Though Jack Sterbenz of Troop 26 in Medford is still two merit badges and one eagle palm away from officially becoming an Eagle Scout, he has completed his project and made the town of Shamong a better place in doing so.
Under Jack’s leadership and guidance, Scouts, family and friends made trot/ground poles, lesson display stands and a paver walkway at the local Kids Korral.
Kids Korral, Inc. is a registered charity whose sole purpose is to provide therapeutic horseback riding lessons to children with special needs.
The program is under the direction of Jennifer Hill, a Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International certified instructor.
“My brother has special needs and he used to ride horseback there, so we knew the owner,” Jack said. “She has always been such a generous woman, so I felt she was most deserving of the assistance that my project would provide.”
The six display stands that were created will be a huge upgrade for Hill from her old system of taping a piece of paper onto a pole in the riding arena to provide the lesson plan.
Jack and his crew also created extensions on the display stands that will hold a magnetic dry erase board that Hill can write on or place items on for that particular day’s lesson. The board’s infrastructure will enable them to be removed from the stand so she can store them inside in inclement weather.
“The trot/ground poles will allow Kids Korral to expand their current lessons,” Jack’s mother Ellen said.
The paver walkway will allow two wheelchair-bound riders better access to the riding arena, which is very sandy and hard to push a wheelchair through.
“It was originally intimidating to some of the kids who are physically disabled, so my goal was to make it less intimidating and easier to use for them,” Jack said.
According to Jack, the walkway was always something that has been in bad shape, and Hill proposed the idea of upgrading the lesson plan stands. The entire process from planning to physically completing the project took a couple months in all.
Though Jack had things that took away from his time to complete his project, such as school, golfing and being on the Shawnee High School swim team, he didn’t hesitate to say the paperwork was the biggest nuisance when it came to completing the project.
However, the combination of helping the organization and inching closer to the final goal of becoming an Eagle Scout provided more than enough motivation to complete the project.
“As a kid, being a Cub Scout was just something that I enjoyed, and then moving on to being a Boy Scout provided more opportunities to take part in activities. That solidified the idea of me one day earning the rank of Eagle Scout,” he said.
Jack wanted to give special thanks to A.Z. Lawncare and Tree Service — Robert Yetter specifically — Wharton landscape supply and Medford Sunrise Rotary. He also wanted to thank the Scouts and his friends who helped out, specifically Ryan Minshall.
“Ryan was a huge help. He is a part of Troop 26 as well, and I have no doubt that he will one day become an Eagle Scout with me,” Jack said.
Jack will now be completing his two remaining merit badges and his one remaining eagle palm to officially become an Eagle Scout.
