Up and down San Diego, Boy Scouts from La Jolla-based Troop 4 are looking to improve the world around them, one project at a time.
Three Scouts completed their projects in the past year and are officially Eagle Scouts. Two more from the troop are waiting to learn whether their projects meet Eagle Scout merits.
Eagle is the highest achievement in Scouting, and only about 4 percent of Boy Scouts nationwide earn the title. Eagle Scout candidates must earn 21 merit badges, participate in a leadership conference and complete a project that benefits the community, as well as other prerequisites.
Here are the three new Eagle Scouts:
Jacob Bertagnolli
For his Eagle project, Jacob Bertagnolli completed garden beautification at the Navigation Center on the San Diego Rescue Mission’s Oceanside campus.
“I think it was an amazing project,” he said. “It wasn’t a lot of work manually, but it helps people feel welcome when they arrive at the Rescue Mission, which then helps get people oriented with other rehabs, centers and hospitals.”
When it came time to choose his Eagle Scout project, Jacob knew he wanted it to be at the Rescue Mission, where his mother works.
“My counselor and I then came up with the idea to design stone etchings to go in the center of the garden with the words that represent the values of the center: faith, excellence, integrity and compassion,” Jacob said.
With help from local stoneworkers, the cost of the etchings was minimal, leaving more that could be done.
So he decided to take out the weeds and bushes that interfered with the walking paths and to trim overgrown trees. After that, there was room to add lights to illuminate the garden at night and “make it more vibrant and accessible to people walking by,” Jacob said.
The only hiccup, he said, was that the project start date had to be pushed back to accommodate other construction at the site.
Jonathan Fogel
Jonathan Fogel reconstructed a decaying footbridge off Florida Drive near Morley Field in San Diego’s Balboa Park.
In talking with rangers about needs in the area, Jonathan chose the bridge because it “was the hardest of the choices and it was very important to do. The previous bridge was narrower and too narrow to drive an ATV over, so if the rangers needed to transport material, they couldn’t do it by truck.”
Jonathan also observed a lot of foot traffic on the bridge and that it was decaying and the rebar was exposed. He reached out to other Scouts for help with the labor, which included taking measurements, assembling the tools and materials, reconstructing the bridge based on the new width and painting on a sealant.
The biggest surprise to Jonathan was the number of Scouts who showed up to help.
“I reached out to everyone in the troop and told them about the project … but a lot more people showed up than I expected,” he said. “I’m very grateful for all the help I got. Without them, it would have taken longer. They were motivated to keep working. A lot of people went the whole time.”
Jonathan said the biggest takeaway was the importance of planning. “When we have to submit our write-up, there is a space for what went wrong. I left that blank because nothing went wrong,” he said. “Planning and having good materials, as well as having people you can count on, were so important.”
Alex Park
For his project, Alex Park installed an irrigation system in Marston Canyon in Balboa Park and then revegetated the area with native plants.
In choosing the project, the No. 1 priority was that it be environmentally friendly, Alex said.
“This was something that would benefit the local ecosystem and improve the biodiversity of the area,” he said.
It was “kind of a barren hillside; there were only weeds and things that weren’t appealing to look at and some erosion issues,” he said. “So what we did will prevent some erosion and allow more native plants to grow.”
The project started with the new irrigation system, which was installed over two weekends and involved about 25 volunteers. The team dug a trench and placed 150 feet of pipe underground, with sprinklers every 25 feet or so.
With the project nearing completion, Alex said, “I spoke with some of the rangers, who asked that we put in some new plants now that there would be an irrigation system to water them. They chose the plants, but I wanted to add a Torrey pine tree, which is getting ready to be planted.”
With the project completed, Alex has routinely checked on the plants to see if they are established.
“Some haven’t made it, but others did, so we hope to plant more,” he said. “But I think the irrigation system turned out really successfully. The moment we finished it, it worked and covered what we needed to.”
Eagles in waiting?
The two Scouts who are awaiting the final word about their recently completed projects are Edward Krawiec, who rebuilt a staircase that had been washed out by flooding in Balboa Park, and Gabriel Rebiez, who built benches and installed them on La Jolla’s Coast Walk Trail. ◆
