SOLON — Jayden Merrick, a senior at Solon High School, has joined the elite ranks of the Eagle Scouts with his board of review in October 2023 and Eagle Court of Honor last April.
Eagle Scout is the highest rank a Scout can achieve. It is an elite title, and one which stays with them for life. It also serves as a testament to their character, explained Tom Clingerman, Chartered Organization Representative for the Solon American Legion Post 460, and a Scout Leader for over 30 years, in a 2022 interview.
“The power of the Eagle Scout rank is in the reputation of those Scouts who have attained it.” Typically, Four-to-six years of work often go into these projects, and the individual skills learned are not as important as the demonstrated “perseverance” of the Scout. “Eagle Scouts have been recognized as people with great potential. They are people for whom hard work is not a problem. Because of their association with Scouting, for so many years, they tend to adopt its belief in the qualities promoted in its Oath and Law, predominated by a sense of Honor and truthfulness, loyalty to their country and others, and a feeling that they ‘can’ make a difference,” Clingerman said.
Merrick started his Scout career by joining the Cub Scouts in first grade.
“I’ve been consistently active since then and transitioned to Scouting America (formerly Boy Scouts of America) when I was in fifth grade.”
Merrick served as the Senior Patrol Leader of Solon’s Troop 120 for six months and serves as an Assistant Scoutmaster until he leaves for college (Iowa State to study software engineering).
Key to the process of earning the rank of Eagle Scout is planning and conducting a service project, typically for a nonprofit entity. Thousands of hours of project service have been performed in the Solon area benefiting the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Army Corps of Engineers, the Solon Community School District, Solon Recreation Dept., care centers, churches, and landscaping at the Veterans Memorial. The Eagle candidate must work with a sponsor organization, create a detailed plan, and get it approved before work begins. The Scout acts as the program manager scoping out the project, determining and acquiring the required materials and tools, creating a detailed schedule, and recruiting the manpower to execute the plan.
Merrick’s project was to build a sun shade at the splash pad and to replace the planter boxes around the Timber Dome, both at the Solon Recreation and Nature Area (SRNA).
“I had wanted to help improve areas in the community. I had looked at other projects as well but eventually decided this this was the one I wanted to do the most,” he said.
“Volunteers made two 5’ by 5’ concrete pads near the splash pad and, across the parking lot, built seven wooden planter boxes. We had two groups of volunteers with one group mixing concrete and making the concrete pads and the other group making the planter boxes.”
Merrick had originally figured on two days to complete the work but with rain in the forecast he decided to press on.
“I lead the scouts in a police line (walking in a line picking up trash) of a nearby prairie as some adults set the sunshade posts. After the police line, we went back and set up the sun shade canopy.”
Materials for the project were provided by the City of Solon leaving manpower needs to Merrick, who recruited family and members of Troop 120. Additional help was provided by some City staff for a total of 41 people and 255 manhours of work, according to Merrick. Planning began late in November 2022 making it a four month process from start to completion. His efforts earned recognition as one of six finalists for the Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year for the Southern Prairie District.
In addition to Scouts, Merrick is also a member of the Solon HS Archery Team and Solon Robotics where he is the programmer for his team. He also does set construction for drama and fine arts.