Spencer Carter, Eagle Scout
Total Volunteer Hours Worked: 119
My project is cutting and assembling fourteen tabletop wooden tabletop easels, drilling and painting two wooden art supply holders, painting a wall with chalkboard paint, and creating a diagram for the colors of the rainbow diagram using paint, wooden letters, and paintbrushes to be used in an art room. The easels will be constructedon on the build day”, and will be based on a model found by the beneficary that I have altered to desired measurements and assembled to include a hinge system to allow the easels to stand upright independently. An example easel will be made and then used as a model to construct the remainder on the build day. On that same day the supply holders will also be drilled. The chalkboard wall and paint diagram will be made on a seperate “paint day”, which will be held at the beneficiary location. We will be painting one wall of the room with the chalkboard paint and then on the back wall we will create the rainbow diagram, which will have the colors of the rainbow and thei corresponding names in wooden letters.
I will be doing this for the Sunrise organization that is stationed in Virginia for their new day program location, which will have a variety of activity rooms for the members of the day program to use, such as the art room I will be working on. Sunrise is a group that helps intellectually and physically disabled peoples and this art room will provide a creative space for them to engage and enjoy and the easels will provide an elevated surface for artwork.
Observations and Challenges
The paint day went very smoothly and we were able to finish without an afternoon shift needing to come in. The measurements I planned for the rainbow diagram and the tape stencil we created on the wall kept the lines very straight and consistent. Overall the final product of the paint day was exactly as planned and just took consistency and patience with painting, very little mess was created. On the build day, I decided to split everyone into pairs and they were given one instruction sheet and then they were instructed to build an easel, that was we were assembling 3-4 easels at once, and they got the opportunity to improve on building them while also not being bored compared to if I was to do a work line and only have each person do one step. All easels were finished before the afternoon shift as well, and all easels functioned perfectly and none had to be scrapped. Also attendence was good for both days and we had no injuries and everyone always had a task to do.
Our biggest challenge suprisingly turned out to be drilling the art supply holders. Because they were such deep and large holes going into wooden blocks, the drill bit we had originally selected didn’t work efficiently. So a drill press was brought to drill the holes better but then the blocks were too tall so it was decided we needed to saw an inch off the bottom of the blocks. Then the drill press began to experience some issues so the blocks were taken to an adult leaders home to use their bigger drill press, and eventually they were successful but they took the longest to make. Other issues were forgetting to bring paint trays, and on the instructions for the easels, a step was incorrect and so we decided to switch its order.
Changes (from Original Proposal)
Adaption of measurements of rainbow diagram to wall size, because length and height of wall weren’t known until paint day. Using a drill press for the wooden art supply containers, as well as splitting the art supply holders from 2 to 4 because wooden blocks were very heavy. Attaching the pencil ledge last in the wooden easel construction, rather than second to last, because it was more convenient for other steps. Change from Birch plywood to similar plywood for wooden easels, a lot cheaper and same texture and quality. Using small tacks and hammering on the paintbrushes and letters into the wall for the rainbow diagram, rather than using mounting putty
Leadership
I showed leadership through the duration of this project by be being able to answer questions from the volunteers and also leading them through the steps of the project, as I had built an example easel and also designed the steps for construction so I was well versed and able to answer questions if needed. Because there was a lot of things going on both days, it was a busy environment that needed a lot of specific instruction to maximize efficiency of the project, this requires strong leadership skills. Part of being a good leader is also being a good communicator and in order for this project to have succeed I had to clearly communicate the vision of the projects and the steps needed to get there to volunteers.
The most difficult part about being a leader is being unable to physically interfere was definitely a struggle as I am a perfectionist so when I saw volunteers making mistakes it was hard to not do it myself and rather instruct them on how to fix it.
The most rewarding part about being the leader was the fact that I felt very prepared for any questions I received and seeing all the hard work and planning come to fruition.
I learned that a large part of being a leader is adapting to set backs and also making split second decisions that I didn’t necessarily anticipate, but this lead to me being more prepared to face setbacks and have more confidence when addressing them.
Work during the project