Run It Up the Flagpole; It’s Easier to Salute It

By SANDY STRICKLAND

Jacob Bateh wanted the Stars and Stripes to have a nice launching pad.

So the 17-year-old reconstructed the flag pole area at Pine Forest Elementary School of the Arts as an Eagle Scout project.

Because students rally around the flagpole every morning, the former School Boy Patrol officer at Beauclerc Elementary School wanted to spruce it up. After all, the site, which consisted mostly of dirt, gravel and weeds, had gotten scraggly looking.

Jacob, who lives off Baymeadows Road, raised money for the project by launching a “Buy A Brick” campaign. He set up a booth when Pine Forest, a magnet arts school on the Southside, had an open house, concert, show or other event. Parents could have their brick engraved with their child’s name, the year they attended or a message.

Jacob, who will be a senior at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, learned of the need while he and some friends were at Pine Forest doing community service work – mowing grass, clipping hedges, raking leaves.

Brian Collins, who owns a custom paving company, offered to help with the project. Collins, whose daughter attended Pine Forest, provided the know-how and the limestone and brick pavers. Jacob and 15 fellow Scouts provided the muscle, laying between 1,500 and 2,000 pavers. Jacob is a member of Troop 139, which meets at San Jose Catholic Church.

Jacob and friends also put in a six-inch curb to keep people from parking on the flagpole site, and he provided the wood, concrete, shovels and other tools. His father, John Bateh, and grandfather, Jack Bateh, also lent a hand. Grace Bateh, his mother, brought in pizzas and drinks.

Jacob said he will periodically go by Pine Forest to spray a weed remover so the unwanted plants won’t sprout through the concrete.

Jacob has joined the roughly 3 percent of Scouts nationwide who attain the Eagle rank, which requires 21 merit badges and a service project. The A-B student earned 29 badges.

He joined Scouts when he was 10, and his cousins and aunt Charlene Akel encouraged him to go for the Eagle. He invested time in camp outs and other Scouting events, turning down invitations from friends to go fishing or to the beach.

“I gave up time with my friends to grow as a Scout, so I wanted it to mean something by obtaining the Eagle rank,” he said.

(c) 2007 Florida Times Union. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.