THANK YOU AND MORE FROM EAGLE SCOUT COLIN KOONEY -- NEW BENCHES AT THE JANE E. LYTLE MEMORIAL ARBORETUM

Welcome to Everything Croton, a collection of all things Croton--our history, our homes, our issues, our businesses, our schools, our houses of worship--in short, EVERYTHING CROTON.

To the Croton Harmon community,

While 2020 was a difficult year, I was able to create some good in Croton-on-Hudson, while completing my Eagle Scout project and earning the Scouts BSA Eagle rank at the same time. After eleven years in Scouting, I am now a proud Eagle Scout with Troop 28 Croton-on-Hudson.

My Eagle project is located at The Jane E. Lytle Memorial Arboretum (“The Croton Arboretum”), a non-profit organization that provides environmental stewardship for 20+ acres of wetlands and woods in Croton-on-Hudson. I thought of the Arboretum for my Eagle project while I was working on my Citizenship in the Community merit badge there the previous summer. As one of the requirements for the merit badge, I worked on creating a trail for visitors facing challenges with intellectual or social development.

My Eagle project, the Outdoor Learning Environment & Trail, is a newly created space just off the parking lot at the Arboretum. It includes a nearly two-hundred-foot trail with a group of benches made from tree stumps and flitches set on concrete. The benches are grouped together, allowing an educator to be heard by all. (CLICK ON THE PHOTO.) Along the trail, is another bench for visitors to sit and enjoy nature.

The entire process from planning to completion took nearly a year, with a delay in execution due to COVID. My project would not have been a success without the help and support of so many people and businesses. A special thank you to the Croton Arboretum, it’s President Mrs. Karen Jescavage-Bernard and Ms. Merrily Besvinick who spent countless hours with me in the planning phase of my project all the way through to execution. They helped me build a bond with the Arboretum that I will have for life. I would also like to thank ConservATree and Mr. Mark Sofranko for teaching me about trees and different types of wood, helping me cut the flitches for the benches and donating and delivering wood chips for the trail. Thank you also to Yorktown Lowe’s and Dakota Supply Corp for your support and donated materials, as well as, to so many of my friends and family for very generous donations that made my project possible. Within our Troop, I would like to thank Mr. Tom Livingston and Mr. Mike Reynolds for being my Eagle advisors, Mrs. Susan Szkodzinski for coordinating my Eagle Scout Board of Review, my brother Jack and my Troop 28 Scout friends for working on my project over multiple weekends, and to Father Nelson Couto, Mrs. Debra Rago and Holy Name of Mary for chartering our Troop and making Scouts possible in Croton. Thank you also to Mr. Harry Zhou for reviewing and approving my project and sitting on my Eagle Scout Board of Review. Special thanks to my mom, Jennifer Kooney and my grandmother, Kathy Kooney, for their support throughout the project and special snacks they brought for our volunteers. And, most importantly, thank you to my dad, Paul Kooney, and my grandfather, Dennis Kooney. My grandfather was my project consultant and instrumental in helping me complete this project. He helped me scope the area, make contacts, and taught me how to use the right tools and techniques for my project. He inspires me to work hard every day. My dad is our Scoutmaster and is also an Eagle Scout from Troop 28. He works so hard for us to have a successful Troop, giving so much of his time not only to me but to all the Scouts in our Troop. He has taught me to love nature, grow in my faith, be a leader and to simply be a good person. I am so lucky to have such an amazing father role model to guide me through life.

I invite our community to visit the Arboretum and enjoy the new Outdoor Learning Environment & Trail that my Eagle project team created. This is a spot I will truly enjoy with my family and friends for many years in the future and I hope you do the same.

Colin Kooney