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Ten Hazelwood School District students from four different schools – Hazelwood Central, Hazelwood East and Hazelwood West high schools and Hazelwood West Middle School – have earned the Boy Scouts’ highest honor, Eagle Scout.

At Hazelwood Central High School, senior Nick Moser and junior Andrew Wendel of Troop 884 discussed the projects they completed to earn the Eagle Scout award.

“I built two doghouses for the Humane Society of Missouri,” Moser said. “We built them with porches that had spaces for water bowls that dogs could not knock over.”

Moser said both houses feature construction-grade roof shingles and waterproof exterior paint. He said it took about four days to complete the project.

“They are for people who can’t afford a doghouse. Most of the doghouses people buy are not very good so it was nice for the Humane Society to get two very well-made doghouses. I am real glad I did a project like this. It benefitted animals so I know it’s directly helping them.”

Wendel made five shipping crates for the Robohawks robotics team so they could ship their robots from school to the Chaifetz Arena at Saint Louis University in March for the robotics competition.

“It needed to be done,” Wendel said of his work. “Before, robots were just put in cars and they banged around on the way to competitions.”

His crates solved that. He designed them with built-in dividers and shelves so teams could store robot parts and other accessories and the partitions made it easy to locate parts during assembly and disassembly.

At Hazelwood West High School, freshman Jack Seebeck of Troop 739 also built doghouses for the St. Louis Humane Society.

“I feel it’s a good thing to have because some owners get their dogs taken away when they don’t have proper houses outside,” he said.

Seebeck has collected 76 merit badges as a Scout but he is not done. He said he wants to get them all.  “It was a goal to get them all when I joined the Boy Scouts,” he confirmed.

West Senior Chris Heckman, also from Troop 739, built a bench for use by parishioners at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Florissant. He said he had four helpers on the project.

“I did some landscaping and then put the bench around a tree,” he said. “Our former pastor suggested building it as a place to sit for people who use that area.”

Classmate Brendan Proske of Troop 939 constructed an enclosure for an air conditioning unit at St. Andrews United Methodist Church in Florissant. He estimated that he had at least six helpers.

“It took two consecutive Saturdays to build,” he said. “We treated the wood so it didn’t need to be stained. A church member suggested the idea to protect the unit. It’s kind of cool knowing I was able to do all that myself – planning it, buying materials and putting it together.”

West junior Kevin Wilson’s project meant a return to part of his past.

“I built a 10-foot-tall, 12-foot-long and 24-foot-wide pergola at my elementary school, Russell, in the center courtyard,” said Wilson of Troop 739. He said it took three of four days to build but planning it and getting permits for the structure took longer and he had about 20 helpers in that courtyard with him.

“I’m very relieved,” he said of the project’s completion. “It was really tough to plan. When the inspector came to inspect it, he did not pass it the first time so we had to make adjustments before we received the permit.”

Senior Luke Burnham of Troop 739 built approximately 120 pavers in a courtyard in his church, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Florissant.

“I feel accomplished because I have been in the program a long time and I would not have felt accomplished if I hadn’t gone through Eagle Scouts,” he said.

Senior D.J. Schnell of Troop 939 built two picnic tables and a park bench for St. Joseph Woods in Ferguson, a seven-acre wooded area that is part of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. He and his assistants put the structures in a 15-foot by 15-foot picnic area for visitors.

Besides Seebeck, another student who earned his Eagle Scout badge before his sophomore year is Blaine Moreland of Troop 942, an eighth grader who attends Hazelwood West Middle School.

“I made two triangular flower beds for Immanuel Lutheran Chapel,” he said. “A church representative suggested it. They were looking for flower beds and they knew I was looking for a project to do.” The project became a family affair as his grandfather, father, mother and brother all pitched in to help, along with three other Scouts.

At Hazelwood East High School, Richard Clark III, a senior in Troop 844, revamped signs, such as No Parking and Do Not Enter and repainted directional arrows in the parking lot at Chapel of the Cross Church.

“I feel proud of it. The church staff now knows they have new signs so there should not be any accidents in the parking lot. Before, some cars went the wrong way,” he said.

Clark said he has been in Boy Scouts since fourth grade. His quest to become an Eagle Scout has taught him leadership skills, which he used last semester as the captain of the Spartans’ swim team.

Of the 122 available merit badges, 21 must be earned to qualify for Eagle Scout. Twelve of those 21 are required, including First Aid, Citizenship in the Community, Nation and World, Personal Fitness and Family Life. (story courtesy of Hazelwood District Communications Dept.)

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