LAWRENCE: Eagle Scout project clears, maps trail

Malcolm Rambert remembers running along the path that makes up the Notre Dame High School cross-country track team’s practice trail, and noticing an abundance of discarded water bottles and trash.

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Malcolm Rambert remembers running along the path that makes up the Notre Dame High School cross-country track team’s practice trail, and noticing an abundance of discarded water bottles and trash.
   Malcolm, who was a freshman at the school, also remembers thinking that if he could combine his skills as a member of the school’s cross-country team with his skills as a Boy Scout, perhaps the path could be cleaned up.
   And he could use it as a springboard for his Eagle Scout project.
   Two years later, the running trail has been cleaned up and made more passable, and it has been mapped out and measured with the help of a GPS unit. The flora and fauna along the trail have been researched and identified, and a kiosk has been built at the trail entrance.
   Now, Malcolm is preparing to submit the final documentation for his Eagle Scout project to the adult leaders who oversee and sign off on those projects for Plainsboro Township’s Boy Scout Troop 193. He expects to receive his Eagle Scout award in the fall.
   Unlike many Eagle Scouts, Malcolm has been involved in the Boy Scouts of American for only four years. But the South Brunswick Township teenager decided he wanted to become one of the handful of scouts who attain that top rank.
   ”I decided to be an Eagle Scout to show I could be the best that I could be. I wanted to show people that I learned a lot and achieved a lot in Boy Scouts,” said Malcolm, who will be a senior at Notre Dame in September.
   The 17-year-old’s project consisted of five phases, and has taken more than 150 hours to complete. The first phase consisted of cleaning up the trash, water bottles and other discarded items — including an abandoned office chair — along the trail.
   Malcolm and volunteers he recruited collected 15 large bags full of water bottles and recyclables, and another 15 large bags full of trash. It became obvious that no one had tried to clean up the trail for a long time when one volunteer found bottles dating from the 1960s.
   The second phase involved pruning the thorn bushes and cutting back the vines that hung over the trail. Malcolm arranged to have gravel put down on sections of the trail that tended to be muddy after a rainstorm, which made it less slippery for the runners.
   Then, using Google Earth, Malcolm mapped out the 1.16-mile-long trail. Mapping the trail will help the cross-country team coaches by providing them with accurate trail length information, so they can time the runners.
   Phase four called for identifying the trees, plants and wildlife that live along the trail. The school’s Environmental Club members helped, along with other Boy Scouts from Troop 193 and members of the cross-country team.
   ”This will benefit my teachers and fellow students to expand their biology and environmental sciences courses (by moving) from the indoor classroom to the outside trail,” Malcolm said. He added that he plans to work with the Lawrence Nature Center, which is adjacent to Notre Dame, to learn more about the plant and wildlife in the area.
   The fifth phase consisted of building a kiosk at the entrance to the trail. There is room on the kiosk to hold a trail map and information about the nature area. It will also serve as a bulletin board for the cross-country team’s coaches to post information about workouts, Malcolm said.
   The project was nearing completion last fall, but Superstorm Sandy put a roadblock — 10 of them, actually — in the way. Ten large trees fell across the cross-country running trail, which put the project back by about six months, he said.
   ”I didn’t panic,” Malcolm said. “The cross-country track team could still practice. The groundskeeper cut the trees that he could cut, and we were able to get the trail back in order to be usable again.”
   Looking back on the Eagle Scout project, Malcolm said the most rewarding aspect was the construction of the kiosk. It was something that “you could really see,” he said. It was a long, hard project, but it was also fun, he said.
   ”I didn’t think it was impossible to complete, but I am relieved it is done. It’s like homework. You’re glad it’s done. My dad was happy about it being done,” Malcolm said, as his father, Michael Rambert, said with a smile that his own role was the “taxi cab driver.”
   Malcolm credited his father with helping him when he needed some adult assistance. He would bounce ideas for the project off his father, who acted as a technical adviser. The project was all under Malcolm’s supervision, however.
   Mr. Rambert, who is active in Boy Scout Troop 193, noted that an Eagle Scout project teaches the scout how to communicate with others, how to be organized and how to deal with the unexpected — such as the trees that were knocked down by the storm.
   For parents who are involved with their son’s Boy Scout activities and Eagle Scout projects, “it’s a great opportunity to spend time with your son and to impart life’s lessons,” Mr. Rambert said.