Brick by brick, amenities crumble after long years of use. However, one Boy Scout, determined to earn the rank that will give him wings, restored the school’s pool press box. 

“I chose to rebuild the press box because I am on the swim team. It was just something that needed to be redone because the old one was falling apart. I wanted later generations to have one,” senior Luke Osborne said. 

Osborne has devoted  much of his life to the Boy Scouts. He explains the depth of his devotion. 

“I have been in boy scouts for 12 years,  and the overall atmosphere has really been what made me want to stay. I’ve helped so many scouts and people in the community, I’ve been on over 75 camp-outs. I’ve hiked hundreds of miles in the Rockies,” Osborne said.     

Taking on a project such as this surely is not an easy task. Osborne revealed one of his greatest challenges.

“I think one of my greatest challenges overall would have to be planning this project. I’ve done about 20 pages of book work. I’ve had  to run it through two councils. One in our troupe and another is national. That means planning out everything like fundraising, material lists, and money,” Osborne said.

Restoring the press box is not a simple project that could be done alone. Osborne called on a couple of his friends to help, one of them being  junior Arya Gokhale. 

“It was really nice to help him with his Eagle Scout project because I know it meant a lot to him, so it was great to spend that time with him. I knew going into this project that we would be painting, so I was not surprised when I was handed a paint roller. I would say the project definitely turned out how we expected,” Gokhale said.

Ayra explained his favorite memory when helping his friend with this project.

“The most fun memory from being involved in this project was when we were taking out the old announcer table. We were supposed to take it out to the dumpster; when we did, we got locked out so my friends and I just started messing around to pass the time,” Gokhale said.

Junior Elly Guipe also assisted with the restoration of the press box. 

“I think that it was a really cool thing to do for not only my swim team, but also the community and the other people that will be able to use this as time goes on. It just felt really good to also help one of my friends during his project knowing it meant a lot to him,” Guipe said. 

When Guipe was first notified of the restoration, she was unsure how it would turn out. 

“When I first heard this it was like, not going to sound great but not underestimating him. I thought that it was going to turn out a lot different and maybe just look like a 17 to 18 year old boy did it, but in the end, it looked like a professional made it. I think that it kind of upped my respect for him as he was able to do all that by himself and with the help of teachers,” Guipe said. 

Guipe shared her appreciation for this project.

“I feel nice that it is for my swim team, and it’s also for the people that will be on this team in 20 years. The work we did has a long-term impact on the school for years to come,” Guipe said.