Eagle Scout Remediates Park for Service Project

“Joe D” Memorial Park is very easy to miss.

Its entrance is nestled between two houses on Village Drive. A small green sign informs people of whom the park is named after. But past the fence is a small pond, a brook, and a bench. It is an ideal spot to read a book or fish on a summer afternoon.

Phillip Penzo remediated the park for his Eagle Scout service project. The project is a required part of the Eagle Scout application process. The park was originally named Village Drive Park. It was renamed in 2009. DiDonato lived in Wayne for 40 years; he was a councilman for 28 years. He was a member of the American Legion Post 174 and was a founding member of the Boys and Girls Club of Wayne. DiDonato’s son is a leader in Penzo’s Boy Scout troop at Immaculate Heart Academy.

“It took a lot of planning,” Penzo said of the project. “It took a lot of phone calls to stores.”

Area stores and individuals donated the project materials. The township donated 15 cubic yards of woodchips, which were used to make a new path in the park.

Penzo kept a log of all the phone calls he made, materials he’d need, and work he would have to assign. He started planning in January 2010, but the work did not commence until November.

“It gave me a very good idea of how to structure my work,” Penzo said.

Eventually, Penzo fine-tuned his ideas and determined exactly what he and his team would do. The work only took a few days to complete. A footbridge was repaired and a new path was created. A new bench was added to the park and tree limbs and branches were eliminated, creating a new fishing spot.  Of the nearly 160 hours Penzo logged for the project, only 40 hours were spent performing physical labor, which included multiple people helping him at a time, the rest Penzo spent planning.

Like Penzo’s experience in the Boy Scouts, the project was refined and took shape the more work Penzo put into it. Penzo initially joined the Boy Scouts because his friends invited him to a Scout meeting. Twenty-seven merit badges later, Penzo said he’s a better person because of the Scouts. Less than 2 percent of Scouts ever achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.

Penzo, a junior at DePaul Catholic High School, is a member of the school's National Honor Society chapter.

"I feel like all the hard work I do in school I'm able to do because of Scouting," Penzo said. 

Scouting is more than just learning about knots and how to identify wild edible plants, Penzo said.

“Those things are just a small part of it,” Penzo said. “Being a leader and helping the community. That’s what it’s all about.”