Nick Zobler, right rear, decided to refurbish the crèche
for St. Edward the Confessor Church. With him after
completing the project are front left, brother Alex Zobler
and Matt Monaco.
Nick Zobler, right rear, decided to refurbish the creche
for St. Edward the Conffessor Church. Whith hime after
completing the project ar Front lef, brother Alex Zobler and
Matt Monaco
John Gelcich, left, and Matt Monaco at work on Gelcich’s
bridge project at Squantz Pond State Park. Below them is
friend Garrett French.
Michael Scanlon cutting lumber to build a bridge at the
Great Hollow Wilderness School. |
|
When 18-year-old John Robertson was struggling with his Boy Scout
Eagle project, his friend Matt Monaco said, "If you need me for
anything, let me know.”
"He was there to add support and reaffirm that I could get it
done,” said Robertson. "All nine of them were there for me at
different points in time.”
Those nine, all 18, are Robertson’s fellow scouts from New
Fairfield’s Troop 137: Timothy Taylor, Christopher Bopp, Michael
Scanlon, Brian Stoddard, Brian Nichols, Monaco, John Gelcich III,
Nicholas Zobler and David Santucci.
On June 2, all became Eagle Scouts. It was a huge accomplishment
for each, made even sweeter because they are all good friends
outside of scouts.
"All of us were friends and have been in scouts all our lives,”
Stoddard said. "We have a common interest in the outdoors, scout
activities and all the fun stuff.”
"If I was by myself and without my friends, I don’t think I would
have gone through with it,” Scanlon said of his project. "It
wouldn’t have been fun, nobody to help you out and chat with.”
Scanlon built a bridge over a trail that included some swampland
in the YMCA’s Great Hollow Wilderness School for his Eagle project.
"They helped me carry stuff in and helped put it all together. It
took 60 hours of help to make the bridge and everyone was willing to
help me out.”
"This group of kids clicked with their friendship, said Carl Bopp,
the troop’s scoutmaster for three years, assistant scoutmaster for
nine years and Christopher Bopp’s father. "Their friendship became
stronger as a result of their involvement in the troop. They spent
quite a bit of time together, and all to do with the Boy Scout
program — achieving badges, a campout every month, and going on a
High Adventure trip every year.”
Among the High Adventures the troop took were a 12-day survival
training backpacking trip in New Mexico and a 10-day navigation trip
aboard a 67-foot sailboat in the Bahamas using only a map and a
compass.
"During those trips I learned how to survive the hard times and
enjoy the good times,” Zobler said. "Both Philmont (N.M.) and the
Bahamas taught me how to work as a team. Living with people for 24
hours a day and seven days a week for two weeks allowed me to learn
who my true friends were. The relationship among the participating
scouts developed into something special. We are closer and more open
with each other than ever before.”
"The High Adventure trip helped us develop friendships more
because we ended up acting more like a family as the trip went on,”
said Robertson said the Philmont adventure. "As in any family, no
one is happy with each other for the whole trip, and halfway through
we would bicker with each other, complain, make excuses why it
wasn’t our fault and why it was someone else’s. To go through it and
knowing I could work with them as a team changed who I was.”
"There was nothing around us,” Santucci said, "and one day it was
raining all day and the hostility in the group was so high at that
point, and we (still) had halfway to go. We knew we had to get
things done.”
The requirements to become an Eagle Scout are tough and take
years to achieve. A scout must earn 21 merit badges, assume
leadership responsibility within the troop and complete a 100-hour
community service project. Only 4 percent of Boy Scouts achieve
Eagle rank.
Many of the 10 scouts said that at some point they considered
quitting scouts.
"Probably there is a point in time when everyone thinks about
dropping out,” Chris Bopp said. "In middle school, you’re getting
into a lot of schoolwork, and it helped that other people I knew
were in it. We worked together to learn everything we needed to know
for Boy Scouts.”
"I had Lyme disease and it was a chronic case,” recalls
Robertson. "It was questionable if I was even going to be able to
stay in scouts, let alone go up in rank. They would call me up or
stop by my house if I couldn’t make a meeting and talk about what
happened at a campout I missed. If I needed help with merit badge
work I missed, they came over and we’d sit and talk and figure it
out together. Without their friendship, there is no way I would ever
have gotten my Eagle.”
"My friends helped me when I wasn’t advancing,” Monaco said. "I
was getting discouraged. It was taking too long getting all the
requirements done for each round. All nine of them encouraged me.”
Carl Bopp recalls how they pushed each other to each stage — 1st
Class, 2nd Class and Leadership. "They were all working together,”
he said. "In doing so, they helped a lot of the younger kids coming
up in the ranks to that 1st Class level.”
The 100-hour community service project is the last step and
probably the most challenging for an Eagle Scout candidate.
Under adult supervision and with at least five others, the scout
must assume leadership of the project. He must plan the project
start to finish, organize work teams, secure materials or supplies
needed by raising funds, and complete the project by his 18th
birthday.
Many of the boys chose to improve New Fairfield’s recreational
areas. Monaco’s project was to remove two foreign invasive plant
species, multiflora rose and Asiatic bittersweet, that were
encroaching on native Connecticut plants at the Hidden Valley Nature
Center. Monaco’s team had to cut plant canes down to the roots,
using clippers, loppers and steel rakes; set up an erosion barrier;
remove the plant systems with steel rakes, hacksaws and pry bars;
plant grass seed; lay down straw mats; and finally fertilize and
water the new grass.
"Ripping up the roots of the plants took longer than we
expected,” Monaco recalls. "I had about 10 different scouts at
different times helping me on the project. I needed to keep them
motivated to help me.”
"If you had a problem, Matt told you what to do,” said Mike Cove,
a fellow scout who assisted Monaco. "We worked together. It was very
intense labor because of the root systems. We cut vines and a bunch
of people got on the pry bars to pull the big roots up.”
"Each project is their own,” Carl Bopp said, but "friendship is a
big part of it. Because sometimes (the scout) can’t get people to
come, but one of your friends will come. They make the effort to be
there.”
Taylor’s project was improving New Fairfield’s town beach. "I
built new canoe racks,” he said. "The old rack was poorly built and
only held two boats. Also, it was a slanted beach making it
difficult to access the top level.”
Taylor ran into problems, but Stoddard, Zobler and Nichols along
with other friends helped overcome them.
His plan included digging holes for the canoe posts and using a
backhoe to level the beach.
"It was in January; the ground was frozen for three to four
inches,” Taylor recalls, "but they just kept digging. I planned on
using a backhoe when the (lake) water came down, but they (the lake
authority) never brought the lake water down at all. So we had to
dig out the beach instead of having the backhoe do it for us. It
added another 10 to 15 hours more work. And we built a retaining
wall, too.”
"Everyone came together and helped out,” Zobler said. "It was a
contributing factor in getting the project done before the winter
began. Tim was a fine example of leadership. He kept everything
running smoothly, all of us well-energized and thoughtful of
others.”
"Our troop took the Eagle Scout and turned it into a team kind of
a deal without losing the individual honor,” Robertson said. "I
thought that was kind of cool.”
