Scout values skills learned in working on Eagle project
By Angela Greiner Contributing Writer

Boy Scout Brian Hasbrouck PHOTO/ANGELA GREINER

Marlborough - Brian Hasbrouck defied the typical image of a Boy Scout as he pulled up to the First Church of Marlborough in his 1991 convertible Cutlass Supreme that he calls "The Bat Mobile."

Like other 17 year olds, Hasbrouck runs for the high school track team, is involved in theater, does not know what he wants to study after graduation in the spring, or where he wants to go to college. Yet, while many of his friends were squeezing in their last tanning sessions at the beach over the past few weekends, Hasbrouck was completing an extensive community service project required to achieve Eagle Scout rank, the highest in Boy Scouts.

His project was giving First Church of Marlborough an exterior makeover.

Hasbrouck joined Boy Scouts at the age of 6 and he attributed the strong f r iends he has made through scouts as the reason he has stayed actively involved with the organizations through high school.

"It is not always about what you are doing but who you are doing it with and some of my best friends I have met through scouts," Hasbrouck said. "We could all just go out and hang out at someone's house, but it is more fun to hang out and climb Mount Greylock."

Scouting gives boys opportunities to learn practical outdoor skills like camping, boating, rock climbing and fire building. But it is the leadership experience that Hasbrouck has gained through scouting that he believes is the most valuable asset. Leadership is a quality that is encouraged through activities like camp and through award achievements.

Hasbrouck explained that during summer camp, older scouts become senior patrol scouts who are responsible for organizing some of the camping needs like cooking and starting the campfires as well as keeping an eye on younger scouts.

Although he learned to be a good role model during his camp experience, in order to work for an Eagle Scout Award Hasbrouck had to take his leadership role to another level. .Hasbrouck chose to give the church a make-over because it would benefit the community and required an extensive pre-planning process of getting donations, organizing the job list, getting supplies and recruiting volunteers - all to meet stringent award guidelines.

"There is a misconception about service projects. My friends joke and think it is about helping old ladies across the street," Hasbrouck said.

Working on an Eagle Scout project is a lot different than that, he said.

The two-day makeover was carried out by more than 30 volunteers, using monetary donations that Hasbrouck secured. The team of workers: repaired and repainted the porch; weeded, mulched planted gardens; repainted the lines on the parking lot; reconstructed, scraped and repainted the wrought iron fence that runs along the church. The fence project, he said, was the most labor-intensive project.

With the work completed, Hasbrouck said that he has a lot of great memories of being a Boy Scout, with his fondest memory that of winning the yearly relay race, "Apache," for four consecutive years.

"It was fun," he said.

As for his Eagle Scout project?

"I think I am ready to let it go," he said.