By Khalida Sarwari
Saratoga’s Sacred Heart Catholic School looks much nicer today than it did just a year ago, and the community has 17-year-old Matthew Yee to thank for that.
Now Matthew, who devoted a year to a landscaping project to fix the church’s garden, will be one of six local Boy Scouts to receive the highest rank in scouting.
The Feb. 9 Court of Honor will recognize the accomplishments of the six scouts, among the most involved members of Troop 535.
The other scouts receiving their Eagle badge are Eric Chen, from Cupertino High School and a resident of Santa Clara; Kevin Gasik and Stephen Jensen, both from Saratoga High School and residents of Saratoga; Dakota Sproch, from Westmont High School and a resident of Monte Sereno; and Jesse Zhou, from Cupertino High School and a resident of Cupertino. The boys are all 17 years old and are high school seniors.
For his part, Matthew, a Saratoga High School senior, undertook a project to help beautify a dilapidated garden at Sacred Heart, a task that required him to level the garden and install stone paths and compost tumblers for the school to use to fertilize its plants. After the nearly yearlong effort, half of which was spent on planning the project, Matthew gave a presentation to elementary and middle school students about the benefits of composting.
For a scout to receive the Eagle badge, said Matthew, he has to have been an active member of the scouting program for at least seven years, dedicated about three or four hours every week to volunteering efforts, had a strong leadership role within the troop, earned at least 21 merit badges and completed a community project that he planned and organized.
“It took a long time to get my Eagle badge, so I’m really happy that I’ve gotten here,” he said.
The next step for Matthew? College and then medical school.
“I want to be a doctor,” he said.
Eric’s project involved building a freestanding 8-inch outdoor bulletin board at Monta Vista Park for the Cupertino parks and recreation department. The bulletin board has space for the park’s activities agenda and information for visitors about upcoming events at Monta Vista Park and its facilities.
Stephen constructed a tech booth at the Saratoga Presbyterian Church in the renovated youth room. The church will use the booth to store its audio and presentation equipment.
Dakota designed a rock and mineral exhibit for the Youth Science Institute, a nonprofit group that teaches hands-on science to Silicon Valley youth. His exhibit is displayed in the visitor center at Sanborn County Park in Saratoga.
Jesse’s project entailed building eight hurdle carts for the track and field program at Cupertino High, saving his school a significant amount of money. He used various fundraising methods, such as yard sales and selling SAT books on Facebook, to fund the project, which cost about $140 per cart.
Kevin did his project for Villa Montalvo, helping to renovate the picnic area and also build a new compost bin to enable recycling of the waste material from the garden.
The boys will join about 130 Eagle Scouts who have come out of Troop 535 since 1971. Another six will receive their Eagle badges in the spring.
“This year, Troop 535 will have 12 Eagle Scouts in one year,” said Rita Chan, who noted that this is a record for the troop.
Troop 535 was chartered in 1959 and has been sponsored by St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Saratoga ever since. The troop has 40 members and is under the leadership of Joe Beyers and six assistant scoutmasters. Members come from a variety of cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds.
The court of honor ceremony will be held on Feb. 9 at 10 a.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. The event is held with an audience of family, friends, chartered organization officials and troop leaders.
