Two Avon Scouts Attain Eagle Rank

AVON, CT - Frank Campanelli and Jack Kostal, both members of Boy Scout Troop 274 in Avon and 2015 graduates of Avon High School, attained the rank of Eagle Scout at a recent ceremony at West Avon Congregational Church.

The rank of Eagle Scout is the highest advancement rank in Boy Scouting with less than one half of one percent of boys who begin Scouting earning this distinction.

Kostal recently finished his freshman year in the honors program of the School of Engineering at the

University of Connecticut. He is a member of the UConn club crew team and a cadet in the Air Force ROTC program.

He will will be attending the United States Air Force Academy for the upcoming school year and plans to major in aeronautical engineering.

While at Avon High School, Kostal was a four-year member of the fall and spring crew teams and a member of the indoor track team for three years. He served as a co-captain for both crew and indoor track during his senior year.

In addition to being a member of the National Honor Society he earned recognition as an Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction. He is one of five national recipients of the annual Harrison Ford Flight Training Scholarships for new pilots and is currently completing the requirements to earn his private pilot’s license.

Kostal has been involved in scouting for 12 years beginning with Pack 122 at Pine Grove Elementary School. Pack 122 is chartered by the Avon Volunteer Fire Department. While a Cub Scout, Jack earned the Light of Christ and Parvuli Dei religious emblems and Cub Scouting’s highest honor, the Arrow of Light Award. As a Boy Scout, Kostal has served in a variety of leadership positions including patrol leader, den chief, troop guide, quartermaster, senior patrol leader and junior assistant scoutmaster.

Kostal's ack’s Eagle project involved using a sophisticated GPS unit, which was loaned to him by the Avon Water

Company, to gather data and record information on 750 of Avon’s fire hydrants for the town’s volunteer fire department.

"Given the fire department’s long standing support of scouting in our community, it made sense to focus my Eagle project on something which would benefit the fire department as they serve the citizens of Avon," Kostal said.

Data collected included each hydrant’s street address, flow rate, and GPS coordinates, together with information as to the visibility of each hydrant and whether each hydrant was equipped with a metal flag. This data now forms a permanent record and has been uploaded into the town’s engineering, fire and police department databases, as well as published to an interactive Google Map site. It can be easily updated to incorporate new hydrants or changes to existing hydrants.

The project was supported by the Avon Water Company, the support of the Unionville Water Company, and the guidance of Avon Volunteer Fire Chief Michael Trick and Fire Marshall Jamie DiPace.

Campanelli recently completed his freshman year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he plans to earn a degree in computer science and is a member of the school’s men’s crew team. As a freshman at Avon High School, he played developmental basketball and went on to run indoor track for three seasons, serving as a co-captain for the team during his senior year.

In addition, Campanelli rowed for three years during the fall and spring seasons for the Avon High School crew team and set one of the top two overall 2 kilometer ergometer times since the inception of avon crew.

Campanelli rowed in the Avon 4 shell that won the New England High School Championship in 2013.

He and Kostal rowed together at the Head of the Charles Regatta in 2014, where their eight-man shell finished first among all Connecticut public high schools.

Campanelli was a member of the National Honor Society and an Advanced Placement Scholar of Distinction.

He began scouting with Pack 122 as a first grade student at Pine Grove Elementary School and earned the Arrow of Light Award before crossing over into Boy Scout Troop 274 as a fifth-grade student. He served in a number of leadership positions with the troop including patrol leader, webmaster, service project coordinator, assistant senior patrol leader and senior patrol leader for summer camp.

Both Campanelli and Kostal were selected by Troop 274 to attend the BSA’s National Leadership Training Camp.

Campanelli's Eagle Scout service project was to construct raised garden beds, extend a log fence, and build a new hatchway “root cellar” cover at the Derrin House, an 18 th century home managed by the Avon Historical Society.

Originally owned by a single family for over 150 years, the property and farm house reflect changes which were made over the years. This project was supported by Len Tolisano of the Avon Historical Society and contributions from Sanford and Hawley, E.R. Hinman & Sons, and the Governor’s Horse Guard.