MAY 7, 2009 ISSUE
Boy Scouts, Mountain Alliance Students Volunteer at Horn, Homestead and Other Locations
A group of Youth Service Day volunteers at Horn in the West on April 25. Photo submittedAnyone worrying about the integrity of Watauga County youth can start resting a little easier. In the recent weeks teenagers from the area have been stepping up to do their part for others and people are taking notice. The folks over at the Horn in the West have been particularly impressed with the amount of help they have received from both the Boy Scouts and Mountain Alliance’s Youth Service Day.
Two Eagle Scout projects have been carried out on the Horn in the West and Hickory Ridge Homestead property. Sixteen-year-old Solomon Stone, who has been in the Boy Scouts since age six, built six benches for the park. He built them in an old-fashioned style to match the surroundings. Starting with whole logs, he—with some help from his father—cut them in half for the base of the benches, fitted smaller logs to them for legs and stained them so they would last. “It felt like a good contribution,” said Stone, “I wanted to benefit the elderly people that visit the homestead and want somewhere to rest.”
Another Eagle Scout, Karl Wheeler, replaced benches used for theater seating in the Horn’s amphitheater. The older benches had begun to rot and Wheeler, along with some help from Alan Burchell Construction, replaced eight of the older ones with newly constructed benches. “Being in Scouts means you can do projects outside. I’ve liked being able to be outside while I was helping.” Wheeler, now 17, has been in the Boy Scouts since he was in first grade.
Both boys are in Scout Troop 109, which is sponsored by Boone United Methodist church. Becoming an Eagle Scout is no easy feat. To achieve the rank of Eagle, a scout must have been in scouts for at least 2 years, have earned at least 21 merit badges, and have been involved in 1.5 years of leadership activities. One such activity is finding, planning and carrying out an eagle project.
“Both scouts were able to do a good job of planning and leading other scouts and friends to accomplish the project. Our goal is for them to take a project and bring it to completion under their own leadership, and they did that well,” said Troop 109 Scout Master Arvil Sale, “Only about five out of every 100 boys who become scouts end up becoming eagle scouts.”
The Boy Scouts weren’t the only ones lending a hand to the Horn and Homestead recently. Watauga High School’s outdoor experiential leadership club, Mountain Alliance, was also out working on maintaining the property.
On April 25, 93 WHS students turned out for Mountain Alliance’s Youth Service Day event. There were 8 projects in total, including setting up chairs and cleaning at Horn in the West, stream restoration in Blowing Rock, meal preparation and gardening at the Hospitality House, trail building and animal habitat work at Grandfather Mountain, birdhouse building for the Audubon Society in Cove Creek, visiting residents at Deerfield Assisted Living, walking animals at the Watauga Humane Society and fence painting at the Scott Jensen farm.
Mountain Alliance trip leader Shelly Crandall helped coordinate event, working with the Mountain alliance student leadership committee.
Crandall said, “The challenge is to find sites that kids will enjoy. It was definitely a success. The kids did a great job organizing and carrying out the event.”
Afterward, Mayor Loretta Clawson proclaimed April 25 as Watauga County Youth Service day, so the tradition will continue next year.
Horn in the West board member Terry Hamilton and Hickory Ridge Homestead Museum Curator Dave Davis were present for the groups’ projects.
“They were very impressive to watch,” said Hamilton, “It was all very well put together, and they looked like they were having a lot of fun.”
Davis spoke similarly, and said “It was good to see them out there, helping. We appreciated it a lot.”
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