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Shrewsbury – Benjamin Carriveau, a junior at Shrewsbury High School and member of Boy Scout Troop 114 in Shrewsbury, has earned his Eagle Scout rank.
In order to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, a Scout must be active in a troop; demonstrate and provide references that he lives by the Scout Oath and Scout Law; serve in a leadership role in the troop; engage in a variety of community service; complete a minimum of 21 merit badges; plan, lead, and execute an Eagle Scout Service Project to serve the community; and successfully complete an Eagle Board of Review.
After meeting with Kara Frankian, a teacher at Floral Street School, and his Boy Scout advisors, Ben decided that his project would involve some important improvements to the Floral Street School Nature Trail. The trail goes behind the school and was built by Frankian approximately 20 years ago to teach students about science, nature and the environment. The trail is also a favorite area for many members of the community to visit throughout the year.
Ben’s project required over 280 hours of work and had many components, including building and designing a welcome sign for the nature trail, building three raised boardwalks, planting over 30 forsythia bushes on the hillside to reduce erosion, repairing an existing bridge and boardwalk, cutting up three large downed trees for students to observe salamander habitats, general trail cleanup, and trail blazing. Ben and his many volunteers also installed 10 Quick Response (QR) codes on posts throughout the trail. As visitors scan these QR codes with a phone or other electronic device, the device will load information that Frankian and her class have put together to describe various aspects of nature found on the trail.
Ben thanked the many scouts, scout leaders and members of the community who volunteered their time and talents to make this project possible. He also thanked companies who generously donated materials or monetary funds: Papa’s Hardware, Home Depot – Shrewsbury, Lowes – Westborough and Rocky’s Ace Hardware.
