Felicita Elementary Garden

I’ve been active in the Boy Scouts of America since I was young, and in 2017 I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. My project for it was to repair and upgrade an elementary school garden to the point of usability by the school with a group of other scouts. This entailed a large clean up and analysis session where we dug out all of the plots, discovering that the sprinkler system was in need of heavy repair. We worked to repair the sprinkler system and then moved on to install anti-rodent wire in the bottoms of the plots. After testing the repaired systems, we filled the plots back in with dirt and cleaned off the surrounding concrete platforms. We then went about repairing some of the tools around the yard, including a wheelbarrow, who’s wheel we replaced. That particular task took monumental effort, as the wheel had to be stretched onto the rim. Additionally, we installed a sink and a timer to the sprinkler system. To further protect the gardens, we created wire coverings for all of them in order to prevent the plants from being eaten by mammals. In total, we repaired and upgraded 8 plots, and got the garden to a point of usability. The teachers at that school have grown plants in them every year since.

This project taught me how to organize a group, how to persuade volunteers to help you, and how to best divide people up based on tasks they’d be good at. Along the way, I also learned about how to prioritize tasks, so that everything gets done in a timely manner. Gathering a group of volunteers was not too difficult, as I was able to ask members of my scout troop to help out, along with some friends. Most people were pretty willing to help, but we also brought pizza as a nice incentive. Organizing people was the hard part, as most of the project involved manual labor, which not everyone is suited to. Coordinating who shoveled versus who worked on assembling frames, raked, or moved supplies was key in reducing the time it took to get things done. Coordinating and directing teams required a lot of attention, so while I helped out with some of the digging or moving heavy things, I also had to make sure things were built to my specifications. It was tough, but we accomplished all of the tasks over a couple of weekends. Afterwards I organized the project into a report and presented it to my troop.