Boy Scout Michael Brock, 14, is just a few merit badges and one daunting service project removed from the Eagle Award. A teacher from Henderson, Nev., Michael and his parents and Scout leaders are brainstorming to identify an ideal Eagle project that will help him grow as a leader, do some good in his community and, yes, qualify him for the Eagle.

An Afghan soldier hands out coats to children in the Tag Ab Valley. The coats were collected as part of LDS Scout Braden Welburn's Eagle Project.

Indeed, developing, planning and executing a worthwhile Eagle Scout leadership service project is a task facing Michael and thousands of other LDS Scouts every year. It's often the final requirement that a young man completes before he can assume his place in the honored "Eagles Nest" reserved for those men and boys who earned Scouting's highest achievement award.

The projects can be as diverse as the Scouts themselves. Some Eagle candidates organize food or blood drives to benefit the sick or needy, while others craft historic markers to honor, say, the Mormon Battalion or a town's pioneer past. Often a project serves the Scout's own community, but other projects reach across oceans, such as a recent coat collection for war-weary children in Afghanistan.

If done right, Eagle projects do share a few common qualities: They are at once demanding and exhilarating, blessing the lives of both project organizers and project beneficiaries.

Ravell Call

Eagle Scout Junior Cruz stands with Tony and Amy Galvez on the Salt Lake City street that was renamed for the Galvezes' son, U.S. Marine Cpl. Adam Galvez. For his Eagle project, Junior worked with city leaders to change the name of the street to honor the memory of Adam Galvez, a Salt Lake City native who lost his life fighting in Iraq in 2006.

"Eagle projects are designed to test a boy's leadership skills and to have the largest possible impact in a community," said David Pack, director of the Boy Scouts of America/LDS Relations office.

A lifelong Scouter, Brother Pack can't recall a time when Eagle candidates were not required to organize and execute a project defined by Scouting as "meaningful service not normally expected of a Scout as a part of his school, religion or community." In other words, Eagle projects are about stretching a young man beyond his routine in the classroom, the Scout troop or the priesthood quorum. The best projects can be, well, a bit uncomfortable for a 13- or 14-year-old boy.

Brother Pack was just a deacon himself when he completed his Eagle project planning and organizing a community Pioneer Day celebration in his hometown in northern Utah. The 13-year-old coordinated events ranging from a chuck wagon breakfast to a town carnival — and discovered hidden leadership skills he didn't know he possessed. As a former Scoutmaster, Brother Pack has witnessed such growth in countless other boys as they completed their own Eagle projects.

Courtesy Ron Smith

Eagle candidate Tom Smith examines sculpture crafted by LDS artist Stan Watts. Tom's project involves raising money for the statue's completion.

Scouting does not publish an Eagle project "suggestion list." They are individual matters, allowing young men to leave their own unique fingerprints of service. Michael Clara has worked as a Scoutmaster and priesthood leader in several Spanish-speaking branches in Salt Lake City. When he sits down with Scouts and talks Eagle projects, he asks the boys about their interests and how such interests might connect with elements of the Scout Law such as being courteous and kind. After some discussion, the Scout can usually develop some project ideas.

Brother Clara has witnessed some remarkable Eagle projects that have changed his community.

In 2007 one of his Scouts, Junior Cruz, organized an Eagle project to have a street named in honor of Adam Galvez, a U.S. Marine and Salt Lake City native who was killed fighting in Iraq.

Last year another of Brother Clara's Scouts, Eduardo Fuenzalida, organized a project to acquire and raise a flag pole outside the home meetinghouse of Elder William Tenney Angilua Jr., a missionary who died in a bicycle crash in 2007 while serving in the Washington Seattle Mission. The young Scout coordinated the fund raising for the flag pole and worked with local businesses to secure contributions. As part of the project, an American flag was purchased and shipped to Washington where it was photographed with many of Elder Angilua's fellow missionaries. The flag was then returned to Utah where it flew atop the new meetinghouse pole of the Pioneer Stake in Salt Lake City. The flag was later encased in glass and presented to Elder Angilua's family.

Taylor Lind, a priest in the Fairview Ward, York Pennsylvania Stake, was recently offered a glimpse of the day-to-day operations of a municipality rarely afforded a 17-year-old high school student. Taylor worked with elected leaders, engineers and civic planners during his Eagle project to color-code dozens of fire hydrants in Pennsylvania's Washington Township. He and his fellow Scouts from the ward painted the hydrant caps according to each fireplug's respective water pressure. Now responding firefighters know immediately the flow available on any given hydrant — essential information when fighting fires.

Taylor's project has made the Washington Township a safer place. Meanwhile, the young man is armed with a new set of leadership skills that will serve him well as a missionary, a college student and a Melchizedek Priesthood holder.

Scouts raise flag on a meetinghouse pole that was purchased as part of an Eagle project last year honoring the late Elder William Tenney Angilua Jr.

"I've learned a lot about getting things going and taking up the initiative," said Taylor.

Brother Pack hopes Scouts will recognize that the true rewards of an effective Eagle project are found in the process. Perhaps a project can be organized, executed and finished in a few days, but at what cost? "The best projects always involve multiple people and multiple days," he said. "It's not so much what the project is, it's how that project is executed that makes a difference."

Tom Smith has learned to enjoy the process. A priest in the Woods Cross 6th Ward, Woods Cross Utah North Stake, Tom has spent two years on his Eagle project, tenaciously raising thousands of dollars needed to commission a heroic-size bronze statue of a Boy Scout inspired by a sketch from Boy Scout founder Robert Lord Baden Powell. In his efforts to raise attention and money for the project, Tom has spoken in front of the Woods Cross City Council, made presentations to business owners and scheduled home visits to potential contributors. Asking strangers for money has not come easy for Tom. But the fundraising continues even if the statue — which is being crafted by LDS sculptor Stan Watts — may not find a final home for a few years.

Still, the Scout has grown up thanks to his Eagle project, according to his father. "Tom has had to come out of his shell and done things that he'd probably rather not do," said Ron Smith.

Scouting remains the activity arm of the Aaronic Priesthood. Every day, young men — future missionaries, husbands and fathers — are realizing the blessings of service as they complete their Eagle projects.

"The priesthood is a service organization — it's designed to provide service to the Church and the community," said Brother Pack. "Scouting's Eagle projects help support the service mission of the Church."

jswensen@desnews.com