she was relieved to see the project come to fruition.
“We really pushed him hard and emphasized not waiting until the last minute,” Erica Bazzill said.