ABOUT TOWN: Stoughton Eagle Scouts Honored for Character, Service to Community

STOUGHTON QUARTET SCORES AN EAGLE! Last Thursday night, four Eagle Scouts were honored during a Presentation Ceremony by the Rising Star Lodge of Stoughton.

The young men - Stephen Zorn, Adam Lurie, and Nolan Fraine from Troop 516 and Nick Selby from Troop 88 - were honored with citations and their mothers received a Sebastian statue.

It was a fantastic night for the families, featuring a nice chicken dinner catered by the members of Rising Star Lodge. It was followed by the public presentation of the awards attended by many of the troop scouts and their families.

The evening’s Master of Ceremonies was Tom McClintock, a member of Old Colony Council of Boy Scouts, scoutmaster of Troop 42 in Norwood, and a Mason in St. Albans Lodge of Foxborough.

After the ceremony, a nice collation of desserts was featured and a chance for the masons, scouts, and public to mingle and have some great conversations about these fine young men and their outstanding achievements.

Nicholas Selby of Troop 88 earned his Eagle Scout badge after leading an effort to renovate the children’s day care room at the First Church of Christ Scientist in Sharon.

He led fellow Boy Scouts and other volunteers as they removed wallpaper, repaired and refinished walls, sanded baseboards and painted. Selby also painted a mural of Noah’s ark on one of the room’s larger walls, said Carolyn Holmes, the troop’s committee chairwoman.

“We created a clean and comfortable atmosphere for the children of my church to play in,” Selby said.

A recent Stoughton High School graduate (Class of 2012), Selby is studying art at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. 

Selby was unable to be at the event last Thursday night, as he had to study for a college final he was taking early the next morning. His award was accepted on his behalf by the scoutmaster of Troop 88, David Holmes.

Nolan Fraine of Troop 516 (also a 2012 SHS grad) did his Eagle Scout project at the West Elementary School, outside the main entrance. It is the beginning of a new outdoor classroom for teachers to show students about the life cycles of plants and animal life.

The project was done in the spring of 2012 where Nolan and a group of volunteers built a raised garden bed out of cedar posts. This garden bed was planted a few inches into the ground in order to keep it in place for many years. The inside of the bed was lined with a protective tarp to keep weeds from growing inside the bed and to also keep the wood from rotting on the inside.

Once the bed was finished, organic soil was wheeled uphill into the garden bed. All excess soil was placed in surrounding gardens and flower boxes nearby. As the project was being finished at around 6 o’clock that night, a light rain had begun. All volunteers had finished just in time to avoid what became a miserable downpour.

The West School used the garden bed in the fall to grow vegetables in class. This is worked right into the curriculum at the school and the students are able to get actual hands on experience outdoors, instead of being kept inside a classroom. 

Stephen Zorn of Troop 516, a junior at Xaverian, reached out to the First United Methodist Church, which is the charter organization for his troop. He built six cabinets on the back of the stage at the Church.

The project was completed during February school vacation. After the stage was cleared, the wood was purchased and brought to Mr. Kotlik’s house (former scoutmaster) to be cut. Construction began after the wood was lugged to the Church. The cabinet frames were attached to the walls and floors. Once the frames were completed, the fascia boards were installed and the cabinets and doors were sanded and painted.

The existing cabinets on the far right of the stage were painted to match the new cabinets. The shelves were cut to fit the cabinets, installed and secured to the brackets. The hardware was installed and the doors were hung. The cabinets were filled with the items that were moved off the stage and the area was cleaned.

Twenty-nine people volunteered 341 hours to help complete the project, an amazing feat in this day and age of apathy. 

Adam Lurie of Troop 516, a senior at Stoughton High School (class of 2013), placed an American flag and pole in the Frederick H. Pye Memorial Park, which is dedicated to the former Stoughton Fire Chief.

This included placing a brick circle around it and doing a cleanup of the park. To cover the cost of the project, he sold personalized bricks to the citizens of Stoughton. That allowed everyone around town to have representation in the park. The personalized bricks were dispersed throughout the brick circle. 
 
The foundation was dug out. The flag pole sleeve was placed and set with Quikrete. The flag pole was then installed and secured with wooden shims. Rocks were placed in the hole to provide drainage. The hole was then filled with stone dust to provide a base for the bricks. The stone dust was leveled and the bricks were placed and tapped in with a rubber mallet. Solar lights were also placed around the edges of the brick circle.

Thirty-one people volunteered 120 hours to help complete the project. An all weather flag was raised during a flag ceremony which included members of the troop as well as members of the Stoughton Fire Department.

It appears that another Presentation Ceremony will be coming up next year. John Racicot (son of Scoutmaster Mark Racicot) is working on his Eagle Scout project at Glen Echo, and there are others planning theirs.

Kevin Gallagher of Rising Star Lodge told About Town, “The leaders of the Lodge are aiming to make this a yearly tradition.  We need to herald these kinds of accomplishments by outstanding young men in our own community, as all you hear about these days is typically the bad.”

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