Aaron Dekker's Eagle Project

 (photo from Lake Erie Council)

Introduction  

 Figure 1: Shows the Whitehall Gazebo on the "Welcome to Whitehall" sign north of Whitehall on highway 53/121. (Photo courtesy of Whitehall Chamber of Commerce) 

My Eagle Scout project was repainting the gazebo and swing set in Whitehall, Wisconsin. 

Introduction:

    To get the rank of Eagle Scout, a scout needs to complete a service project. In 2012, I started to look for a project. My scoutmaster at the time suggested asking the city of Whitehall, Wisconsin for ideas. Whitehall mayor Rod Moen said that the Gazebo needed some aesthetic work. That is what the project became. 

Summary of project: 

• Calculate the cost for the project. 
•  Fundraise for the project.
•  Repaint the Gazebo. 
•  Build new benches for Gazebo. 
• Repaint the swing set in Frederickson park.
• Replace swings at Frederickson park.  

Why was this needed? 

    In Figure 2. It shows how the paint on the Gazebo had faded and was an ugly color. There was also a problem with seating in the building. There was also some graffiti.   The swing set had major paint fading and there was a broken swing. 

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Fundraising: 

Fundraising was completed with the help of local businesses. As other ways were deemed unlikely to happen to reach the goal amount of $1000.   The fundraising was completed in the spring of 2013. The $1000 was estimated after calculating the cost of what was needed to finish the project. 

Figure 3 was the total amount needed. The project stayed under budget with enough money to cover the replacement of the swings.  The remained about of money was given back to the city of Whitehall for further repainting of the gazebo and swingset. 

Materials: 

    Since the city of Whitehall was the owner of the Gazebo, the city asked to have most of the supplies to be purchased in Whitehall.  Johnson Hardware in Whitehall, was where most of the supplies for painting were purchased at.  The wood for the benches was purchased at Beaver Builders in Whitehall. Only two things were purchased out of Whitehall. The rocks placed under the benches in front of the Gazebo (see figure 3) were purchased at Menards on Hastings way in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Any sized bench kit was purchased online.

Project work:

The project was completed over the summer of 2013. To complete this project it took about 160 hours of service from Troop 78 scouts and various other volunteers.   The paint colors were chosen by the city of Whitehall. The bench design and stain color were picked by me. Whatever paint and supplies left over were turned over to the city for future use. 

Final results: 

After three months of work, the project was completed. Just before Whitehall's Beef and Dairy Days! 

Figure 4 shows the final results in the photo

Post-2013: 

Since 2013, I repainted the gazebo once in 2015 before Beef and Diary days. The Gazebo gets used far more often now than it was before it was repainted. Whitehall high school students will sometimes use it for prom and high school photos.