Five new Eagle Scouts from Manuta’s Troop 7083 were honored on May 16 with the organization’s highest rank for more than 700 service projects they completed in 2019 and 2020.
After earning the Scout rank Arrow of Light in 2014, Matthew Krokenberger, Tim Bonaventure, Noah Kizer, John Koza, and Daniel Levine crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, joining Troop 7083, which is sponsored by the Lawson-Cox VFW Post 7679 of Mantua.
“I remember all of the service projects they did that contributed to bettering our community,” said Fred Holland, the five Scouts’ previous master.
During his speech at the awards ceremony hosted by Masso’s Crystal Manor in Glassboro, Holland recalled the Scouts helping out at the Philabundance food charity and participating in cleanups around their communities.
While Koza is a senior at Gloucester County Technical Institute, the others are all seniors at Clearview Regional High School.
For their service projects, Levine created a sensory path by the playground for Sewell Elementary School students, Kizer helped build and install two informational kiosks for Tall Pines State Preserve, Bonaventure got a group of Scouts to help construct outdoor picnic tables and benches at the Lawson VFW post, Koza oversaw the construction and staining of a bookcase and cabinet for the choir area at Saint Margaret’s Church of the Infant Jesus Parish and Krokenberger installed five birdhouses at Branch Park to protect and shelter the red-wing blackbirds prominent in the area.
The path Levine created provides children with activities while also promoting motor skills.
“I really wanted to help the kids due to COVID shutting everything down inside, and I knew that this would be one way that they would be able to come outside and do something,” he explained.
The tables and benches overseen by Bonaventure consisted of two 8 foot picnic tables, one of which is wheelchair accessible, as well as six 4 foot benches and one measuring 11 feet. Kizer’s project was the first an Eagle Scout completed for Tall Pines.
Over 745 collective community-service hours were completed by the five Scouts.
“I want to congratulate all of you for this great accomplishment,” Holland told the Scouts at the award ceremony. “Keep in mind that the Eagle Scout award comes with no magic power or influence, but simply a recognition of what you have done so far.”
