Local Boy Scout's Amazing Transformation

Brandon Lai is a 16-year old junior who holds a first degree black belt in Karate. But his true passion is Scouts. In 1st grade, he was sitting in the cafeteria at Bluebonnet Elementary School in Cedar Creek, gathered with all the other boys, when he first learned about the Scouts. After hearing the presentation, he immediately wanted to join and rushed home with the flyer to show his parents. They said yes, and the rest is history. 

 

In 2010, Brandon crossed over into Boy Scouts when his family, along with several others, started their own troop. Currently, Brandon is a member of Troop 2010 with Mr. Randel Brown as his Scoutmaster. Having been a Boy Scout for 5 years, Brandon felt it was time to spread his wings and fulfill his dream of becoming an Eagle Scout.

"Personally, becoming an Eagle Scout is just something I had always set out to do," Brandon told us. "When I was much younger, I had the opportunity to attend several Eagle Courts of Honor. I thought those Eagle Scouts were awesome. I wanted to be just like them."

Now, he sees becoming an Eagle Scout not only as a great honor, but also as a step to prepare himself for the future.

To become an Eagle Scout, one of the things that must be accomplished is a special service project. For months, Brandon tossed around ideas, but nothing struck him as the right project until one of his friends on the Bastrop Youth Parks Activity Committee (YPAC) suggested asking the City of Bastrop's Parks and Recreation Department if they needed any help. They did.

Over the next couple of months, Brandon raised funds and recruited volunteers to help him transform Ferry Park. Brandon and about 25 volunteers worked together over Halloween weekend to make the changes. They reroofed and painted the gazebo, fixed a damaged portion of chain link fence, repainted the white parking lines, trimmed the brush around the stairs, and touched up the mortar on the limestone borders around the flowerbeds. Here are some of the before (left) and after (right) pictures:

This time, it will be Brandon who the younger Scouts will be looking up to with awe at the Eagle Courts of Honor. We applaud him for his accomplishment and wish him the best of luck in the future!