Christopher Choi, Eagle Scout
Total Volunteer Hours Worked: 167
My Eagle Project was building an award podium for the Special Olympics Virginia (SOVA) Area 26 which includes Fairfax County, Arlington, and Alexandria. Their headquarters are located at 11350 Random Hills Road C-140, Fairfax, VA 22030. Their website is novasova.org. The Special Olympics Virginia Area 26 provides sports training and athletic competition to people with mental and physical disabilities. They provide 23 sports, such as basketball, cross country, skiing, track, swimming, tennis and softball, to more than 2,500 athletes year round. They also participate in multiple fundraisers including the 31st annual Dulles Plane Pull.
The podium has an aluminum frame with a wooden top and composite front. There will be three podiums for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at varying heights for the winners to stand on. The aluminum frame will be held together with corner braces. The wooden top will be secured with long pieces of wood that go inside the aluminum frame. The composite front will hang onto the frame with elevator bolts and wing nuts that go through holes in the corner braces. There will also be rubber feet to avoid damaging the floors. The composite front will be decorated in the Special Olympics color scheme (red and white) with the Special Olympics logo which has been provided by the beneficiary representative. The wooden top will be painted with a waterproof clear coat.
My project will be helpful to the Special Olympics Virginia Area 26 because they currently do not have a functional award podium. Their current now-aging award podium is not in use. The award podium will help bring the feeling of accomplishment to the participants. It will also help them celebrate their accomplishments with friends and family.
Observations and Challenges
The volunteers worked efficiently since they were split up into two groups, one for metal and one for wood. Also, the Eagle project was in an enclosed space so I was able to get the volunteer’s attention quickly. In addition, I had a prototype which made building and figuring out dimensions easy.
Since it was cold outside, we held the Eagle project indoors. Because of the cold, the paint took longer to dry. There were also some misunderstandings of the instructions. For example, the volunteers accidently put two layers of paint when it was supposed to be one.
Changes (from original proposal)
I modified the original project design to add extra corner braces for more stability of middle legs; longer legs were less stable than prototype which was the shortest podium.
Leadership
During the project I gathered everyone and was able to explain the instructions clearly using a poster board with photos, any questions that were asked I was able to clear up. Further, when any volunteers made mistakes, I was able to correct them and any issues were resolved. Routine checks were made periodically during the project to make sure volunteers were on task.
The most difficult part was being able to clearly deliver the instructions. During the project, we often had to refer back to the the prototype and the poster I made beforehand for the project. The most rewarding part about being the leader was being able to see the final product of all of the labor that occured inside and outside of the project. It was also fun to be able to work with my friends to complete the project.
Through my project I learned that leadership relies on communication more than I thought it would have. The project made me more confident and more able to communicate with others.
