Eagle Scout Court of Honor Program

Alex Chang John Hwang Robert Day Sean Rooney Reynolds Delgado Ethan Smith Gerritt Ewing Karsten Wilkinson Owen Festa Mark Wong

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2022 | 1:00 P.M. WEST UNIVERSITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 3611 University Boulevard | Houston, Texas 77005

TWIN BAYOU DISTRICT SAM HOUSTON AREA COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA

OPEN HOUSE Tuesday, October 12 & 19

University Methodist Churc

Demonstrations on Arrow of Light R

not Tying, Fire Building & Fire Safe

CALL TO ORDER. . . . . . . . . . . . . Gerritt Ewing, Troop Committee Chairperson EAGLE SCOUT ENTRANCE. . . . . Alex Chang, Robert Day, Reynolds Delgado, Gerritt Ewing, Owen Festa, John Hwang, Sean Rooney, Ethan Smith, Karsten Wilkinson and Mark Wong PRESENTATION OF THE COLORS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles Donnell, Acting Senior Patrol Leader Gus Jenman and Filipp Lapotko INVOCATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gus Jenman, Chaplin’s Aide THE SPIRIT OF SCOUTING. . . Gerritt Ewing, Troop Committee Chairperson THE EAGLE CHARGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sean Rooney, Scoutmaster EAGLE AWARD PRESENTATION. . . . . Heidi Wilkinson, Troop Eagle Coordinator REDEDICATION OF EAGLE SCOUTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gerritt Ewing, Troop Committee Chairperson Sean Rooney, Scoutmaster BENEDICTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gus Jenman, Chaplain’s Aide RETIRING OF THE COLORS. . . . . Charles Donnell, Acting Senior Patrol Leader

Reception immediately following

✯ EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT ✯ ALEX CHANG Restoration of the Gulf Coast Tall Grass Prairie Hermann Park My Eagle project was the restoration of the Gulf Coast tall grass prairie exhibit at Hermann Park called The Whistlestop Prairie. This prairie is home to many endangered species of native Texas plants, yet it has not been maintained for two years. This project benefits Hermann Park by reviving an endangered Gulf Coast tallgrass prairie. This project will help repopulate the endangered native grasses and remove the invasive species depleting the resources and overtaking the prairie. The prairie is also important to wildlife living in the park. Bald eagles come to hunt in the prairie where rabbits make the prairie their home. Restoring the prairie will make it a more attractive place for people to enjoy and remember what Houston used to look like before settlers came. It will also provide the pollinators living in the prairie with plants to pollinate.

✯ EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT ✯ ROBERT DAY Two Sets of Plant Grow-Out Shelves Hermann Park The purpose of my Eagle Scout project was to construct two sets of plant grow out shelves for native Texas plants to mature before being planted on the grounds at the Hermann Park Conservancy. These shelves were designed by me using an online CAD software, and then were constructed by me and several members of the troop over a two weekend period. Funds for this project were raised via the troop’s PayPal, and the project collected more than enough allowing me to benefit from sturdier supplies and left over funds to donate to the park. This project ended with a grand total of 83 hours from all volunteers and planning combined.

✯ EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT ✯ REYNOLDS DELGADO Purple Martin Habitat Hermann Park My Eagle Scout service project was the construction and installation of a purple martin habitat for the Hermann Park Conservancy at Hermann Park. Creating an appropriate and long-lasting gourd community in Hermann Park to benefit the Houston community was my goal. I used polypropylene gourds because this material will be durable in the Houston heat and won’t require much maintenance, such as painting regularly.

Location is the key to a successful birdhouse. In order for the houses to be successfully used, they need to be mounted on a pole that is 12 to 15 feet off the ground.

The pole is designed so that it can be lowered for gourd cleaning and filling with food. The project was designed and built at home and installed in the prairie area of Hermann Park in Whistletop, July 2021. Thanks to all who helped!

✯ EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT ✯ GERRITT EWING Re-Stripping of Parking Lot First Church of Christ, Scientist My Eagle project involved the striping of my church parking lot at the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Bellaire, Texas. During the process of planning for this project I had to review the building codes provided to me by the City of Bellaire regarding parking lots. According to those regulations, I took the measurements of the parking and made a sketch on the program on AUTOCAD to visualize the lot from a topdown view in order to scale the parking spaces to their correct dimensions. Taking an export of the sketch, I sent them to my advisor who specializes in infrastructure engineering to verify my work. Once verified, we put together a budget and bought the supplies necessary. From fundraising to purchases, we arranged all the gear at the church and began recruiting scouts and adults to assist in the execution of the plan.

Once people from our troop were on board, we split them up into work shifts. Each shift worked on Saturday mornings and completed the work by noon due to the heat.

The project took four Saturdays to complete. When complete, we had striped 53 parking spaces and installed concrete car stops with two iron pins each.

✯ EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT ✯ OWEN FESTA Purple-Top Grass Planting Hermann Park My project was planting purple-top grass because it’s a native Texas grass that will help Hermann Park go back to its natural habitat. This kind of grass doesn’t need a lot of water and animals won’t eat it. It is part of a big project called “The Commons” at Hermann Park that will help the environment and make it a nicer place for the community. I gave everyone a safety briefing and introduced the group to Ms. Kerr from the Hermann Park Conservancy. I am grateful for all of the scouts, friends, and community members who helped with this service project.

✯ EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT ✯ JOHN HWANG Planter Boxes Pershing Middle School My Eagle project benefited my local school, Pershing Middle School. The first phase of my project included assembling the cedar wood planter boxes at home and the second phase including installing the boxes at Pershing with soil, grass clippings, and a number of plants to beautify the area just outside the garden. We ended up installing two boxes that will hopefully last for many years to come which were each eight feet long. The kind, extremely generous support from volunteers, family, friends, and donation patrons towards my Eagle project allowed my fellow scouts and I to give back to the local school garden and enrich the area surrounding it. Without them, my project would be impossible to complete and I am grateful for their support.

✯ EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT ✯ SEAN ROONEY Volunteer Walkway Hermann Park

The Herman Park Conservancy utilizes a large group of volunteers to service the park, yet they’ve encountered a problem. The volunteer area near the shed has numerous tree roots, creating a trip hazard. The goal of my project is to build a walkway over the tree roots that will allow for safe movement from the shed to the Park, while also protecting the tree roots. A walk way elevated above the roots provides a safe route for the volunteers to move tools and supplies that are necessary in the conservation of the park. I really appreciate all the support of the troop to help me complete this project.

✯ EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT ✯ ETHAN SMITH

Squirrel Release Cage The Wildlife Center of Texas My Eagle Scout project was the construction of a squirrel release cage for The Wildlife Center of Texas. The cage is designed for squirrels that arrive in the rehabilitation center as babies until they are mature and ready for release. The cage allows them to acclimate to their new surroundings so they can learn the skills required to survive in the wild, while having the safety of the cage. My cage can house 10-15 squirrels at a time. I delivered my cage to a pre-determined location in League City. I am grateful for the support of the troop, family, and friends. My project was completely funded through donations, and I was able to give the excess funds to The Wildlife Center of Texas.

✯ EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT ✯ KARSTEN WILKINSON Stabilization of Pond Border Hermann Park Bayou Parkland The project was designed to stabilize the border of a pond at the Hermann Park Bayou Parkland Area. The pond is frequently used for educational purposes, so people often stand on the border. The Scouts placed mortar underneath the stones around the pond securing and stabilizing the border ensuring that a kid could easily lean on the stones while using a net to collect a specimen from the pond.

Additionally, this keeps the stones from falling or being thrown into the pond. I cannot thank everyone who showed up enough for all the help you all lent me in completing this project. I had nearly thirty people show up to help that day.

Thank you again to everyone who helped me so much with this project along every step of the way.

✯ EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT ✯ MARK WONG Beautification Houston Chinese Church My Eagle Scout project was the beautification of the area behind my church’s AC unit. My project at its very core is just a landscaping project where I placed various plants to make the place look better. Before going out to begin buying for my project I first had to plan out the whole landscaping project so I could get a full picture of what I had to buy. Next, I gathered an inventory of all the tools, plants, and other supplies.

To execute the project, I first sent an email blast to every scout in my troop looking for volunteers through Signup Genius. We then scheduled the times at which the volunteers would come to work on the project. This project was completed over the span of two weekends.

Despite the grueling work of landscaping itself, I would say that the planning process was the hardest part of the whole project. This was because finding a project itself was already a challenge. On top of that, reaching out to my beneficiary and figuring out what he wanted, while also seeing if it was even feasible or not was hard. Overall, so much more time was put into planning than landscaping itself, as I burnt through countless drafts for layouts, as well as so many lists of different plants that I could use. But I think because of the good planning, that the landscaping days themselves went almost flawlessly.

ALEX CHANG | MAY 3, 2022

ROBERT DAY | JAN 18, 2022

REYNOLDS DELGADO | SEPT 26, 2021

GERRITT EWING | SEPT 7, 2021

OWEN FESTA | MAY 3, 2022

JOHN HWANG | APRIL 12, 2022

SEAN ROONEY | MAY 10, 2022

ETHAN SMITH | FEB 8, 2022

KARSTEN WILKINSON | APRIL 12, 2021

MARK WONG | MAY 18, 2021

EAGLE SCOUT IS THE HIGHEST ADVANCEMENT RANK IN BOY SCOUTING. SINCE 1912, MORE THAN 2 MILLION BOY SCOUTS HAVE EARNED THE EAGLE SCOUT RANK. IN THE WORDS OF THE EAGLE SCOUT PROMISE, EAGLES DO THEIR BEST EACH DAY TO MAKE THEIR TRAINING AN EXAMPLE, THEIR RANK AND THEIR INFLUENCE COUNT STRONGLY FOR BETTER SCOUTING AND BETTER CITIZENSHIP IN THEIR TROOP, IN THEIR COMMUNITY, AND IN THEIR CONTACTS WITH OTHER PEOPLE. TO THIS THEY PLEDGE THEIR SACRED HONOR.