by Luke Macannuco ·
Friday, July 5, 2024
Two members of the Harvard Boy Scouts Troop One, Bromfield seniors Jack Stahl and Logan Ostaszewski, achieved the rank of Eagle Scout this year. Both had to complete an Eagle Project, a capstone that “takes about a year to bring to fruition,” according to Troop One Scoutmaster Gary Madison.
“There’s a lot of planning, development, programming, and thinking, ‘How can I impact my community in a lasting way?’” said Madison.
For many Scouts, ideas for the Eagle project come from a personal passion. Stahl’s project to build a series of bridges over muddy stretches of the Lower Depot Corral, a popular conservation trail in Harvard, stemmed from his consistent use of the trail as a competitive track and cross-country runner.
Stahl said that the trails he chose used to be popular for the Bromfield track and cross-country teams, but as he got older, he “noticed we didn’t go there as much, and when we did, it was always soaked and muddy. I thought building bridges was a perfect project as it could directly impact the community.”
Jack Stahl and fellow Scouts pose on a boardwalk he built for a muddy section of a trail off Depot Road. From left: Diesel Whitten, Liam Kemeza, Stahl, Isaac Greayer, and Harrison Binnick. (Courtesy photos)
According to Madison, just minutes after installing one of the bridges, Stahl was able to get photos of a woman and her dog crossing it, which he used in his Eagle project presentation. The bridge “totally made a difference,” said Madison.
Stahl found that the most difficult part of the process was the planning, which included the physical challenge of transporting the bridges into the woods. Stahl had to coordinate a larger group of people to carry the bridges, which were made of a dense, heavy wood, working in shifts of four. “It was exhausting,” he said.
Stahl “learned the importance of planning” through this difficulty, he said; “multiple times we had conflicts due to last minute planning.” As the sole organizer of the project, Stahl had to work through the conflicts himself, including a miscommunication that delayed the transporting of the bridges by a few days.
Stahl learned a lesson of leadership through his project. “I had many of my friends help,” he said, “and I had to learn balancing being a friend versus when I had to be a leader and direct people.”
Ostaszewski looked to the Hildreth Elementary School, where his mom works as a front office secretary, for ideas for his project. “I met with the principal to see if there was anything that they would like made,” Ostaszewski explained. “I wanted to do a more hands-on type of project. And they gave me a couple of options.”
Logan Ostaszewski stands with HES Principal Rebecca Katsh-Singer beside his project, a bin to store playground equipment used during recess.
One of the options presented to Ostaszewski was to build bins for playground equipment that would be used during recess, including one bin that would be suited for children with disabilities. “When I was a kid, I really enjoyed recess. So when they mentioned that I could make storage boxes for the playground equipment, as well as the adaptive playground equipment, I was very excited about that,” said Ostaszewski.
Ostaszewski designed the bins himself and organized a team of friends and fellow Scouts to help build them. For the adaptive bin, Ostaszewski reverse-engineered a product he found online that would have cost upward of $200. By examining the online product, Ostaszewski figured out how to build it, and he recreated the design, spending only $50. The adaptive bin included a magnetic track that students can adjust for size and drop a ball down, similar to a marble maze.
Ostaszewski, like Stahl, said he “learned a lot about leadership” through his Eagle Project experience. “I also learned about how you have to be humble. As a leader, you have to accept when you don’t know certain things, then go find someone who does know something about it.”
Stahl and Ostaszweski “will absolutely make a difference in the world,” Madison said, reflecting on their accomplishments. Each project is “a great capstone project that will be with them for their entire lives.”