‘Benching’ his weight

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- The finish on the new bench at the Environmental

Nature Center isn’t quite dry yet, but Pat Scruggs has had just about

enough of worrying aboutit.

This weekend was very bench-intensive for Pat, 17, who worked on

improvements to the facilities at the center -- a sort of outdoor museum

of the California ecosystem -- as his final project to qualify to become

an Eagle Scout.

Along with about 20 of his friends and fellow Scouts from Troop 90,

Pat spent Saturday sweating under a hot sun to improve 70 yards of trails

at the center. They also installed a bench on the grounds.

But don’t get Pat started about that.

It turned out, Pat said, that he and his group had a little less time

to work on the project than they anticipated, because the center closed

earlier than they thought. That meant he had to have the bench assembled

by Friday night.

Then there was an issue with the bolts to hold the bench together, so

somebody had to be dispatched Saturday to make a bolt run.

But the Santa Margarita High School senior says he was impressed, in

general, by how smoothly things ran.

“Everybody was really cooperative,” he said. “It was really nice.”

Part of what distinguishes Eagle Scout projects from the smaller goals

Boy Scouts pursue on their way up the ranks is the degree of planning

involved to carry off their large-scale Eagle-level works.

“They need to demonstrate leadership ability,” said Larry Stroman,

Scoutmaster for Troop 90 since 1988. “They need to come up with a plan

and if there’s funds that need to be raised, he needs to raise the

funds.”

The Scout coordinating the project does not perform the labor but

instead assigns the work to others.

“It’s hard,” Pat said. “You have to tell people what to do.”

And like any manager watching his employees blunder about

ineffectively, a would-be Eagle Scout has to know how to work with people

diplomatically to get a goal accomplished.

“You know exactly what needs to get done, but they don’t,” Pat said.

“You have to dictate it to them” without alienating them in the process.

The work Pat’s group did on the trails -- cleaning themand adding log

borders on the edges -- fits in harmoniously with the preexisting trails.

That’s because Eagle Scouts before Pat have built some other trails.

Like the other log borders, Pat’s are attached with

extra-firm-yet-discrete spikes of rebar.

And the bolts on his bench? They’re just perfect.