PROVO -- A study by Utah Valley State College statistics students shows that Eagle Scout service projects completed in cities south of Point of the Mountain saved taxpayers $2.1 million.
About 1,950 Scouts worked 169,531 hours completing tasks ranging from building a Springville park to making chairs for autistic children to collecting school supplies for a school in Guatemala, according to the report.Ronald E. Nyman, field-service director for the National Parks Council, was pleasantly surprised at the dollar amount contributed in service to communities by teenage boys seeking Scouting's final rank. The council, based in Provo, starts at Point of the Mountain and includes some parts of neighboring Arizona.
"We had no idea about the amount of money. I was completely shocked. It's what we raise each year," Nyman said. "There's a tendency of the public to think Scouting costs and doesn't give anything back. It is beneficial for the public to know Scouting is contributing to the community."
Nyman asked UVSC professor Richard Hartley last year to conduct a statistical study of the Eagle projects in the council, 62 percent of which are completed in Utah County.
He wanted to see if Scouting officials could quantify the service completed by active troops in the 88-year-old nondenominational program for boys age 11 to 18.
Hartley's students determined the total dollar amount by calculating the number of people who worked on each project at $8 an hour. Per project, the average number of workers was 13.27 and the total number was 25,982.
One ambitious Scout, according to records, recruited 611 volunteers for help.
Some 45.5 percent of the boys spent between 21 and 40 hours on projects. Hours spent individually on projects averaged 25.40, according to the study.
"There is a tremendous benefit to cities," said Karen Adams, coordinator of the council's Eagle Scout projects. "It has really opened my eyes to see how much is done by Eagles."
Nyman said he was surprised how many Scouts wait until their last year of eligibility to finish the program's last hurdle. UVSC's report indicated that about half of last year's top awards were earned by 18-year-old candidates.
"That was the other surprise," Nyman said, adding that Scouts have until three months after their 18th birthday to complete the Eagle project. "You'd think the majority of kids would earn it when they were younger."
Founded in 1910 and endorsed by Congress in 1916, the Boy Scouts of America was formed to provide an educational program for young men to become civic minded and physically active. The service-oriented Eagle award was launched one year after the group's first year.
Some 40,300 Scouts nationwide earned Eagle badges last year, an increase of 2,580 over 1996's figures. Adams, who tracks the figures on the award, expects to see more than 2,000 boys earn the honor in central and southern Utah by the end of this year.
"It's an American symbol, like mom and apple pie. Very few people say anything derogatory of the couting program," Nyman said. "The purpose of Scouting is to teach kids to give back to society."