East Meadow Eagle Scouts honored for service projects

James Skinner
   
James Skinner of Troop 362 was recently awarded his Eagle Scout for a project he did to help the environment and the community.
     
Skinner, a recent graduate from East Meadow High School, wanted to do something that was helpful for the environmentally as well as the community. He came up with the idea to build new bat houses at Connetquot River State Park to control the mosquito population.

     
He noticed the bat houses at the park were falling apart, and decided to build new ones in order to get rid of some mosquitoes and make the park more enjoyable. He constructed 13 small houses, and one big one, three feet by four feet — “like a bat hotel,” he said. “It was huge.”
  
Already having a background in pest control — Skinner works with his father at his company A&C Pest Management — the project was perfect for him.
     
Skinner pointed out that bats eat 600 mosquitoes a night, and the park has been much more comfortable and enjoyable ever since the houses were constructed.
     
Skinner continues to maintain the houses and keep them clean since the bats will not go in if they are messy. He uses a natural insecticide to keep the houses clean and working properly for the bats.
   
Legislator Norma Gonsalves presented Skinner with a citation in recognition of his Eagle Scout work during a ceremony held at St. Raphael’s R.C. Church auditorium in June. He was also recognized by the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce in July.

John Vermalian
   
John Vermalian was recently lauded by the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce in for his work in becoming an Eagle Scout.
   
Vermalian, a senior at Chaminade, became an Eagle Scout on Oct. 12, 2009 and was honored at an Eagle ceremony in March.
   
He fixed up a food pantry room in St. Raphael’s Church to transform it into a more organized area, as well as a meeting place.

   
The food pantry was an old altar room that the church did not use anymore. They asked him to build shelves to organize the pantry and wanted a table in the room for meetings and prayer. He also built a railing at where the table to be in an effort to make it more of a private area.
   
The entire project, from getting donations to constructing it, took four months to complete. He had to ask local businesses for help as well as bigger companies like Lowes and Alure Improvements. 
   
The actual construction only took two days for him to complete.
     
Vermalian chose St. Raphael’s Church because his troop is sponsored by the church.