Greetings fellow Oak Lawnians!
Jonathan Augle, a member of Boy Scout Troop 619 is working towards his Eagle Scout award.
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Augle has been involved with scouting since he was in first grade at St. Gerald School, 9310 55th Court in Oak Lawn. When his classmate and friend joined the Cub Scouts, he decided to join, too.
Now, 12 years later, he’s a Life Scout.
“My friend joined the Cub Scouts and I kind of followed,” Augle said. “I thought it was interesting at the time and I just thought I’d join.”
Augle devotes most of his time and energy in tinkering with computers.
In fact, while a student at St. Laurence High School in Burbank, he was head of senior operations in its lab assistants program.
He said “90 percent of the technology knowledge I have comes from doing that.”
He graduated from St. Laurence on May 24 and will be attending Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills.
After that, he plans to go on to Lewis University in Romeoville and pursue a career as a computer hardware engineer.
Besides scouting and tinkering with computers, he also enjoys following tech sites. It was at one of those sites that Augle first learned about FreeGeek Chicago at 3411 W. Diversey Ave. in Chicago.
FreeGeek Chicago is a not-for-profit organization that recycles computers and parts to provide low and no-cost computers to economically disadvantaged individuals, non-profits and social change organizations.
As Augle contemplated what service project would be in the best interests of the community and himself, it seemed only natural to do something that matched his passion for electronics and technology. So, he decided to host a computer recycling drive to benefit FreeGeek Chicago.
The collection took place June 25 in the parking lot of St. Gerald School. Collection items included tablets, monitors, keyboards, smartphones, PDAs, video game consoles, printers, scanners and other computer related items.
Planning for his Eagle Scout project started back in February.
Augle said “posters were put up at the library (in Oak Lawn) and all over the place.”
Even before the June 25 collection, he had accumulated a large inventory of items and even had businesses contacting him to take pallets filled with their computer electronic items, storing them at his family’s home until collection day.
To prepare for that drive, he had rented a 10 foot truck to haul everything to FreeGeek once the collection items were sorted.
Augle’s family and friends have always been a strong support system for all his endeavors.
He’s appreciative of their support for his service project especially since they’ve had to drive him to various places to get things in place for scouting projects and otherwise.
It wasn’t until the day before the collection, June 24, that Augle got his driver’s license.
“I wanted it for the summer to get a job,” Augle said. “I’ve been dependent on my family and friends for sure.”
The cutoff age to become an Eagle Scout is 18 and Augle turns 18 in August. He plans to have his Eagle Project paperwork submitted right away and is confident that he’s meet all the requirements to be an Eagle Scout. When he first started scouting, he didn’t think about achieving Eagle Scout rank.
“It was something that just kind of evolved,” Augle said. “I figured, why stop now if it’s something that I want.”
Augle said he likes “the people” involved in scouting.
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“There’s very few people who are nice to be around,” he said. “But people in scouting are nice to be around.”
Here are this week’s featured celebrity announcements: Here are this week’s featured celebrity announcements: Happy 5th birthday to Caitlyn Plante, from her parents, Mary Rose and Joe. Happy 19th birthday to Anthony Mungia, from his mom, Sharon. Happy birthday to Alexis Smith, who’s turning 25, from her parents, Sue and Bob. Special birthday wishes go out to Carla Martin, from her husband Erik; sons, Rocky and Neo, and their family. Birthday wishes go out to Agnes Mark from her family. Happy birthday to Pat Carbone, who’s turning 82, from her family.
Wedding anniversary wishes go out to the following couples: Daniel and Christine Braun’s 9th anniversary; Don and Sue Cleland’s 10th anniversary; Lester and Kathleen Sawicki’s 51st anniversary; David and Sandy Wills on their 52nd anniversary; and Daniel and Betty Seidler’s 66th anniversary.
Keep your fellow Oak Lawnians informed about birthdays, special events or special “stuff” going on with your family or within the community. Call me at (708) 899-9544 or e-mail me at the address above.
Until next time…
Cheryl Petzel is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.