Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Boy Scout John Kim, 17, (left), his father, Kyung Kim, and brother Ben, 19, unload one of the planter boxes that John made for the front of the Saratoga Community Center.

Community Center gets facelift from Boy Scouts

By Ryan Ozimek

The Saratoga Community Center is receiving a facelift.

John Kim, a scout from Boy Scout Troop 400 in San Jose, placed three wooden planters in front of the community center's entrance last Tuesday evening, ending a two-month community service project.

The project was the final step in Kim needed to become an Eagle Scout, the Boy Scout's highest rank. Previously, he had earned 22 merit badges.

After calling local community service offices looking for projects, Kim reached Yvonne Lampshire of the Saratoga Community Center. She told Kim that the entrance to the center could use planter boxes to make it more eye-pleasing.

Kim headed to the library to begin research for the project. After completing design and drafting plans, he looked for donors to help pay the costs of materials.

Kim rounded up fellow Boy Scouts, family and friends to help him with construction. About two months and 100 hours of work later, Kim and his helpers joined architect Warren Lampshire last week to place the planters in front of the community center.

At first, Kim thought the project wouldn't be that difficult, but he discovered some bumps along the way. One of his tougher obstacles was trying to find donors to help with the project's costs. Also, the building of the planter boxes presented some difficulties.

"I just never built something like this from scratch before, and it ended up being a little harder than I had expected," Kim said.

Looking back on the project, Kim said, "I've learned a lot about taking the initiative and learning about leadership skills in this project."

Kim, a senior at Lynbrook High School, is a varsity tennis player and president of the Optimist Club on campus.