East Grand Rapids — When the time came to choose an Eagle Scout project that would highlight his leadership skills and benefit future generations, Graham Schiefler turned his attention to his school community.
Over the course of about 11 months, the East Grand Rapids High School junior organized, planned and oversaw the identification, marking and mapping of the trees at the middle school, replacing outdated wooden markers that were in disrepair.
Graham reached out to the East Grand Rapids Schools Foundation for financial help in the spring of 2024, obtaining a $1,812 grant to fund the project. The project itself was completed the following fall, and Graham’s Eagle Scout ceremony took place earlier this spring, capping off a decade of involvement with the Scouts.
From planning to completion, the project took about 100 hours, between Graham and the Boy Scout Troop 271 members who handled the hands-on labor.
“It was a lot of work, but it paid off, for sure,” Graham said.
‘I’m really glad I was able to help the school so much, and I’m glad it tied into the school’s curriculum so people can learn more about our trees and our community.’
— EGR junior Graham Schiefler
Benefiting School and Community
The idea for the project came from Kevin Vance, a science teacher at the middle school. Vance let Graham know about the deteriorating condition of the tree markers, which seventh-graders once used for a forestry unit.
The markers hadn’t been used in a while, Graham said, and Vance expressed an interest in incorporating them back into the curriculum.
“(Vance) said, ‘I’d love it if you could put a twist on this so it would work perfectly for your Eagle Scout project, but also enhance it for our school,’” Graham recalled.
“I took it to the Boy Scouts, and I wrote this whole project report. It detailed what I wanted to do, who would benefit, how it would benefit them, the leadership I’d use in the project, all of my materials, supplies, tools and permits, along with the cost and phases of the project,” Graham said, noting that the project had to be approved by the Scouts and the middle school’s administration.
The proposal included plans to replace the old, rotted wooden markers with metal ones; double-check the tree identifications and make any necessary corrections on new, weatherproof, UV-resistant printed plaques; and to tag each plaque with a QR code connecting to a database on the middle school’s website. The map identifies 27 different types of trees, including four varieties of maple, three varieties of ash and two each of lilac, pear and crab apple.
The QR codes will benefit not only the science students who use the trails, but the general public as well.
“If you walk by, and you’re just on a walk with your dog … you can scan it and go, ‘Oh sweet, I know what this tree is!’” Graham said.
Graham also had to survey the project area with an arborist to make sure the tree identifications were correct; Vance checked them, too.
Learning ‘how things work in the real world’
Once the approvals and permissions had been granted, the actual installation of the new markers was completed in September.
“We had three groups of four or five scouts go through and pound these metal posts into the ground,” Graham said. “Then the signs were put on top of the metal posts, screwed in, a cap was put on top, and it took us only one day — five or six hours,” Graham said.
He said it was extremely rewarding to see the project come together.
“I definitely enjoyed seeing it completed, and seeing all of my work done,” said Graham. “But the biggest part, for me, was that I learned so much about how things work in the real world.
“I’ve never had to organize people, so my favorite part was just the learning experience from this project. I loved being able to teach and help.”
Vance said Graham’s work was exemplary.
“Graham did an incredible job with both the planning and preparation portion of the project as well as the creation and installation of the posts that will be used for identification purposes,” Vance said, adding the tree-identification project will be “a tool that middle-school teachers and students will be able to use for years to come.”
Graham, who hopes to study architecture or engineering in college, said he’s thrilled that his project will have such an impact.
“I’m hoping this lasts for a while and can be a good resource for the science department to use, and for the community to use,” he said. “I’m really glad I was able to help the school so much, and I’m glad it tied into the school’s curriculum so people can learn more about our trees and our community.”
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