Meet the Eagle Scouts who received NESA’s two biggest scholarships in 2016

An Eagle Scout from Wisconsin who built an elementary school playground for his service project and another from South Carolina who wants to be an astrophysicist are the recipients of major scholarships from the National Eagle Scout Association.

The young men were honored this morning at NESA’s popular Americanism Breakfast at the BSA’s annual meeting.

Zachary Blohm from Troop 218 of Oak Creek, Wis., received the 2016 Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. For his project, Zach oversaw and participated in the construction of a community-built playground at the local elementary school.

In sixth grade, Zach heard from a teacher who is a family friend that the school desperately needed a new playground.

“I thought, ‘that would be a cool Eagle Scout project,'” Zach said. “My parents said, ‘Uh, we’ll see about that.’ In eighth grade, when I got my Life, I said, ‘no, seriously I actually want to build a playground.'”

The school’s principal was skeptical, too.

“I thought he’ll do some work and we might get a new swing, maybe two,” Lynn Wall said.

As you can see in the video below, Zach built much more than a swing. And the community — and Zach himself — are much better off because of this young man’s sacrifice.

William Ceva of Troop 502 of Mount Pleasant, S.C., received the $50,000 NESA STEM Scholarship.

Will wants to study exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system. As you can see in the video below, Will says his interest in STEM started on a troop campout when a Scoutmaster brought a telescope.

“We saw Jupiter and its moons, and that was really interesting,” Will says. “So after that I got really interested in astronomy.”

His goal: see parts of the universe nobody else has seen. Like, ever.

And with NESA’s help through this life-changing scholarship, there’s nothing standing in his way.

2016 Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award

2016 NESA STEM Scholarship

How to apply for next year’s scholarships

How do you or an Eagle Scout you know get considered for the next batch of Eagle Scout scholarships?

Keep an eye on this blog for the opening of the scholarship window — usually in early August. The scholarship deadline will be Oct. 31, 2016.


About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.