Article about Eagle Project

[sctmom]

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Scout guides courtyard plan into reality

School gains source of quiet inspiration

Rochelle Carter - Staff

Thursday, May 30, 2002

 

 

Oakland Elementary School's barren courtyard needed help.

 

There was grass growing, but nothing else, in the narrow plot, which can been seen from the classrooms and hallways. It bothered fifth-grade teacher Nancy Ahl, who told how the lush green view from her bay window at home helped her recover from a yearlong illness.

 

Last year her students drew a plan for the courtyard and raised $400 by working at a PTA spaghetti supper, Ahl said. But the school year was over, and the students had moved on to middle school before much got done.

 

Enter Boy Scout Daniel Cirincione, an Eagle's Landing High School student who needed a service project. He wanted to earn his Eagle Scout badge. Daniel's little sister Carissa, 10, attends Oakland.

 

"It was fortuitous that Daniel came in and said, 'I need a service project for my Eagle Scouts,' " Ahl said. "It might have taken us years to get it done."

 

Daniel, 17, who began his Scouting career in the first grade as a Tiger Cub, said he started work on the courtyard and his Eagle Scout badge by drawing up plans and raising money.

 

There was never a shortage of people willing to help him out, Daniel said.

 

"I would just be talking to people and they'd say, 'Here's a $20 donation,' " Daniel said. The project's cost, in money and donated goods, came to about $1,300.

 

The work on the courtyard began in February. Daniel, with the help of his father and students from Eagle's Landing and Oakland, worked on the project on weekends. One weekend, doors had to be removed from the school to bring in a Bobcat to move earth.

 

Ahl visited several schools that had landscaped courtyards to find out what did and didn't work. Things to be avoided, she found, include trees that grow so big that they obstruct the view from windows and ponds filled with goldfish that need someone to care for them.

 

The new courtyard has a Zen-like quality. Two mulch pathways from either end lead to a flagstone patio. Daniel built a small garden in the middle of the patio out of landscaping blocks. A white crape myrtle is planted in the middle.

 

"We just kind of looked at it and said maybe this is how it works," Daniel said. "For us not knowing how we were doing, it looks like we knew what we were doing."

 

The redesigned courtyard is a foundation for the school to build from, Ahl said. She is envisioning some small trees and benches that will provide comfortable places for students to sit and read or just enjoy being outside.

 

Meanwhile, Daniel, who graduated Saturday from Eagle's Landing High School, is waiting to find out if he will receive the Eagle Scout badge.

 

Eagle Scout is the highest level a Boy Scout can reach. More than 1 million Boy Scouts have earned the rank since 1911, according to the Boy Scouts of America's Web site.

 

Famous Eagle Scouts include former President Gerald Ford, former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, film director Steven Spielberg and billionaire businessman H. Ross Perot.

 

Daniel hopes to join their ranks.

 

"You're the elite of Scouting," Daniel said.

 

"I think it's 2 percent or less of Scouts that become Eagle Scouts. I'd like to be one of that 2 percent."