Special to the Reporter
Three Mercer Island Boy Scouts, Nicolas Harper, Chase Shavey and Evan Liu, helped improve their local communities with Eagle Scout projects that gave back to places influenced by their youth.
Harper’s project renovated the playground at Redeemer Lutheran Church on Mercer Island where Troop 647 meets weekly. Shavey’s project remodeled the courtyard at Vision House in Renton. Liu’s project improved Mary Wayte Pool on Mercer Island, where he swam for more than nine years.
Harper, 18, led the playground renovation at Redeemer Lutheran Church on April 10. The project involved improving an existing playground by fixing swings, replacing rail tie borders, re-barking, and general cleaning. In addition, the project also included building and adding a new picnic table. The project helped the community as it serves as an outdoor playground for a day care center for younger children.
“I had seen that the playground needed some improvements as the church serves as our meeting spot for my scout troop general meetings,” commented Harper on how he picked the project. “I wanted to give back to an organization that supported me.”
Shavey, 17, remodeled the courtyard at Vision House in Renton on April 30. The project team removed a planting box of dirt, and replaced it with a beautiful brick patio area.
“Thank you all for what you did last weekend to transform our courtyard space at Vision House! This was a HUGE project to undertake, but was so well done. Chase, we appreciate your planning, advocating for donations and volunteers and seeing this day through,” said Debbie Gannon and Mary Burton, volunteer coordinators at Vision House.
Liu, 16, helped renovate the Mary Wayte public pool on Mercer Island on June 18, making it look more delightful for the visitors and swimmers who frequent the pool.
Liu commented, “I have swum at this pool for nine years, so I wanted to give something back to it for everything it gave me.”
All three scouts hope that youth and other younger scouts see their projects and get inspired to give back to their communities. All three Eagle Scouts agree that the road to Eagle is a huge commitment, but with hard work and dedication you can achieve it.
Shavey added, “I want to thank my younger brother, Quinn, for sticking with me in scouts all this time, and I hope he realizes that he can also become Eagle Scout with the proper dedication.”
None of this would be possible without the dedication of the Eagle Scouts parents, the beneficiaries/sponsors of the projects, scout and assistant scout masters, and all the Troop 647 volunteers who helped out with the projects.
