Eagle Scout project benefits Candor American Legion

A Boy Scout from Candor Troop 42 achieved his Eagle Scout Award by completing a property maintenance project last summer that significantly benefitted American Legion Post 907. Matthew C. Suttmeier’s Court of Honor was held on Dec. 14 at the Allen Memorial Baptist Church in Candor.

Don Slater, First Vice of American Legion Post 907, commented, “Matthew took the lead in organizing a property maintenance project for the Post, amending and upgrading several outdoor recreational areas and miscellaneous items,” and further shared that Suttmeier did an excellent job in a timely fashion and demonstrated a great work ethic, adding, “Post 907 is appreciative of the wonderful results.”

To accomplish the project, Matthew met with local Legion representatives, surveyed the property, and then formulated ideas to improve the appearance, function and safety of various infrastructures. From there, he developed a plan and schedule utilizing funding and manpower.  

The projects completed involved patching parking lot potholes, power washing the entire Post 907 building, repairing broken lattice fencing, power washing the original fencing and staining fence woodwork, painting several horseshoe backboards and edging horseshoe pit borders, weeding a sandbox play area and building a treated lumber border for it, replacing and staining rotted wood on the swing set as well as reinforcing the swing set crossbeam, painting a picnic table, and last but not least, finding and re-homing a family of snapping turtles from the sandbox.

Matthew’s father, Dan, remarked, “I’m proud of him and his efforts.  He planned and executed all of the project parts and pushed through in a short amount of time.”

All of the projects were completed in just two and one-half days, which encompassed two weekends last August.

Matthew shared that it was a good way to spend a couple of nice summer days, and said, “I’m pleased with it overall,” adding, “I learned about being the leader of a project and how to be responsive. It was satisfying, too, to come up with solutions to problems.”

Assisting Matthew in the project were fellow Troop 42 scout members, scout leaders and parents.

Matthew achieved his Eagle Scout after consistently working towards it since April 2016.  During that time period he earned 24 merit badges while also maintaining the role of patrol leader within the troop.

According to scouting.org, those who have earned the Eagle Scout rank consider it a treasured achievement, and, the Boy Scouts of America further cite, “Eagle Scout is not just an award; it is a state of being.  Those who earned it as youth continue to earn it every day as adults.”

A senior at Candor High School, Matthew is part of the Class of 2020, and explained that he is in the process of looking at colleges as he considers the fields of sound engineering and the music industry. Matthew explained that he would encourage his younger brother, Andrew, also a Troop 42 Boy Scout, to follow in his footsteps and work toward the Eagle Scout rank.