Today, July 17, 2019, marks one-year since Jonathan Tan (Class of 2020) completed his Boy Scout Eagle Project. We want to take a moment to recognize and thank him for his contributions to our campus.
Jonathan started planning his Eagle Project in the beginning of February 2018 as a member of Troop 777 in Diamond Bar. His band director Mr. Acciani asked him to create a cover for the band sound shells stored in the school "boneyard". The sound shells were originally from an Eagle Project several years ago. Because they had been stored outside without any covering, weathering had damaged the shells. It's not an easy project considering the size of the covering needed, since there are 20 shells that each measure 10 ft tall. Mr. Bromberg, the school's operation manager, said that creating a cover had been attempted several times, but the project has never been done successfully. Jonathan proposed several options and at first, none of them sounded feasible. Because of this, Mr. Bromberg requested him to paint the Diamond Bar High School sign for his Eagle Project. Finally, it was decided to build the cover using a prefabricated steel shelter, since this was the only viable option to accommodate the size and the safety necessities of the structure.
The prefabricated shelter was a very costly and Jonathan had to raise money to fund his project. It took a a few months to fund raise and obtain donations from several companies and organizations. During this planning period, Mr. A had requested that Jonathan add another feature to his project: the refurbishment of the sound shells. This was another large task, as much more planning had to be done to fix the sound shells.
Finally, Jonathan was able to raise the money needed and move forward with his project. Due to the amount of work need to be done, he divided his project into two phases. The first phase was painting the school's sign and refurbishing the sound shells. About 60 people from his Boy Scout Troop and school came to work on the project on June 23, 2018. The damaged sound shells board were replaced with a new plywood and repainted. Another group painted the school sign on the same day. It was a long day, but everything was accomplished accordingly. The second phase - installing the shelter - was done on July 17, 2018. With Jonathan's supervision, the workers installed the shelter in the boneyard.
Though there were many complications and difficulties along the way, the project was finally finished after months of work. There were numerous hours spent planning, fundraising, sweat, and hard work. Now, the sound shells are freshly painted and protected from the sun and rain. Considering the amount of rain that we received last year, it was perfect timing for this project.