Cub and Boy Scouts learn invaluable survival skills, as well as how to be knowledgeable and thoughtful citizens. Earning the 21 merit badges required for the Eagle Scout designation, the highest rank Scouts can achieve, demands dedication and resolve. An essential component of becoming an Eagle Scout is completing a community-service project. Richmond Abellera, a high-school senior and aspiring Eagle Scout from Tallahassee, FL’s BSA Troop 57, settled on creating signage for a public walking trail.
Richmond, an avid art student since 6th grade, designed signage for Tallahassee’s Alpha Omega Campbell Connector Trail. The 1.124-mile trail’s name honors a prominent African-American physician who was unjustly imprisoned and stripped of his medical license in the Jim Crow South of 1956.
“My mom [Bonnie] knew a lot about Dr. Campbell’s history, and I thought it was interesting and worthwhile when she told me about it,” Richmond said. “I’ve been a Scout since the fifth grade, and it’s taught me the core values of leadership and direction.”
Before receiving approvals from his scoutmaster and the Scout Executive Board, Richmond approached Cleve Atchley, the City of Tallahassee’s senior construction inspector, who greenlighted the concept. Funds for the project, which cost nearly $1,000, were obtained through fundraisers and a few corporate donations.
Richmond gleaned the signs’ information from various sources – he spoke with four of Campbell’s granddaughters, who provided information and photos; staff from Tallahassee’s John G. Riley House and Museum, which has chronicled regional African-American history, also assisted the project. Bonnie helped organize the information using Adobe® InDesign,® and his father, Arnold, retouched photos to make them production-ready.
With his concept, Richmond visited Steve Yawn, a salesman at a Tallahassee FastSigns franchise, to discuss producing the eight-sign program – two gateway signs measure 2 x 3 ft., and six path signs that span 12 x 18 in. The shop fabricated the large signs by applying Kapco calendered vinyl, which was printed on an HP Designjet L25500 latex-ink printer, on Nudo Products’ ¼-in.-thick, AlumaCorr™ aluminum-composite material. The smaller signs comprise 0.080-in.-thick aluminum, and were decorated similarly to their larger counterparts. Richmond obtained the signs’ permits.
Jeff Herig, who founded the franchise in 2000, said, “We’ve helped with other Eagle Scout projects, but they’ve usually been small dedication plaques. This project’s interpretive panels and informational markers were a little more involved. We learned more about the history of our community just by producing these signs.”
A local construction company donated the signposts; Richmond removed the old signs, and cut the posts to size for the new ones. Troop members helped Richmond dig holes and mix cement for the job, which also entailed installing a rock garden, gateway arbor, bench and bike rack. On July 21, they finished installing the signs, and park officials held a dedication ceremony a few days later.
On August 21, his troop’s review board awarded Richmond the Eagle Scout rank.