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player ready...Two area Boy Scouts earned the Eagle rank with projects that honor veterans and promote reading.
Nicholas Baker, 18, of Chicago Ridge, and Donald “DJ” Dvornik, of Oak Lawn, both from Troop 1615, officially became Eagle Scouts in a ceremony Jan. 7 at St. Linus Parish in Oak Lawn.
In separate projects, Baker created a veterans memorial at Marist High School, his alma mater, and Dvornik built a book box outside Salem United Church of Christ in Oak Lawn.
“Marist has given a lot to me, so I wanted to give back to them,” said Baker, who is a freshman this year at University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
He talked to Marist principal Meg Dunneback last year about his Eagle Scout project and what he could do to help the school or improve the campus.
“We brainstormed over a couple of weeks,” Baker said.
In walking around the campus at 4200 W. 115th St. in Chicago, he realized there was nothing to honor veterans.
At the high school’s entrance is a tall flagpole from which flies the American flag, but the landscaping around it was overgrown, Baker said.
He decided to buy six shorter, 20-foot flagpoles to place near the entrance to fly the flags of each branch of the armed forces, including the newest, the Space Force.
With the help of his fellow Boy Scouts and other friends, he removed overgrown bushes, installed the flagpoles, a new masonry base for the original flagpole and a stone plaque. The plaque is engraved with the messages: “God bless those who serve to ensure our freedom,” and “We are bold. We are brave. We are Marist,” lines from the school’s fight song.
“We wanted something short and to the point,” Baker said.
The memorial was dedicated in a ceremony which veterans were invited to attend last May.
“It turned out great,” Baker said.
For his Eagle Scout project, Dvornik, 18, built a wooden box, or little library, to house donated books for people of all ages to borrow and read.
He installed the book box outside his church, Salem United Church of Christ at 97th and Kostner Avenue. The box has a Plexiglas door and a roof made of siding used in shower stalls to protect the books from the weather.
“I’m fortunate to have my father who has carpentry skills,” Dvornik said. His friends also helped sand the wood and assemble the pieces.
“I had help the whole way,” said Dvornik, who is enrolled at Moraine Valley Community College this year.
“There were probably 30 to 40 donated books to start,” he said. “And it is still going strong. I check on it weekly.”
People are welcome to leave other books they have read, he said.
Now that he has achieved the highest rank in Boy Scouts of America, Dvornik, who joined the Scouts in 2015, said it’s hard to say who is more proud, he or his parents.
“I’d say it’s a 50/50 split. I definitely had encouragement from my parents.”
“At the beginning, it seemed such a hard task, but over time it became more attainable,” Dvornik said. “There were times when I wanted to give up, but my parents encouraged me to keep on going.”
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Baker said he was not thinking about becoming an Eagle Scout when he joined the organization about 13 years ago.
“Once I started climbing the ranks higher and higher and seeing my older friends achieving the rank inspired me,” Baker said.
Kimberly Fornek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.