Boy Scout Troop 70 have several Scouts who have or will achieve Eagle Scout rank. Cinnaminson Patch has asked them to share their stories and photos with us.
Scout: Akshay Patel
Current Scout Rank: Life Scout
School: Cinnaminson High School
Grade: 11
Project Description: My Eagle Scout project was a dedication to the veterans of Cinnaminson, both alive and dead.
When looking for a project idea, I asked Cinnaminson's mayor Don Brauckmann if there was anything I could do for the community. He then suggested a project the township was planning on doing which I was very interested in.
He told me about an old war veterans memorial that is in Cinnaminson's Memorial Park that the township wanted to relocate to the park's new sledding hill. He said the memorial isn't seen very often and moving it would make it more visible to those at the park.
Also, in addition to moving the monument, the project was to plant a garden surrounding the monument to an area of the hill which wasn't very appealing at the time—and to make it more aesthetically pleasin.
So basically, the idea was to relocate a veterans' memorial and plant a garden around it and the garden would be placed where the memorial would be seen by more people. The garden would also be improving the appearance on the side of Memorial Parks new sledding hill.
I thought it was a great idea and would be a great project for the community and would be my honor to create this garden dedicating the veterans of Cinnaminson. I then spent the time composing the project and get more details to exactly what I would be doing.
I then proposed the project to the Cinnminson Township and once it was approved, I began my work. I then spent the next seven months preparing, raising money to fund my project, planning, and going through with the project.
On Sept. 23, I finished my dedication garden. The end result was a 25-foot long garden with six ink berry hollies in the back, the memorial in front of the hollies, two red mums on both sides of the memorial, and in front of the memorial about 140 red, white and purple pansies. Also, behind and around the memorial, daffodil bulbs were planted which will bloom in the spring.
The garden is layer with mulch and the entire garden is boardered with stone pavers. The garden was an honor to create and is a great addition to the community. I'm glad I was given the opportunity to make this garden dedicated to the veterans of Cinnaminson and was humbled by the entire experience of doing my Eagle Scout project.
As a 20 year veteran of the military and Cinnaminson resident, I "Thank You" for all the effort you put into this! Jamie