John Thomas splits his time between being a Boy Scout and a football player.
As the Lake-Lehman Jr./Sr. High School senior pursues his Eagle Scout rank, he incorporated both of those worlds into community service.
Thomas, 17, of Harveys Lake, recently completed his Eagle Scout project for Troop 146 out of Jackson Township with the help of his friends in the Boy Scout troop and teammates from high school football team.
The project, Thomas said, actually centered around a place the football team is all too familiar with — the weight room.
“The weight room was a locker room and when they remodeled the school they moved the locker room and made the old locker room the weight room,” he said. “There were privacy walls that were in the way and with the football team and troop’s help, we removed the walls and repainted the entire weight room.”
Thomas said the project took three days to complete and he had full support of a lot of members of the football team, including football head coach Gerry Gilsky, who served as a supervisor for the project.
“He (Gilsky) helped gather some teammates and we almost got the entire team to help,” Thomas said. “The troop was last minute because the letter I sent out asking for their help didn’t get out in time because I went on vacation, and luckily I was able to get good help.”
With his project now complete, Thomas said he will have an interview on Sept. 16 with three board members on the Northeastern Pennsylvania Council in Moosic to determine if he will be joining the ranks of Eagle Scout.
Thomas said his project was never about the project itself, but learning to demonstrate leadership abilities and working with everyone’s strengths.
“I learned a lot of different things,” Thomas said. “Being prepared is very important along with anything I do and I learned that leadership is important in a project like this. You don’t want a small guy lugging cinder blocks outside. I learned about strategy and making sure you’re explaining things to people and I learned a lot of leadership.”
Having been a Scout for over six years, Thomas cannot believe how much he has enjoyed his journey up the ranks, especially since he originally joined for the camping aspect.
“Originally it was to go camping with friends,” he said. “But, after a few months I learned what it was about and I enjoyed the leadership and helping the community.”
While his Eagle Scout project entailed some construction work, Thomas said the life of a contractor is not for him.
“My father is a contractor and he helped out with a lot of the project,” he said. “I plan on going to school for a degree in law or criminal justice and I hope to get a job working for the government.”
