Scout edges to Eagle rank after playground project

A soon-to-be senior at Cloquet High School, Connor Hecht knows a lot more about the inner workings of a playground than your average 17-year-old.

Hecht is a Life Scout working to advance to Eagle Scout. There are many requirements for becoming an Eagle Scout, one of which is a project to help the community.

When a community member reached out to him last summer about building a new playground in Scanlon, Hecht knew this would be his project to help him reach his goal of becoming an Eagle Scout.

"Since last summer, I have worked with both the city and the community to get volunteers to help build the park," Hecht said.

By the beginning of this summer, Hecht had gathered enough volunteers (31, to be exact) to help put together the playground equipment and make sure the ground was ready for the new playground. He measured and dug with public works employees. Over the first couple of weeks of June, Hecht and his volunteers put together the playground equipment, laid down new wood chips all over the playground, and made sure everything met Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.

Finally, on June 10, the playground was finished and ready to be used by the community. In under one year, Hecht had worked with the Scanlon city council and the mayor to plan and construct the new playground. Everything for the playground was funded by the city of Scanlon.

"Putting together the park was a breeze; the planning and the paperwork was the hardest part," he said.

Hecht is very close to getting his Eagle Scout rank. Since the playground was his Eagle Scout project, he is about 90-percent finished with all the requirements to earn that rank. The Eagle Scout project had its own set of requirements Hecht had to meet. One of the requirements was keeping track of the hours volunteers spent on the project. Hecht personally put in 200 man-hours on the project. In all, it took about 900 hours to bring the playground to fruition.

"I only have two merit badges left before I can become an Eagle Scout, so hopefully by the beginning of the school year I can achieve that," Hecht said.

Hecht says he feels relieved now that the playground is done. He lives nearby, and it brings him joy whenever he sees someone playing on his new playground. The playground is located right next to the Scanlon Community Center on Dewey Avenue.