Troop 70 completed Eagle Scout service projects during pandemic
From a young age, Cub Scouts typically have one goal — to become an Eagle Scout. To reach that status marks years of dedication to the organization and the ideals instilled through its teachings. Attaining Eagle Scout status also entails that scouts have donated ample time to the community and have completed a service project in accordance with a community member, among other requirements.
Despite a global pandemic forcing many to look inward first, many scouts from Troop 70 in New Canaan focused outward to help their community by completing various Eagle Scout projects in the past calendar year, with some still planning their projects for the near future.
Steven Capelo, a senior at New Canaan High School, became an Eagle Scout in mid-November. He completed his service project during the summer after spending the end of his junior year mulling over how he could be of service.
“I reached out to Aaron Lefland, the president from the New Canaan Land Trust,” Capelo said. “He told me he wanted to install new birdhouses and also to build new owl houses and bat houses.”
With Lefland’s instruction, Capelo got to work. He said that Lefland explained to him the need for the owl houses and bat houses, especially noting the Eastern Screech Owl, which was once native to the area, was now being seen less and less.
Along with building three owl houses and three bat houses, the now-Eagle Scout replaced some of the older birdhouses with new ones on the Land Trust campus.
Like Capelo, New Canaan High School freshman Robert Williams collaborated with Lefland on his Eagle Scout project. Unlike Capelo, though, Williams is still working towards Eagle Scout status and hopes to achieve the title soon.
“I knew I wanted to work with the Land Trust, so I emailed Aaron (Lefland) and asked what projects would be available for me to take a look at,” Williams explained. He and Lefland agreed that the addition of a 200-foot rockstep trail leading from the parking lot near a hiking path in the Watson-Symington Woodlands would be ideal.
Lefland told Williams that they had been hoping to build this trail for years, as to discourage hikers and runners from parking their vehicles closer to the path and instead using the appropriate parking lot where the trail would stem from.
“They had been experiencing the issue for a while now, for at least a couple years or so,” Williams said. “At the time, they didn’t have people who were willing to take on the project, so I did.”
Williams reiterated that projects that address the needs of the community such as these were integral to showcase the values that an Eagle Scout should exhibit. He also said that he and his fellow Troop 70 scouts, who aided him in his building of the trail over a two-day period, have felt very gracious in the ability to help their community during a time where many people have actually needed it.
Andy Liang, a junior at New Canaan High School, is also working towards becoming an Eagle Scout and is set to start his service project in April.
Liang will be building a roof and gutter system for one of the gardens at the South School. The goal is for it to drain precipitation down the gutter system to the plants.
“South School has said that they have wanted this project for a while and I thought this might be a good way to help the kids in their learning,” he said. “At the end of the day, it is a great way for the kids to get outside. That’s when they can have their break to go out to learn.”
He has nearly completed the planning stage of his project and anticipates the building phase to last separate weekends. He hopes this project will be valued as the community slowly crawls out of the pandemic.
One current Eagle Scout in Troop 70 finished his service project in March 2020 and the impact of his project, he thinks, has been felt through the early months of the pandemic.
“I built garden houses at the New Canaan Schoolhouse Apartments, for lower income and elderly housing residents there too,” said William Winalski, a junior at St. Luke’s School. “Previously, they had garden boxes that were low to the ground.”
He explained that his
idea was to raise them higher off of the ground and Winalski built a prototype that was accepted by the building advisor at the apartment building.
“To own a small plot of land in these garden boxes to use to grow plants and maybe even food to eat, I thought that was a good idea for a project,” Winalski said, adding that from planning to completion of the project took five months.
“It’s a great feeling. I visit there once a month,” the Eagle Scout said. “It was one of the best experiences of my life, just knowing that I could have made even one person’s stress lessen over the early months of the pandemic.”
As for taking on projects and being of service in general during the coronavirus pandemic, Troop 70 has committed to its community.
Liang said it has “definitely been harder” to give their time during COVID-19 and with the social distancing regulations in effect, but believes that volunteering is key.
“The opportunities have diminished to a certain degree, but there are many ways to volunteer,” Lian said. “And Troop 70 is happy to help.”
Liang, Winalski, Williams and Capelo serve as leaders of the troop and mentors to younger scouts who will follow in their footsteps to service their community.