Despite being a freshman in high school, troop 581 Boy Scout David Zarrin completed his eagle project, one of the toughest tasks on the road to becoming an Eagle Scout, during the last week of July. 
           
“I did [my project] earlier than most people,” said Zarrin, “because I know I will only get busier as I get older with school and sports.”
           
First, Zarrin had to get his written project plan approved by the troop leader, the troop eagle board and county eagle adviser. The next step in the process required Zarrin to execute his project.
           
Rather than doing a common project like building a bench or planting trees, Zarrin decided to take on something more original. He built signs for three local trails, the San Marcos and two county trails. The signs contained critical information about nature and directions of the paths.
           
“Going into the project, I thought the project itself would be more difficult than the planning process,” said Zarrin. “The planning required a lot more time than I expected.”
           
Even though Zarrin finished his project and has almost achieved the Eagle Scout rank, he still wants to be a part of scouting and the troop.
           
“I will try to go to as many outings as possible,” said Zarrin. “Scouting is a lot of fun.”
           
The Eagle Scout rank is a rank that is only achieved after years of hard work in a Boy Scout troop. The ranks of scouting are tenderfoot, second class, first class, star, life and finally eagle. The requirements for each of these ranks are time consuming and require tremendous amounts of work. Not only does the scout have to go through the ranks, but he has to earn a total of 24 merit badges, which individually have specific requirements for completion. Only five percent of all boy scouts obtain the rank of eagle scout, making it a distinguishable award.
           
“It’s really hard to get eagle,” said Zarrin, “but it’s all worth it in the end.”

           
Other scouts that successfully completed their eagle projects recently were juniors Tim Lycurgus and Kyle Fukui, both active members of troop 581, and senior Mitchell Turpin. Fukui built a shelf and a cubicle for a kindergarten teacher at Foothill Elementary School for his eagle project. Similarly, Lycurgus built four bookshelves for a teacher at Country Lane Elementary School. Turpin did work for the Saratoga Presbyterian church as his eagle project. Juniors Jordan Waite and Karthik Annaamalai will be starting their projects soon.
           
“During the project, it was really stressful,” said Lycurgus, “but it felt really good to get it done. The project was a lot more fun than I expected.”