Hewlett scouts earn Eagle rank by restoring parish stage

Aedan Corless and Sebastian Pampalone, both graduates of Hewlett High School, restored parts of the stage at Trinity St Johns Parish Hall in Hewlett for their Eagle Scout Project to earn the highest rank in boy scouting.

Boy Scout Troop 20 members Corless and Pampalone had their Eagle Court of Honor at the Parish Hall, where the troop meets every week, on Aug. 25. Where they received their Eagle pin, badge and insignia to add to their uniform.

Troop 20 Scoutmaster Eugene Corless explained the Eagle Scout qualifications.

“In order to obtain the rank of eagle, you need to earn a total of 21 merit badges, 14 of which are eagle required and you need to complete seven ranks,” Corless said. “The other component is completing a community service project.”

Each rank can take over a year to complete, according to Corless. The ranks  are  Scout, Tenderfoot, Second class, First Class, Star, Life and Eagle.

“It’s a combination of specific training that you provide to others and things that you learn yourself, scouting skills and life skills,” Corless said.

As a scoutmaster, Corless helps to provide a supportive environment that enables the scouts to achieve the ranks. He ran multiple camping nights and community services projects to earn badges. The achievements are all individually done while being apart of a troop.

“My job is to help shape those Eagle Scout Project ideas so that they foster a combination of leadership and I help troubleshoot ideas or offer suggestions to help guide them as they propose and complete their project,” Corless said.

Both Corless, the scoutmaster’s son, and Pampalone had to attend meetings and give presentations with the church committee at Trinity St Johns in order for their projects to be approved.

The troop holds its weekly meetings at the church and Pampalone noticed that the stage was rundown.

“I feel like it needed that little extra step to make it really beautiful,” he said.

Pampalone also replaced some floorboards, which was not in the original plan. It took three days of manual labor on the stage, and a total of five months for his to complete the work.

Pampalone received help from his father, and Phil Nickerson, a family-friend contractor to sand down the stage and put on the wax coating, as well as fellow scouts.

“They worked super hard in helping me complete the project, it’s a delegation project and It’s not really a hands-on project for me,” Pampalone said. “As you are becoming an Eagle, you have to delegate certain jobs to people, it’s a leadership project.”

Pampalone set his sights on the Eagle rank since he became a scout. His favorite memory from the project was when Civil Rights activist, Ruby Bridges visited the church and using the refurbished stage.

Aedan’s project was to paint a mural on the stage wall and put install new curtains.

“I chose to do this because a lot of people use the church, a lot of elderly people and people who live in the community a long time should see it as a stage for shows and performances and it was something that needed to be done,” Aedan said.

It took him six months, including the time that the idea as proposed and had to be approved.. His father’s artistic knowledge helped as well as troop parents and scouts.

“The scouts helped me prep for the project and paint, since the Eagle Scout is not supposed to do the manual labor,” Aedan said. “The prepped and painted the walls, cleaned the area for the mural all under my leadership.”

Doing the project brought Aedan full circle, remembering when he helped older scouts with their Eagle projects, he said, adding that he loved painting the mural with his dad.

“Their scouting journey has been really great to see, I’m just really proud of them,” Eugene Corless said. “It was really fitting that their projects ended up duck tailing together and contributing to where we meet every week as a unit.”