Earning the Eagle Scout rank isn’t just about service – it’s about leadership, problem-solving, and perseverance that often includes tackling real-world challenges to bring their unique projects to life.
Once a Scout reaches Life Scout rank, they begin to strategize how they can best serve their community with their Eagle Scout project, that a Scout plans, leads, and executes to earn the Eagle Scout rank.
For his Eagle Scout Project, junior Connor Fredericks took an old rusted compost bin and turned it into a bench. His project began Feb. 15, 2024, and ended in February of 2025.
“I transformed this unused compost bin that became a danger hazard to the kids with rusted nails and splinters, and I built a bench,” Fredericks said. “First I removed the compost bin, and created a concrete slab, then I installed a stained teak wooden bench on top of this concrete slab that I made.”
Fredericks said that he felt inspired to give back to his elementary school, which became his main motivation for designing this project.
“As an alumni of Havens, I felt like it would be full circle to give back to them by making their campus more enjoyable and safer. I saw the compost bin as a problem, so I felt inspired to fix it,” Fredericks said.
Junior Muriel Crawford-Jakubiak went beyond the Piedmont community and worked with the Marine Mammal Center to help rehabilitate animals for her Eagle Scout Project.
“I worked with the Marine Mammal Center to build enrichment devices for sick and injured marine mammals. I helped build toys for them, which help to get them back in the ocean,” Crawford-Jakubiak said.
Crawford-Jakubiak said she was inspired by her love of the ocean, and wanted to help a non-profit organization.
“I love marine biology and I wanted to help a local nonprofit,” Crawford-Jakubiak said.
Crawford-Jakubiak said she was also motivated by her dad, and his dad before him, being Eagle Scouts.
“I wanted to be like my dad, and his dad, who both got Eagle, so it’s just like a family tradition that I wanted to continue,” she said.
Sophomore Henry Stein also completed an Eagle Scout Project related to nature, building a filter for plants in Joaquin Miller Park to prevent sudden oak death, a disease which has killed over 50 million trees in California and Oregon, according to a Sudden Oak Death Task Force. The filter prevents rotting from water.
“I’m very passionate about nature, and the sudden oak disease is a huge problem, so I wanted to do something to help prevent it,” Stein said.
Stein said he had a lot of trouble organizing people to help him, and he learnt a lot about leadership in the process of doing his project.
“It was a lot of work, so I had to recruit a lot of people to help me. It was a very interesting experience leading a group of people,” he said.
Crawford-Jakubiak said the hardest aspect of her project was organizing the materials.
“[It was] a lot of back and forth, and a lot of getting materials from different states because we don’t have it. It was mostly just technical, like finding out where to buy the best materials,” Crawford-Jakubiak said.
Fredericks also said he had to reach out to a lot of people, specifically finding out what limitations he had on his project.
“Planning the project consisted of a lot of reaching out to people, talking to the principal and Pete Palmer, the director of facilities in the Piedmont district, about what I could and couldn’t do and how to go about it,” Fredericks said.
Fredericks said another factor he had to deal with was money for his project, meaning he had to reach out to multiple people to eventually get the funds he needed. He said the total process took multiple months.
“I reached out to the Havens Parents Club, who gave a donation of about $600. Then I started a GoFundMe that raised another $1,000. Later, the Parents Club added another $400, getting me to $2,000 total,” Fredericks said.
