A project ‘really cool to see’
Eagle Scout project updates Independence Park baseball fields
Photo courtesy of Trent White Aiden White stands in front of new backstops at the Independence Park baseball fields. For his Eagle Scout project, White worked to replace the old backstops this summer.
Photo courtesy of Trent White Kael Frana, Aiden White and Calvin Moses got started taking down part of the old backstop at Independence Park. Work at the park started after the end of this summer's baseball season, White said.
Photo courtesy of Trent White Aiden White stands in front of new backstops at the Independence Park baseball fields. For his Eagle Scout project, White worked to replace the old backstops this summer.
Photo courtesy of Trent White Kael Frana, Aiden White and Calvin Moses got started taking down part of the old backstop at Independence Park. Work at the park started after the end of this summer's baseball season, White said.
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MARSHALL -- When he started planning his Eagle Scout project, Aiden White had some definite ideas.
"I wanted to do something involving sports," White said.
That got him looking at sports and recreation facilities in his local community.
"I thought about all the places in Marshall that could use touch-ups," he said.
This fall, White completed a project to install new backstops at the Independence Park baseball fields. He said it was fun to get a chance to help make the park better for other people. Plus, he said, "It relates to something I love."
White said he knew he was interested in a sports-related project, so he reached out to the city of Marshall and local sports organizations. That was how he learned that it had been a while since the Independence Park backstops had been updated. The fencing and boards of the backstops were "pretty old," he said.
Once White identified a potential project in the backstops, there was a lot of planning to do.
"I had to figure out what I wanted to do, and what we wanted the design to be," White said.
He worked with Marshall Parks and Recreation Superintendent Preston Stensrud and the Marshall Area Youth Baseball Association to figure out what kind of materials were needed. White also had to find a contractor to install the fencing, source materials like treated boards for the backstops, and raise donations for the project.
"We ended up getting all the materials donated. It was pretty nice," White said.
Construction work for new backstops started in August.
"We had to wait for the baseball season to get done," White said.
The first step of the project involved demolishing the old fence and boards of the backstops. White worked together with friends, family and fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 238. The boys worked to install the backstops’ bottom boards, and RW Fencing, of Brookings, installed the new chain-link fence.
All told, the project took more than 96 hours of work, White said.
"It was really cool to see," he said of the new backstops.
Speaking to the Independent last week, White said some of the final steps of his Eagle Scout project included doing an interview with an Eagle Scout Board of Review. As of Sunday, he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.
Reaching Eagle Scout is the culmination of years of Scouting for White. He said he first got involved in Boy Scouts in first grade, as a Cub Scout.