Benjamin Crown, Eagle Scout
Total Volunteer Hours: 166
My project was a refurbishment of the benches and pedestal lights of the Christ Presbyterian Church. We replaced the rotten legs of the benches, cleaned the benches, and repainted them. We treated the legs with sealer and put pavers under the legs to ensure they won’t rot in the future. We also repainted six of the pedestal lights. The preschoolers will use the benches every single day while waiting to leave school. And, the Church is more beautiful with the facility improvements.
Observations and Challenges
The separation of groups went well, which allowed us to finish all the assembly of benches by 2 pm. Plus, for the most part, we had the tools we needed for the task with a couple of exceptions that were already on the way, but just hadn’t arrived exactly when we first needed them. I also think the focus on the task went well with all of the groups even doing some troubleshooting on their own. Finally, I think the food situation went very well considering we never ran out of snacks and we had a potluck lunch courtesy of the church, which was quite nice.
The main challenge for me was keeping track in my head all of the requests and needs of my project members—at the high point of the day, there was a lot going on, from the four different bench groups, figuring out lunch and keeping the painting of the pedestals moving forward. Another challenge was keeping people around after 3 pm when we were finishing up. Most people were slowing down after that point and many went home, so I had to convince a few people to stay and finish the job.
Changes (from original proposal)
For one, the whole idea of two separate project days changed to one project day and my dad and I precutting the new legs. After further consideration, I decided that the result would be better if I created the legs ahead of time because having enough tools for more than one group would be an issue, quality control would be an issue, and having to find two open days rather than one would also be difficult.
Leadership
I demonstrated leadership throughout my project through the planning and communication leading up to it, distributing tasks to form separate groups to complete the project’s tasks, answering inevitable questions as best I could and providing solutions when possible. Additionally, I delegated responsibilities like food, safety chief and group leads for the project to move more smoothly.
I think the most difficult thing about being the leader was having fluctuations in my group. As people left and arrived the workflows of the groups varied and I had to constantly attend to the shifting groups to get the new personnel up to speed.
The most rewarding thing about leading the project was all the times when I had just finished helping someone out and took a panoramic view of all the people hard at work to support me and the project diligently. It felt like there was a system at work making all of it happen.
My leadership skills grew especially in the human department. During the tail hours of the project, but really all throughout, people had been working away and were approaching boredom, which invites them to leave. However, I knew we could finish in a day if they just helped out a little longer. So, I deliberately began conversations not necessarily to improve the project workflow, but to make people smile a little more with the goal of finishing the project in a single day.
Before the project
During the project
After the project