The Humans of RV project is a weekly column based on Brandon Stanton’s seminal “Humans of New York” project, which seeks to “catalog the city’s inhabitants” through photography and brief interviews. RV seeks to expand on this project with our own “cataloging” of RV students and an examination into all the unique perspectives here at school. 

Note: this transcript has been edited and condensed for publication purposes.

I first joined Cub Scouts when I was in first grade. Admittedly, I joined because my parents wanted me to, but I decided to stay because of the friends I made through the program. I moved up a few ranks starting in first grade, but the real work started when I was in 6th grade. After that, I really had to earn my titles. I have been an Eagle Scout for about one year now, and that took the most work to achieve.

The biggest part of my project to become an Eagle Scout was the planning stage. I had to figure out what I wanted to do, research it, get a committee together to put the project into action, and document the whole process. I found my project idea online, and saw that it had not been done in a local troop yet. My project consisted of going into a local cemetery and creating a database to document all the marked and unmarked headstones for the relatives to be able to access. Once the idea was approved by my troop leader, I was able to begin. 

I ended up working at a cemetery very close to my house called Evergreen Cemetery, which is on Main Street in Lumberton, so it was easy to get a group together and write down what was on each headstone. Then, I took each name and added them to a database where people could look up their relatives and information on them. I ended up documenting over 1,600 people through the process. 

Once I finished my project, I held my own celebratory ceremony. Once a person reaches the status of Eagle Scout, they are responsible for planning their own ceremony for climbing up to the highest rank. I got to celebrate with my family, friends and troop members. It was a great night and a super rewarding experience overall. I really enjoyed doing the project, and holding my title for about a year now feels like a great accomplishment. 

Recently, now that my project is done, I have had a lot of fun working with the young kids in my troop. I hope to give them the same fun and formative experiences that I had when I was their age, and help them achieve their goals. I hope to inspire them to maybe become an Eagle Scout themself one day.