TA News

Nathan Perron completed the rank of Eagle Scout in December 2017.  Starting in First Grade as a Tiger Cub he really enjoyed scouting, so he stuck with it through 11 years and stayed on track to complete Eagle Scout in advance of the deadline, his 18^th birthday.  As a Boy Scout he held several leadership positions including serving to lead the Hanover Troop 45 as its Senior Patrol Leader for a year.  Because of his skills and advancements in Scouting he was selected and hired to be a camp counselor at a Boy Scout camp in Maine.

His Eagle Scout project was very ambitious and took over a year and a half to complete.  The project was to build a post and beam outdoor classroom for Marion Cross Elementary School.  To accomplish this he raised almost $5000 to cover the costs of the materials necessary.  He designed the structure himself and once the design was approved by the school, he had it reviewed by an architect for structural integrity.  For the construction he organized and led dozens of working days totaling over 1200 volunteer hours from Scouts, Scout families, Norwich School staff and Norwich community members.  Throughout the project he dealt with several design changes requested by the school which added cost, effort and time to the project.

The classroom is used by all grades at Marion Cross, but serves primarily as the Kindergartener’s classroom every Friday.  Prior to having the classroom, when it was bad weather they could not hold class outdoors forcing the faculty to adjust their program and the students to have to stay inside.  This project has already had and will continue to have a positive impact on the students of Marion Cross for many years to come.

Nathan’s project was the largest Eagle Scout Project the Troop has seen in years.  The older Scoutmasters can only remember one in the last 30 years that might have been close in terms of cost and effort.  Nathaniel is the 83^rd Eagle Scout for the Troop since the early 1930’s.

When receiving the honor of Eagle Scout, a boy chooses someone as his mentor who has been particularly supportive and encouraging throughout the process. Nathan chose Greg Mellinger, instrumental teacher at TA, as his mentor for his Eagle Scout achievement.

Congratulations Nathan, on this incredible achievement, and thank you, Mr. Mellinger, for your support of him along the way.

Nathan and Mr. Mellinger were recognized in the Class Day assembly on the last day of school.