Gavin VanEtten Attains His Eagle Rank

By Liz Page

STAMFORD – Gavin VanEtten will be able to add his name to the growing list of Eagle scouts from Jefferson Troop 50 after recently completing his community service project at the Michael Kudish Natural History Preserve, in Stamford.

The scouts were all part of the Stamford scout troop, however, they joined with neighboring Jefferson when the Stamford troop no longer existed. Four members attained the Eagle Scout last year and two more are added this year for the troop, with a few more scouts still working toward the goal.

VanEtten built a gateway at the preserve that will restrict traffic in and out of the preserve. "We don't have a lot of invasive species in the preserve and we would like to keep it that way," said David Turan, executive director of the preserve.

VanEtten said it was a good project and is helpful to the preserve. The idea came from fellow scout, Liam Hanway, who also completed his Eagle Scout project by building an interactive billboard at the preserve.

VanEtten has been in scouting since he was five and he is now a senior at Stamford Central School.

"Becoming an Eagle Scout is important to my parents, but it is also very important to me. It be stupid to give it up at this point," he said.

Besides, he said, he likes being outdoors. "I am an outdoors type of guy. Plus I have met new friends along the way, even though not all of them have remained in scouting."

It was hard sometimes, when friends dropped out, but being able to get into the outdoors kept him coming back. "The outdoors really kept me in it." He said it was hard to stick it out when friends left and especially through COVID, when everything was so restricted and there were no gatherings of the troop.

VanEtten believes he has learned many important skills through scouting. "It has taught be how to be a better leader and how to make friends. Some of those friends, leaders and fellow scouts helped him complete his project at the preserve recently. Joe Dianich helped to dig the post holes, his grandfather and father also helped along with Assistant Scoutmaster Darren Hanway, his son, Liam, Todd Funk and Jack and Ethan Goodchild.

"It does really feel good now to have it completed." said VanEtten.

VanEtten is also an active junior firefighter with the Stamford Fire Department, having completed his basic exterior firefighter (BEFO) course and looking to complete his interior firefighter course (IFO). Next month, when he turns 18, he will be a full-fledged firefighter.

Troop 50 Scoutmaster Jason Seeley said attaining the rank of Eagle Scout means you have a good work ethic and you know how to set a goal and work very hard to attain it. "It means you believe in the morals and values learned in scouting and will carry them with you for the rest of your life. Earning the Eagle Scout rank, for most scouts, is the culmination of 11-12 years of hard work and learning to be a well-rounded citizen who will contribute great things to our society."

Gavin VanEtten drills a hole for the hinges to hold the gate in place at the Michael Kudish Nature Preserve in Stamford, before posing with the finished project recently. It was the community service portion of his Eagle Scout rank.