Local scout to be honored at ceremonies this Saturday

Evan Chadeayne on the staircase that he completed as part of his Eagle Scout community service project. | Darlene Chadeayne

Posted By: David Fortier December 28, 2023

By David Fortier

Among the challenges Evan Chadeayne faced while attaining the rank of Eagle Scout was fundraising for his community service project by returning bottles and cans, counting them by hand and sorting them for that 5-cent refund–over 20,000 of them.

“Me and a lifelong friend Liam Dodge were even counting these cans in my garage when the temperature hit below 10 degrees in the months leading up to my project,” said Chadeayne in an email.

Chadeayne, who will be honored this Saturday with a ceremony at Asbury Methodist Church in Forestville, completed his project in April. Sanctioned by Bristol Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services, his Eagle project involved installing a staircase at Hole 3 of Page’s Parks disc golf course and building and replacing four benches around the course.

“Up until this point I had never been in charge of a project before,” Chadeayne said. “Besides small group assignments in school leading people to the completion of a task was new to me.

“Learning where and how to delegate each person when I was dealing with over 30 people taught me a lot,” he said, “especially because at my age you aren’t faced with a lot of opportunities to do something like that.”

Chadeayne is in the unique position of being active in two Bristol Boy Scout Troops, both of whom will be honoring him on Saturday. Troop 9 was his original troop, beginning in 2018, according to his mother, Darlene.

Rear left, Eagle Scout Joey Glazier, front left, Tenderfoot Scout Sam Kovitch, center, Eagle Scout Evan Chadeayne and Mark Kovitch. | Darlene Chadeayne

When COVID struck participation among the members of Troop 9 diminished, she said, and Troop 29 took him in.

“It’s been beneficial for both the troop and Evan,” she said, explaining that Evan was able to get more experience in his climb through the ranks and the Troop 29 benefited from his recruitment efforts. The troop now has 10 scouts.

Evan is now a freshman in the engineering program at the University of New Haven and hopes to pursue a degree in aerospace engineering.

After completing his service project, Evan said, he looks forward to taking on other community projects, but not ones at the same scale as the Page Park project. He said he would like to focus on smaller ones because smaller projects can add up to large improvements.

There will be about 100 people in attendance at the Court of Honor ceremony. U.S. senators Christopher Murphy and Richard Blumenthal have both written proclamations that will be read during the ceremony.  The Bristol American Legion will be presenting an award. Among the speakers and presenters will be BPRYCS assistant superintendent Sarah Larson.  

Having completed the project, Evan said, has helped build his confidence.

“Being able to say I’ve actually done it might be the biggest take away,” he said. “I will no longer shy away from tasks that need a large amount of collaboration from different people. I know it’s possible and I’ve done it before, all I have to do is take one step at a time.”

The staircase, left, as it has been completed, and, right, the staircase in use. | Darlene Chadeayne

Aside from completing a community service project, Evan had to rise through seven ranks, earn 21 merit badges, exhibit leadership qualities and complete a scout binder to fulfill the requirements for the rank of Eagle Scout.

He said that it would be impossible to thank all the people who helped him through every step of the way towards earning the highest rank of scouting.

He included those who donated cans and bottles and companies like Shultz Quarts who donated time and resources, and of course his parents.

In the end, he said, he urges anyone who hears about a local Boy Scout working on their Eagle rank and trying to finish a project to reach out.

“This is a big point in these kids’ lives, probably the biggest moment so far,” he said, “and they can take all the help they can get.”

In addition, he urged young people to try scouting, especially since after COVID a lot of troops are struggling to keep their numbers up and others have folded.

“Scouting has probably had one of the biggest impacts on my life,” he said, “between the people you meet and the responsibilities you take on.”

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