JACKSON – Cole Iannello, 18, has been busy as of late as he awaits his Eagle Scout award in May that he earned from a recently completed project at a township firehouse.
Cole is a senior at Jackson Liberty High School. He’s been a Boy Scout with Troop 34 and got involved with scouting when he was “a little kid. I was in Cub Scouts and worked over the years and said I wanted to go into Boy Scouts and got involved and shot up through the ranks.”
He said he took a short pause but then returned with a vengeance “and realized I wanted to be an Eagle Scout.” To do that he needed a community project.
Finding a project though wasn’t too difficult for him. “My dad (Jim Iannello) is a volunteer firefighter at Fire Station 57 so I figured I’d give back to him and all the other firefighters there by going out and serving the community by giving them a nice place to relax.”
The teenager said he wanted to create a setting “to enjoy themselves and to cook or anything they wanted to do. I asked them if I could do a deck for them and got approval and we started from there.” That meant designing what would be done and mobilizing some manpower. Eagle Scout projects always involve leadership of this character.
Cole Iannello’s Eagle Scout project started last fall with some survey work for a deck that was built at Jackson Fire Station 57 that provided firefighters with a place to relax, cook and enjoy themselves. (Photo courtesy Jim and Cole Iannello)
“We went from company to company (in the Jackson area) to see what we could get. We got big donations from Woodhaven, from Clayton and from Paver World who were our three biggest contributors along with the Jackson Kiwanis Club. The Oliveria Funeral Home also helped us out. They sent us a $300 check no questions asked,” Cole added.
The scout said, Fire Station 57 also helped out. “We fundraised a lot of money for it and all the firefighters came out and helped us build it. We had other kids from the troop there, parents from those in the troop and friends. We had a little army working on this thing.”
“We started surveying in September, construction in late October, and the boots on construction was in December of last year. It concluded on December 8. The main structure is fully complete but we have some shrubs we want to embellish the project with,” he added.
The scout’s court of honor ceremony where he will receive his Eagle Scout Badge will be held on May 4. That will be his last action as a scout but not necessarily his last role with the Boy Scouts.
When asked about his memories and activities and what he learned from his time in the scouting program, he told The Jackson Times, “The Eagle Scout project itself stands out. That taught me a lot about keeping track of things and time management, inventory and leadership. That was the whole point of the project to teach you those things.”
Fire Station 57 has a new deck thanks to the Eagle Scout project of Cole Iannello. (Photo courtesy Jim and Cole Iannello)
“Other than that the biggest stand out I would say was our National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) which is a two weekend program where you just go out in the woods with a bunch of other scouts from other troops and meet random people you don’t know and you are forced to work with these people and problem solve,” he added.
The future Eagle Scout described that exercise further saying, “there is minimal leadership there but you are forced to come up with ideas and work with other people to come up with solutions on your own. I would say NYLT taught me a lot of independence and critical thinking that I will definitely be using throughout my life.”
“I would also say the Order of the Arrow program helped me a lot. I’m not allowed to speak about its orientation but I can tell you that the Order of the Arrow definitely taught me a lot of independence and diligence in my work. That and holding leadership positions in my troop taught me how to make plans for other people and not just for myself,” he added.
A side view of the new deck at Fire Station 57 is seen, the result of an Eagle Scout project recently completed by Troop 34 Scout Cole Iannello(Photo courtesy Jim and Cole Iannello)
He said that taught him to arrive to an event in a timely manner and to plan ahead of time and to “have a straight uniform. I would say scouting has made me a tidier and more capable person.”
His future plans include “sticking around to help the other scouts in my troop as an adult leader possibly carry that out to college and register as a merit badge counselor. I’m not sure yet but this is the end of my career as a scout. I applied to the University of Northwestern Ohio and I got accepted so I will be going there for automation engineering and hopefully, I am looking to get a job at Honda, Ford or any other big automaker and help design automation assembly lines for engines.”
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