INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — From all the Eagle Service Projects submitted within the Boy Scouts of America Gulf Stream Council boundaries, from Boca Raton to the south and Sebastian to the north, the Council selected Dane Watts Wilson as the 2012 Council Winner of the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year.
This award recognizes the valuable service of an exceptional nature by a Scout to a community, religious institution, a school, or other entity.
The award recognizes the scout for his Eagle Scout leadership service project, which is part of the requirements for earning the Eagle Scout Award.
Each local council chooses a council-level winner, and from that pool, each region in the U.S. picks a region-level winner. A national winner is then selected from the four regional finalists.
Projects are judged on originality, the extent of leadership involved, scope of work, hours involved, planning, and difficulty of labor.
For his Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project, Dane chose to improve the only native island in the Indian River Lagoon, Round Island, at the southern end of Indian River County.
In accomplishing his Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project, Dane led an impressive team of volunteers in building and installing wooden benches, refurbishing an existing hiking trail, removing exotic and non-native vegetation and trash, as well as improving the walking surface, staining an existing educational kiosk, and placing education materials in the kiosk.
He also installed a granite marker to honor his volunteers and partners in the project.
The enhanced appearance and functionality of this unique native island will attract visitors to the park, and they will appreciate the natural waterside environment, along with the most diverse estuary in the United States, the Indian River Lagoon.
He led a team of about 50 people in planning, development, and giving leadership to this project.
Over 224 hours of community service were logged.
The project has a value of $1,678.53 (not including the value of his team’s volunteer hours.)
The entire list of winners of the Adams Award throughout the country can be found at: www.NESA.org/Adams_Award.html.
The National Award was announced June 1 at the Americanism Breakfast at the National Meeting of the Boy Scouts of America in Orlando.
