Extreme Makeovers, Round 11: Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos

Note: This is the 11th in a series where I share Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos. See the complete collection here.

To fully understand the impact Eagle Scout projects have on communities, you need to see to believe. That’s why I asked to see Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos — the same photos prospective Eagles are asked to include with their post-project report.

This week’s batch of 17 projects includes a completely renovated baseball field, a specialized rabbit cage, a basketball court built in the Philippines and many more outstanding acts of Scouting service.

What’s great is that you can multiply each individual act of stupendous service by 50,000. That’s how many Eagle Scout projects get completed every single year.

TIP: Click or tap and drag the slider below each image to see the change.

Austin from Indiana

Who: Austin, Troop 387, Cynthiana, Ind.

What: Austin and his team completed a total renovation of the local ball field, including building dugouts, fixing the fence, realigning the bases and extending the infield.

Ernie from Louisiana

Who: Ernie, Troop 311, Houma, La.

What: Ernie and his team designed and built a special rabbit cage to separate rabbit manure from the urine, so the manure can be used as fertilizer for the TARC (Terrebonne Association for Retarded Citizens) vegetable gardens.

Charlie from Missouri

Who: Charlie, Troop 777, High Ridge, Mo.

What: Charlie and his team reinstalled a playground that had been removed four years earlier and never put back.

Kevin from Colorado

Who: Kevin, Troop 808, Lakewood, Colo.

What: Kevin and a team of 44 volunteers constructed a 220-foot interpretive nature trail at Dinosaur Ridge Discovery Center, which required removing weeds, rocks and other debris, then placing two inches of gravel along the entire length of the trail, and erecting five signs that would provide information about the plants, creek and animals in the area. Kevin held his Eagle Court of Honor at the site.

Kyle from Virginia

Who: Kyle, Troop 1666, Ashburn, Va.

What: Kyle noticed overflowing and fallen trash cans around all the sporting fields and parking lots at his school. Kyle and his team headed up a massive clean-up of the entire school grounds and built seven corrals to contain the trash.

Alex from Illinois

Who: Alex, Troop 34, Bolingbrook, Ill.

What: Alex and his team designed and built an ADA-accessible ramp at the New Life Lutheran Church Youth House (his troop meeting place).

Bryce from New Jersey

Who: Bryce, Troop 72, Northfield, N.J. 

What: Bryce and his team built new ramps and upgraded the facade of the tool shed for the Community Food Bank of New Jersey in Egg Harbor Township, N.J.

Ben from Georgia

Who: Ben, Troop 573, Lawrenceville, Ga.

What: Ben and his team cleared an existing dirt basketball court and installed a 50-by-50-foot cement court and made and installed a new basketball goal at the Bahay Ni San Jose Orphanage in the Philippines.

Dan from New Jersey

Who: Dan, Troop 61, Manahawkin, N.J.

What: Dan and his team organized, supervised and aided in the process of creating a space for a flag retirement memorial. This included a sandstone brick chimney capped with limestone that sits on a platform comprised of crushed clam shells lined with railroad ties.

Clay from New York

Who: Clay, Troop 157, East Meadow, N.Y.

What: Clay and his team renovated the John F. Kennedy Memorial in Eisenhower Park to give the proper respect to the former president. This memorial now stands out and is able to be seen in a sea of other memorials.

Peter from Michigan

Who: Peter, Troop 210, Sterling Heights, Mich.

What: Peter and his team organized and led a group of professionals and manual laborers to design and build a bell tower for St. Matthias Catholic Church in Sterling Heights.

Avery from Missouri

Who: Avery, Troop 239, Springfield, Mo.

What: Avery and his team cleaned up and installed two workbenches and six shelves in the basement of Rare Breed, a homeless-teen outreach center, to create a space for the teens to work on their bicycles. He also served a meal and provided care package for 100 teens in the program.

Josh from California

Who: Josh, Troop 2000, Fontana, Calif.

What: Josh and his team installed a walkway to the welcome sign and added 150 feet of landscape border around a planter.

Zach from Virginia

Who: Zach, Troop 1717, Fredericksburg, Va.

What: Zach and his team built a much-needed set of stairs after the original stairs were covered when a new kiosk was built.

Nick from Maryland

Who: Nick, Troop 773, Potomac, Md.

What: Nick and his team renovated a patio at his church demolishing an old shed, assembling two picnic tables, assembling a new smaller shed and cleaning brick walls and patio surface into a new, reusable outdoor classroom space.

Ian from Texas

Who: Ian, Troop 380, Plano, Texas

What: The student drop-off area at a local elementary school was suffering severe erosion and was a danger to students. Ian and his team came up with an idea to fix this problem in First Grade. Now in 11th Grade, he completed this decade-long dream by building a 75-foot retaining wall (using concrete, rebar and stone) and landscaping more than 800 square feet using native, drought-tolerant plants. More than 250 bricks, 130 capstones, 400 pounds of cement, 200 pounds of mortar and 8 cubic yards of dirt was used to complete this project.

Matthew from Virginia

Who: Matthew, Troop 2880, Chesterfield, Va.

What: Matthew and his team built a scent-detection training wall for the Chesterfield County Police Department’s canine unit.

Like these? See more here and look for another batch next Monday.

Have before-and-after Eagle photos I can use in future posts? Go here to learn how to send them to me.