 | | | From left: Ethan Del Rosario, Anthony Mirabito, Jason Sabbadini, Calvin Van Oss, Drew Lashinsky and Cole Griscavage Photo Mika Watanabe | | | | | | Lafayette Scouts BSA Troop 224 of Lafayette on May 30 held an Eagle Court of Honor at the Pleasant Hill Community Center for six Scouts who achieved Scouting's highest rank of Eagle Scout: Ethan Del Rosario, Anthony Mirabito, Jason Sabbadini, Calvin Van Oss, Drew Lashinsky, (all recent graduates of Acalanes High School), and Cole Griscavage, (graduate of The College Preparatory School in Oakland). To become an Eagle Scout, they earned a minimum of 21 merit badges, including 13 Eagle-required badges, demonstrated leadership and Scout spirit, and successfully completed a community service project with the help of troop members.
For his Eagle project, Del Rosario had a desire to help people with special needs. With the help of his mentor, Scoutmaster Erik Suppiger, he designed and created 300 adaptive board books for the Able Closet Nonprofit Organization to help enable physically challenged people to be able to easily manipulate and turn the pages of a book.
Mirabito chose the preschool which he attended, Happy Days Learning Center in Lafayette, as his service project recipient. The most popular play structure on the playground is the tire swing. Mirabito replaced the old wooden tire swing frame with a structurally sound steel pipe frame. He designed and fabricated the structure with the help of his mentor, former Scoutmaster Kyle Blocker.
Sabbadini, with the help of his mentor, Adult Leader Dan Keenan, replaced and built a new fence surrounding the Garden of Learning at St. Perpetua Catholic School at which he attended elementary and middle school. The garden is a place for students to learn about growing produce, and each slat of the fence surrounding the garden is made to look like a crayon.
Van Oss, with the help of his mentor, Assistant Scoutmaster Steve Mirabito, completed a renovation of the "Motor Room" at the Burbank Preschool Center in Oakland. The Motor Room exclusively serves preschoolers with special needs. The room was thoroughly cleaned and received fresh paint, new floor mats, a mirror and a chalkboard. In addition, 300 adaptive books were added to the room.
Drew Lashinsky also chose to give back to the elementary school he attended, specifically giving to the Husky House at Happy Valley Elementary which houses the school's after-school program. With the help and guidance of his mentors, Joey Layshock and Jim Shepherd, Drew constructed a wooden planter and two wooden benches with a storage area underneath. The wooden planter is used as a learning tool to teach students how to plant a garden, and the storage area is a place for backpacks.
Griscavage conducted a series of First Aid classes at his high school's after-school program called the Partners Program which supports underserved middle school students at The College Preparatory School in Oakland. He was assisted in the planning of his project by former Scoutmaster Bill Van Oss. Cole gave instruction on the fundamentals of first aid and also instructed with hands-on learning by having his students act out various emergency situations. He ended the series by holding a Jeopardy game which reviewed everything he had taught in the series. |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA