Eric Grady

On September 25th, 2016 the outdoor classroom at Henry B. Burkland was built. Ryan Grady, the designer and builder, described to me that the classroom had four picnic tables, fifteen benches, five planting beds, twenty-eight clipboards, a podium for the teacher, and a chalkboard to help with visual learning. It also had playground safe wood chips in the middle as a flooring and a shed to store everything in. He said to me that “the best part of the classroom to help the kids is the benches because it gives them a place to sit.” He told me that the most memorable part of that day was “seeing how many people [including] friends and family showed to support me in this project.”

Speaking with him, I found out that he is an Eagle Scout candidate from Troop 20 Middleboro MA. He has been a scout for 6 years and is looking forward to many more.  He also mentioned that “ An Eagle Scout is someone who has dedicated their life to Scouting and lives by the Scout oath and law.” As a project to become an Eagle Scout, he has been planning on making an outdoor classroom for his local elementary school, HBB, at 41 Mayflower Ave, Middleboro MA. He told me his favorite part of the project was “the way it came out and how I was able to give back to the school I went to when I was little.” This project was complex from the beginning. He told me the hardest part of the project was “figuring out where to start and how to get going… [he] have had no experience with this before.”

He also told me about how everything was built. On September 3rd, 2016 , him and his crew of workers put together fifteen benches. They were varnished and weather coated so that they would not get destroyed. This day was an important step toward completing the project all together. Through the time between the first and second workday he had to complete  the Eagle Scout workbook part B. He completed part A before the first workday. Part B includes budgeting and how many hours each person works.

Ryan Grady has gotten a lot of inspiration for this project, including help and motivation from his Mom, Lauren Grady, and his Dad, Darren Grady. He also told me that “ My little brother Eric Grady helped push me and gave me all the help I could ever get.”  He gives special thanks to all the local businesses that donated supplies and tools for his project. Some of the  local businesses were Mid Cape Lumber, Middleboro Police Station, Gurney’s Saw Mill, Bridgewater Farm Supplies, Lowes, The Middleboro Elks, Central Cafe, Shaw’s, Hannaford’s, Grady Consulting, Aubuchon Hardware, Henry B. Burkland, Middleboro Public Schools, Troop 20 Middleboro MA and all the families and friends who came to support him. Ryan Grady will complete his Eagle after his board of review.