MOSES LAKE — Seventeen-year-old Carson Overfield is taking the final step to reach the pinnacle of a Boy Scout’s career, becoming an Eagle Scout, and he proved it with sweat Tuesday morning.

“He started (Scouting) when he was in second grade and went all the way through,” said Carson’s mom, Bonnie Overfield. 

Only about four percent of Boy Scouts ever reach Eagle Scout rank, the highest rank in scouting, according to the Scouting America Heart of America Council website. The process is a rigorous one; Scouts spend years earning merit badges, passing tests and demonstrating leadership. Part of the process is the Eagle Scout Project, in which the Scout must plan something that will benefit any religious institution, any school or the community, according to the Eagle Project Workbook. All of the work must be completed before the Scout turns 18.

A memorial garden at the Grant County Fairgrounds was what Carson selected for his project. The largest stage at the fairgrounds is the Bryan Miller Stage, and Carson’s project was to create a memorial garden dedicated to Bryan Miller near the stage. To do this, Carson and 11 other boys, plus a few parents, sectioned off a corner of the field near the stage, put in plants and a tree and laid bark around it with a stepping stone path.

A stone marker on the site of the garden suggests that there was once a fountain where the garden was going, dedicated to Bryan Miller’s memory. The stone reads “You and I will long remember this fountain. May it enrich our lives.” No fountain remains, so Carson brought in a birdbath to put next to it instead.

The fairgrounds supplied the bark and a maple tree, and The Home Depot in Moses Lake donated the plants and other materials, Bonnie said. 

“They were super nice,” she said. ‘We were going to pay, and I told them that Carson was working on an Eagle Scout project, and they said ‘No, we want to take care of you.’”

Helping Carson were friends and family, not all of whom were scouts themselves.

“We’re trying to make it look nice to be respectful,” said Rocky Howard, 17. “We’ve known Carson since we were little, so we don’t mind giving him a hand.”

“I grew up with Carson; we were best friends in and out of Scouting,” 17-year-old Nathanael Bradley said. 

The project took four hours to put in, but before that Carson estimated he had put in about 20 hours of planning in order for his Scout leadership to approve the project.

“I did a lot of it online so I could print it out, because I don’t have the best penmanship,” Carson said.

Achieving Eagle rank will be the last thing Carson does as a Boy Scout, he said.

“There’s not really much else to do,” he said. “You can be an assistant Scoutmaster or something, but it’s hard to do Scouts because I have a bunch of other stuff going on.”

    Nathanael Bradley (left) and Rocky Howard dig in the memorial garden their friend Carson Overfield chose to create for his Eagle Scout Project Tuesday.
  

    Trenton Aubert (right) takes a shovelful of bark from Stephanie Presgraves at the side of the memorial garden they were helping Carson Overfield construct near the Bryan Miller Stage at the Grant County Fairgrounds Tuesday.
  

    The crew of boys, some Scouts and some not, who built the garden at the Grant County Fairgrounds. From left: Trenton Aubart, Sawyer Hickok, McCoy Chamberlain, Zach Overfield, Carson Overfield, Jace Miller, Kellen Krautscheid, Ayden Presgraves, Ethan Stevens, Rocky Howard, Nathanael Bradley.
  

    The finished memorial garden at the Grant County Fairgrounds.