Accomplishing the biggest feat in the Boy Scouts program, Stephen He (12) completed his Eagle Project this year and has earned the title Eagle Scout.
He decided to revive the running trail behind Green Trails Elementary due to the inadequate care of the road.
“I was kind of thinking along the lines of where do I want to make an impact and how can I help out the community,” He said.
He’s project had to exhibit leadership and could not benefit the Scouts program. A cross country runner himself, He said it wasn’t difficult to find the motivation to clean up the running trail.
“One thing I thought of was, because I love running so much, to help out the running trail for the elementary school to use,” He said. “While I was at Green Trails, we never got to use the trail; it was always overgrown, and it was not kept well.”
Cross country teammate and friend Alex Rehr (11) assisted He in many ways.
“I would say I was the king mulcher,” Rehr said. “First we cut the branches that were hanging out the side and cleared out the logs, because they haven’t used the trail in a couple of years. Then after we got everything cleared up we carried mulch out and we mulched the whole path.”
Despite the hard work, Rehr said he and the other volunteers enjoyed their work.
“It was fun because a lot of people that I knew came out, there was nice weather, and Stephen’s mom brought out snacks so we got to eat too,” Rehr said.
Working before and during Spring Break, Rehr and many others of He’s peers came out to assist their friend and to gain volunteer hours for organizations like National Honor Society.
“It took around 200 man-hours total, everything included,” He said. “The trail is around 200 meters long and it took quite awhile. We extended the path out as well because we had extra mulch.”
White the actual completion of the trail was a challenge, so was the planning process. He spent months organizing and getting approval for his plan, especially since the trail lied on property that belonged both to Parkway Schools and the Village of Green Trails.
“The hardest part was getting everything approved because the legwork that you have to do,” He said. “The Village of Green Trails were very strict on safety precautions; very strict on what could and could not be done. It took a while to get everything sorted out.”
