THE SELECT BOARD honored the town’s three newest Eagle Scouts from Boy Scout Troop 750 with Certificates of Recognition for their community service projects. From left: Select Board members Nick Masse, Liane Gonzalez, Chairman Vincenzo Stuto, Eagle Scouts James Dillon, Christopher Vitale and Graham Koeper, Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto and Select Board member Rich Wallner. (Dan Mills Photo)

 


By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — Three Boy Scouts, all 2024 graduates of North Reading High School, recently received their rank of Eagle Scout, the highest achievement in the organization.

In recognition of their achievements, the Select Board invited James Dillon, Christopher Vitale and Graham Koeper to their June 17 meeting to share the details of their respective Eagle projects and to present them with a Certificate of Recognition from the board.

“I was the last Eagle for 2023. I finished all the requirements two days before my 18th birthday,” noted Dillon. “My project was building folding tables in the changing rooms in the Performing Arts Center,” he said. “It was very successful. Not only did it work and was problem-solving but I also got to use them and see other people use them. I got to hear a lot of feedback and people saying that these are a great add-on to the room. Everybody in Masquers really enjoyed them.”

Vitale told the board: “For my project I created a Buddy Bench for the Batchelder School. When I was researching my project I noticed that the Hood and the Little Schools both had Buddy Benches in the playground but the Batchelder didn’t, so I recommended it.”

“We got all the money we needed to get the best bench possible. We all got together in the morning and put it together and we donated a couple of books to the library and the kindergarten to teach what the bench is for,” Vitale said.

Select Board member Rich Wallner then asked Vitale the obvious question: what is a Buddy Bench?

Vitale said, “A Buddy Bench is meant to to combat loneliness and bullying of a child, so if a child feels left out, they don’t have anyone to play with or they just want to meet new people they sit down on that bench and children are suppose to walk up to the bench, see a kid sitting there and ask to join them or ‘do you want to play with me?”

Koeper also recently received his Eagle Scout rank. “For my project I bought boxes for the church nursery which were able to hold all the toys that were outside, laying out and people could trip on them. So now they can be stored away, no one will trip on them and they will be able to last longer without exposure to the elements,” he said.

For Koeper, the learning experience in completing this project included what to do when a project costs more than was budgeted.

“For my fundraiser I did a car wash. They turned out to be more expensive than I thought they would be so I had to go out and do more fundraising,” he said.

Wallner said, “I give you a lot of credit. It is a major amount of effort. All those merit badges I see on your sash. It takes a lot to earn those and I respect anyone who does it. Congratulations on doing some meaningful projects for the town and hopefully you can tell the next generation coming in that Swan Pond is going to need some help as well from Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts,” he said, in reference to an ongoing plan to create public walking trails on town forest land in that area of town.

“I commend all of you,” said Select Board member Liane Gonzalez. “It is inspirational for you to come before us and show us what you have done to help the community… Thank you for the time and effort. A lot of good people come out of scouting. One of them is sitting over there,” she said, referring to Town Administrator Mike Gilleberto. “A prime example.”

Select Board member Nick Masse commended the three Eagles on their entrepreneurial skills, quality work and being helpful in the community. “It is really great to help the community, jump in, fund raise yourself, put it together yourself, go back for fund raising, as you said, because you always have to,” he said.

The creativity of the three projects as well as all the projects in the past stood out to Select Board Chairman Vincenzo Stuto. “Every year we honor a group,” Stuto said. “I don’t think we’ve seen the same thing twice, so it shows that if you look for it there is a lot you can do for your community.”