Teens elevate Western Pa. communities with Eagle Scout projects

Neeko and Cezar 1-year-old German Shepherds with the Ross Police Department bounded over walls, through windows and up steps.

Their handlers shouted commands, in Dutch for Neeko, German for Cezar.

Los, Officer Don Sypolt said, and Neeko dropped his toy from his mouth. The dogs are trained in different languages so they don't confuse commands when working together.

Neeko and Cezar are new to the job, and last week Sypolt and Officer Pete Chuberko, who works with Cezar, guided the dogs through an agility course to familiarize them with what they'll encounter on the job.

The nine-obstacle course is the only one like it in the North Hills, said Sgt. Matt Grubb, head of the Ross K9 unit. And while the Ross department likely would have spent $3,000 to build the course, he said, Thomas Zegar, whose father is a Ross officer, did it for no charge.

It was his Eagle Scout project.

I know with my projects, K-9s will be trained to do what they are supposed to do and be able to help anyone in need, said Thomas, 17, of Hampton.

Eagle Scout projects in Western Pennsylvania help communities, churches, schools, state parks and police departments. The projects have honored veterans, raised money for local food banks, cleaned up rivers and sent soccer equipment to Uganda.

The Laurel Highlands Council of the Boy Scouts of America honored 444 Eagle Scouts this year, the largest number of scouts to attain the organization's highest rank in a single year.

Those Scouts completed projects that took a combined 90,000 hours of work and cost nearly $2.6 million, said Brian Tedeschi, the council's vice president of membership and marketing. Those projects built bridges and benches, fixed gazebos and gardens and put up fences and flagpoles that communities and organizations could never afford.

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Teens elevate Western Pa. communities with Eagle Scout projects