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Scout’s Eagle Project for Glencoe’s West School
Luke Sharkey with the compost bin he constructed.
Updated: June 15, 2012 9:24AM
Thanks to Glencoe’s Luke Sharkey, West School students can reduce their environmental impact by using a permanent compost bin to compost their lunch trash. Committed to modeling environmental responsibility for his third and fourth grade students, Principal David Rongey wanted a bigger, more permanent compost bin than what they had been using. Today, the school has a compost bin built out of recycled wooden pallets built as the Eagle Scout Project of Sharkey of Boy Scout Troop 28. “If children compost at school, they learn about environmental awareness which helps to make a greener community,” says Sharkey.
The 16-year-old completed the project with the assistance of scout friends and several fathers. The finished project is a three partitioned compost bin, which allows moving and turning the composting materials from one section to the next, to aid in the composting process. The project took more than 100 man hours of labor from scout volunteers, fathers and friends to stain and build the compost bin. Sharkey was required to manage the resources for the project as well as conduct a fundraiser (car wash) to raise the money for all of the supplies
The project was particularly meaningful for Sharkey, a New Trier Junior, who lost his father earlier this year to cancer. William “Chip” Sharkey — an Eagle Scout himself — had a long-time leadership role in the Glencoe Cub Scouts and Boy Scout Troop 28. “My dad got me into scouts and encouraged me to experience everything that scouting had to offer. He taught me to love scouting as he had.”
To complete the Eagle Scout Project, Sharkey had to write a proposal and get it approved by scout leadership. Every step of the plan had to be documented, items needed for the build had to be priced out enabling Luke to know how much money he would have to raise for the project. With the help of friends and scouts Luke conducted a car wash at West School. He then purchased all of the supplies necessary for the build and lead volunteers in the staining and construction, which culminated in the nine inches long compost bin for the third and fourth graders of West School.
