Introduction
Hello, my name is Christian Heft, a Life Scout from Boy Scouts Troop 12. Part of obtaining the Eagle Scout rank is leading an Eagle Scout project, a service project that benefits a community, church, or organization. My service project will help benefit the City of Laguna Hills, as I will be building an exhibit for the Laguna Hills Community Center.
Project
The project is to build an exhibit about the Pecten Reef, a limestone deposit in Saddleback Valley that extends about six miles. It has imprints of large scallops, clams, and other sea creatures left from when the region was submerged underwater many many years ago. It is essential to Laguna Hills as the sedimentary basin was located there. Limestone obtained from the Pecten Reef was used to build the famous Mission in San Juan Capistrano mined by the Native Americans. The exhibit will have real Pecten Reef boulders to examine and touch, which I will negotiate to secure them from the Via Lomas Fossil Reef Park where they are located, as well as information about the history and what the boulders were mainly used for. The exhibit consists of a wooden display box that will have the boulders on top of it, as well as information about the Pecten Reef and boulders on an information tile. The exhibit will be located in the Laguna Hills Community Center, which is the center of history for our city and filled with dinosaur bones, sea creature fossils, fragments of ancient plants, and other historical artifacts. The exhibit will be placed at the entrance, therefore being the first exhibit a visitor will see and able to learn about the vital aspects of Laguna Hills's history.
How This Will Benefit
The Laguna Hills Community Center has always needed a Pecten Reef exhibit as it has many other exhibits about fossils, but not yet one about the Pecten Reef. The exhibit will be very educational to students and the public because they will be able to learn about how important materials like limestone from the sedimentary basin were, where they will be able to touch them as well as learn why they matter to our region.
Conclusion
The overall cost of materials, supplies, tools, and other needs such as the information tiles is around $750. I have been trekking through Boy Scouts for a little more than 6 years now, and what I've learned from it has truly changed my life. With the friends I've gained and the campouts I've gone on, the leadership roles I've taken on, and the journey to Life rank I've gone through, I've almost reached the ultimate pinnacle a Boy Scout can achieve, and that is to become an Eagle Scout. Through your donations, you will help me gain a lifetime achievement, a status that will help me in my college applications, as I will be going into Senior Year, as well as being very helpful for work resumes in the future. I hope you will help me reach my goal to become an Eagle Scout, which will also benefit the well-being of my community. Thank you so much.
