By Lisa Carolin
You could call Chelsea High School Senior Caleb Peterson’s Eagle Scout project a family undertaking.
Peterson’s dad Scott Peterson is the leader of Caleb’s troop, #425, and his mom Jen Peterson is a preschool teacher in the Chelsea School District where the idea for his Eagle Scout project was born – to build child-sized picnic tables to accommodate the more than 100 preschoolers enrolled in the program that includes the Early Childhood Special Education students.
Caleb contacted Lisa Nickel, the Director of Special Education and Early Childhood for the Chelsea School District, at the end of January about the idea that was conceived during a brainstorming session with his mom.
“We met February 1st and he shared his vision for his project,” said Nickel. “He wanted to make a few tables so there would be enough for at least a full class to sit outside.”
“I thought that it sounded like a great project so that’s what I went with,” said Caleb.
“We thought that having child-sized tables would provide opportunities not only for pretend play during recess, but classes would also be able to use them for outdoor snack and picnic lunches,” said Jen Peterson.
Caleb, who has participated in scouts for 12 years, chose to fundraise for the cost of materials rather than ask the preschool to fund it.
“I raised my funds by posting on Facebook, asking for donations from my family and friends,” said Caleb.
“Caleb had a table set up at our winter carnival with a donation can and information about the project,” said Nickel. “He received over $100 which got him off and running.”
“I did the planning for the project over a few weeks but the actual work did not take too long,” said Caleb. “The tables took a weekend to build. On the first day, we cut, sanded, and stained the wood, and on the second day, we assembled the tables and added another coat of stain.”
The items were delivered at the beginning of the month, and Nickel says it was an exciting surprise for the children while they were at recess.
“The preschoolers have been enjoying the tables and have been serving up pretend meals during recess as well as bringing pots, pans and bowls from our mud kitchen over to the tables to make sand and mud creations,” said Jen Peterson.
Caleb used the extra donations he received to buy items for the preschool to use during outside time like soccer balls, soccer nets, and sidewalk chalk.
