Prabhnoor Sodhi’s project was to build a picnic table for the Tri-Valley Sikh Center. The Sikh Center serves free meals to guests, and due to their recent growth and safety precautions due to the pandemic, they have had to serve food outdoors. They did not have much seating for people to sit and eat, and they will heavily benefit from new seating and tables. Also, their current tables are only built for standing, making them inaccessible for many seniors and children. They are also not fully weatherproof and are unable to withstand extreme conditions. The table is able to seat 6-8 people. Not only will people be able to sit and eat together, but this project will also pave the way for many other service projects at this location in the future. Throughout my project, we faced a few challenges, such as the heat, but the shade that we had planned to put up worked well. The construction of the table itself was also a little challenging, but we were able to overcome the challenges due to our extensive planning. For example, we attempted to glue the angled joints together, but since it didn’t work due to the stain, we compensated by adding more screws. Another challenge we faced was that the bolts were too long and were sticking out, being a hazard. We solved this problem by using a hand saw to cut off the excess screw and then filing it down. Overall, however, the project went great, everything went according to plan, and the beneficiary was extremely grateful for the end product.

On 4/9/22, Ishaan Mokashi led a group of scouts to give back to nature and conserve wildlife. Ishaan faced many struggles, however his most difficult one was the lack of participation in his event. Ishaan resolved this problem by reaching out to scouts and getting them to come to his event. Ishaan helped nature by cleaning out the area. He and his team weeded unwanted plants and removed invasive species. They even chopped down many trees and cleaned up an unusable trail that the neighborhood now uses often. Nature is needed by every community. It helps give you a break after a long day and gives many people joy and something to do at times when things are looking difficult. Ishan and his team helped the community by giving them a new connection to nature and giving the community a place where they can relax and enjoy nature.

Tyler Dee’s eagle project was to help the school garden for the Marylin Avenue Elementary School. The garden is used by the special education class and needed some adjustments to better accommodate disabled kids, especially those in wheelchairs. During the project, scouts built a new raised garden bed that would be easily accessible by wheelchair, removed 6 old garden beds, and laid/compacted over 20 tons of decomposed granite in order to pave a smoother trail for accessibility. The workload was more difficult than anticipated for both workdays, but after a lunchtime pep talk, scouts were able to get the job done. The final product looked great, and the school said the project also may serve as the foundation for future eagle projects.

On May 21st, 2022, Arnav Gupta led a landscaping event at Live Oak Elementary School. He and the scouts who came with him had a goal to beautify the area for the teachers and students at the school. There was a dirty area, about 130 feet, full of weeds and patches of holes next to the kindergarten area. The scouts weeded the area, put in new layers of topsoil, and dug through the topsoil putting in pavers. Once they had done this, the team made a square formation of pavers, each one about 4 inches deep. Once the pavers and the topsoil were put in, the scouts dug a hole in each square formation and put in the geraniums. The completed area looked very beautiful. In the end, Arnav and his team managed to weed, re-soil, and add new plants to the barren area. They used 60 pavers and 24 bags of topsoil. His project benefited the children and teachers at the school and the community around them.

For his Eagle Project, Jon decided to raise awareness of the need for the emergency preparedness. He partnered with the San Ramon Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) to arrange an emergency preparedness fair. San Ramon CERT is an autonomous special district of the San Ramon Valley Fire District. CERT empowers residents by providing training in various aspects of the Emergency Preparedness. This eagle project aims to raise awareness of the need for emergency preparedness in the community, with the hopes that the community develops its own plan in the case of an emergency, and provides them with necessary resources and information. It will consist of 3 parts; a website made by scouts that has the necessary information important to the community, The website (see QR code below) will provide the essential information needed for an emergency, for example, the evacuation plan and route, and meeting points. The plan of this project is to inform. To do this, one part of the project is going door to door to 157 homes. And for the door-to-door interaction to be longer-lasting, a pamphlet (see bottom of this page) will be provided to families. The pamphlet will consist of an emergency checklist, the date of the fair as well as information, questions, and graphics that might make families want to attend the fair, and finally, the actual Community Emergency Preparedness Fair. Skills will be taught and demonstrated. Important skills such as Hands only CPR, the correct use of fire extinguisher and outdoor cooking were demonstrated at the Emergency Preparedness Fair. He decided to arrange a total of 6 stations to demonstrate these important skills. He assembled a team of scouts that included both senior and younger scouts. Using EDGE method, Jon trained the senior scouts in the required skills. Older Scouts then trained the younger scouts responsible for demonstrating these skills to the residents who visited the fair. Over 50% of the residents attended the fair and took advantage of the learning opportunity to prepare their own emergency plan. The Emergency Preparedness Fair showcased the following: 1. Hands only CPR 2. Fire extinguisher demonstration 3. Wildfire preparedness 4. First aid kit 5. Go-bag/ 10 essentials The goal of this project is to hopefully have the Cedarwood Loop community to create their own emergency preparedness plan, the project will inform them about the need to do so, but will not create the plan for them. Leadership is made up of social qualities: integrity, the ability to delegate, influence, etc., but it is also made up of personal qualities such as having great time management. My time management has always been a skill that comes to mind first when I think of things that I need to improve on. For quite some time, I was not sure what was the right way to go about improving it. However, my eagle project has shown me that little things can make all the difference, such as simply starting the planning stage earlier, giving myself more time than I expect to need. This way, in the worst possible situation, I’ll have more time to plan on my hands. Time management is a skill that I would love-and am continuing-to hone in on throughout my life.

On 11/21/21, Suryansh Gupta and a group of scouts went to Wagner Ranch Nature Area. There was a newly built shed that was at risk of being damaged by water, and it was in need of a solution that would make it possible for it not to clog as well. Suryansh and his team of scouts decided to combat this by building a drainage system. This took many steps, but to ensure the new shed would not be easily damaged, it was necessary. Scouts started by digging trenches around the shed for pipes to go under. The pipes needed to go under the soil, and they needed to dig up quite far. After digging the trenches, scouts laid down pipes in the trenches. To combat the problem of the pipes being clogged with dirt, they wrapped them in weed blocker. Once the pipes were fully installed, they were covered with dirt once again. They also added mulch on top, so it would have an improved look as well. The project went really well with the scouts who participated enjoyed it. The project was complex and had a lot of thought put into it, but it all paid off with how well it came out. With this project completed, the new shed at Wagner Ranch is protected from water damage.

Saahil Manekar led a group of scouts to clear and clean up trails at Wagner Ranch Conservation Area in Orinda, CA. Many trails and pathways at the site were obstructed by branches and were not easy to walk through. To fix this issue, scouts cut overhanging branches from trees to clear up the paths. Paths all around the area were covered by overhanging bushes as well, which were also trimmed. Many different tools including saws and shears were used to trim plants. The week before the project, there was a lot of rain all over the bay area. This led to water carrying the material a path was made with and depositing it in a different location. This trail was damaged, and things like strollers and wheelchairs could no longer use it. Luckily, this conversation project was right in time, and added an extra thing to fix. With the hard work of the scouts at the conservation project, they were able to restore parts of the pathway. Overall, this conservation project was a huge success. Even with more work than expected, the scouts were able to restore multiple paths. The project was fun and engaging for all scouts that attended.

Shreyas wanted to give back to the community area in need and found out about Shore Acres Elementary School in Bay Point, CA. After visiting the school, Shreyas noticed the outdoor blacktop had no equipment for students to use. There was nowhere for students to set down their snacks, lunches or classroom materials. He decided to design and build four tables for the preschool and kindergarten classes. The tables would allow students to take their food outside to eat, and allow teachers to extend classroom learning and activities outside. Each table would be 3′ x 6′ allowing up to four students to stand on each side,to accommodate up to 32 students. His project was executed in three days. With the help of scouts, volunteers and use of clear instruction materials helped to sand, stain and build the tables smoothly with some bumps. The beneficiary is happy to have the tables ready and delivered during the summer. They are excited to have the new tables available for use during in-person learning this school year.