Salisbury earns his Eagle Scout award
Eagle Scout projects are designed to benefit the community, whether it be as a whole or a small portion of it. Kaiden Salisbury decided to complete a project which would assist his church community. He created a secure storage room for Grace Community Church in Newburgh.
“For years I’ve felt I needed to give something to my church,” said Salisbury, who joined Scouts as a Bear Cub. For the past three years I wanted to be involved in something with them. I felt comfortable around the people I knew. I wanted to give them something they’ve wanted for years. I decided to ask my pastor if I could do something that can be in honor of the church, as well as our God.”
When Salisbury approached his pastor with a project idea, his initial thought was to construct a prayer room, but further conversations revealed a more pressing need for a storage room.
Preliminary plans were developed starting in Feb. 2020 and then presented to the Boy Scout Council for approval.
The project was accepted as presented with some minor concerns about money to fund the endeavor and whether Salisbury would have enough supplies. He reported no issues.
One of Salisbury’s parents set up a Venmo account allowing him to accept contributions. He successfully raised $700 for the project. Supplies purchased included sheetrock, spackle, paint, screws, dry wall tape, and the necessary tools to complete the work.
The first work day entailed taking measurements, emptying the room of any shelves and items left behind, and carrying all the supplies. One of the challenges Salisbury faced was carrying the drywall up the steps because of the narrow landing which had to be negotiated.
Another challenge Salisbury had to overcome was a shortage in volunteers. Some of his partners had to be quarantined due to a classmate contracting COVID-19.
Despite the minor setbacks, Salisbury was able to put up the walls of the storage room over the course of a month. Some difficulty arose from having to cut the sheetrock to fit around pipes in the ceiling. Once complete, the drywall was taped and spackled in preparation for painting.
Taking on a leadership role came easy to Salisbury, who said the key isn’t just being a leader.
“You need to be involved in order to be a true leader. You can’t stand around telling people what to do.”
Overall, Salisbury was pleased with the project, which was completed by the end of April last year.
“I absolutely love how it came out,” he said. It was definitely successful. Everything went the way I wanted it to. I hope whoever takes over that area will be shocked about how nice it looks.”
Due to the pandemic, Salisbury had to wait until Sept. 26 of this year to receive his Eagle. He and a number of his fellow Scouts participated in the ceremony at the same time.
“It feels wonderful,” he said about earning his Eagle. “I didn’t think I was going to make it this far. I always wanted to quit scouting but my parents encouraged me to keep going.”
Although he’s currently a freshman in college, Salisbury said he has given some thought to being an assistant scoutmaster in his troop one day.
