Seven teens have completed Eagle Scout projects since 2021 to benefit community
Boy Scout Troop 10 Hinsdale recently added several new Eagle Scouts to its ranks, including (from left) Shreemann Patel, Austin Eldridge, Saatvlk Palli, Ben Brelje and David Moffett. (Jim Slonoff photo)
Joshua Yan and Anand Tekkey are among the latest members of Boy Scout Troop 10 Hinsdale to earn Scouting's highest honor. (photo provided)
By Sandy Illian Bosch
Boy Scout Troop 10 Hinsdale recently added seven members to its Eagle ranks, leaving a trail of improvement and service throughout Hinsdale and the surrounding community.
Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable by a Boy Scout. It's an honor that culminates in a final project that has a lasting benefit for an organization other than Scouting. Projects often require many hours of preparation, the help of friends and volunteers, fundraising and plenty of hard work. At the center of each project is the prospective Eagle Scout, who acts as the project manager.
According to the Boy Scouts of America website, only 4 percent of Scouts achieve Eagle status. These seven young men are among them.
Ben Brelje
Ben Brelje was helping to clear invasive weeds from the Wolf Road Prairie Nature Preserve in Westchester when he noticed a footbridge in need of repair. As a Boy Scout searching for his biggest and final project, Brelje saw an opportunity. He turned that opportunity into a safer structure for visitors to the preserve, and into an Eagle award.
With help from his dad, whom Brelje said is far more experienced in construction projects than himself, and a couple of other volunteers, Brelje added a step and a railing to the bridge.
"My project helped by providing safer access to a large part of the Wolf Road prairie," Brelje said.
Austin Eldridge
Just a bit of final paperwork lies between Austin Eldridge and the highest honor in Boy Scouting. The 18-year-old incoming senior at Hinsdale Central High School is awaiting final approval, but the hard work, he said, is done.
A member of the Central band program, Eldridge's project involved the organization of more than 3,000 pieces of music within the school's new music library.
The library room was part of a recent renovation and expansion project at Central. But after the carpenters and construction crews finished, the band directors were left with a room filled with boxes of music. Eldridge said he began by sorting the music into four categories that can now be filed in more detail, allowing directors to easily find what they're looking for.
"I decided that my Eagle project should be part of my passion," said Eldridge, who plans to study music performance in college.
David Moffett
As 2023 Hinsdale Central graduate David Moffett heads off for freshman year at the University of Missouri, he does so knowing he has left his mark on his community.
Moffett's Eagle project involved constructing and installing boards at two Westmont parks to assist tennis players with practicing their sport. The 8-by-8-foot panels are now installed at courts in Fritz Werley and Veteran's Memorial parks and allow players to practice by bouncing shots off of the boards.
Moffett said the project was more complicated than it might appear.
"There's a lot of planning," he said, and installation of the first board at Fritz Werley took longer than expected. But he and his team of volunteers learned from their first experience, making installation at Veteran's relatively simple, Moffett said.
