On Sunday, July 28, Newtown resident Noah Masotta presented his Eagle Scout project at Bent of the River Audubon Center in Southbury. Friends and family gathered around a 27.5-foot-long bridge Noah designed and built with the help from his scouting community.

The process took almost a year and a half to complete, though Noah’s connection to the bridge dates back a few years. Noah assisted in the replacement of the ropes of the previous bridge when he was younger.

“I think it was like five years ago, before the pandemic, I was in my old troop 770. We were doing some work around here. We had to replace all the ropes, and the bridge was starting to fall apart a bit. I actually started a different Eagle project, started planning for it, but I realized that wasn’t really what I wanted to do, and I wanted to rebuild this bridge,” Noah explained.

John Masotta, Noah’s father, added, “He was working in this area when he was a much younger Scout on the previous version of this bridge … I remember he came home from that service project and he was this high,” putting his hand out near his hip, “with a raspy little voice, and he’s like, ‘I think replacing that bridge would be a great Eagle Scout project.’ And I’m like, ‘wow, you got big aspirations, kid.’”

His father explained a little bit more about Noah’s original idea. He wanted to work on clearing out invasive plants from a watershed in Newtown, but “another conservation group came through one weekend with heavy equipment and cleared it all out.” John said he was out on a bike ride and noticed the change. “I sent [Noah] a picture and I’m like, ‘I think somebody did your project.’”

The Eagle Scout project is a huge undertaking. It goes beyond the project itself and reaches into fundraising efforts and, of course, community outreach. When Noah reached out to Glen Somogie, land and facilities manager at the Audubon Center, Somogie had his reservations.

“When Noah approached me with his proposal, I still had my doubts … not any Eagle Scout could have pulled this off … You all made this very hard work seem easy. I’ve had this project on my radar for many years … We used to host the Southbury Business Association’s 5K race and I used to cross my fingers and hold my breath the entire time.”

Robin Ladouceur, the director of the Audubon Center, explained how deeply grateful she is to groups like the Boy Scouts. “I’m sort of flowing over with emotion and gratitude to [Noah], to [Noah’s] family … Troop 270, we are remarkably grateful … As a nonprofit nature center that has a lot of infrastructure that has a lot of cares and concerns these days with flooding and other things that occur at the Bent of the River, it is remarkable to be gifted a project like this, and a partnership. I’m so grateful to all of you for the labor you put into this, the funds that you put into this, and obviously the care and support of a young person who is being beautifully launched in this life.”

Noah explained that part of his inspiration for this project came from his great-granduncle, Sal Masotta, who was an avid bird watcher and conservationist. He loved going to the Bent of the River to watch birds, and worked closely with a regular volunteer, Russ Naylor. Naylor and Sal went to college together, which is where they met and fostered a fantastic friendship.

John Masotta explained that Noah put up fundraising fliers around the Audubon Center and Naylor recognized the last name. “Mr Russ Naylor saw the poster and he recognized our name, Masotta, and he came back weekend after weekend wondering when we were going to start the project. And one day he found us working … and connected with us.”

Ladouceur mentioned at the beginning of her acknowledgements, “One of the things is I’m standing here and observing this profoundly moving web of interconnections and it’s making my heart feel very warm and amplifying the gratitude that I think, we, as a team at Bent of the River, already feel about this project.”

Noah’s Scout Master, Mike Hoyack, and his Eagle Scout Coach, Mark Renzi, were all in attendance at the ceremony and beamed with pride standing on the bridge. They helped Noah complete the process, which included the drawings of the bridge, needing to get the drawing approved by engineers, 300-man-hours of work, five full eight-hour workdays, and raising $3,700 from various donors. Noah’s grandfather and father assisted him in the build, too. Noah thanked his grandfather by gifting him a framed collage of the bridge they worked on together. Noah said, “A big thank you to my family ... and my grandfather, Papa, who was here every time I was here. He put in a lot of hours to help.”

Noah is no stranger to hard work, either. His mother, Erin Masotta, explained during the pandemic, Noah 3D printed over 275 face shields. “Money was raised to support this project and shields were distributed to doctors, dentists, educators, cancer patients, and first responders at no cost. Noah spent more than 900+ hours on the face shield project,” Erin said.

While Noah worked diligently on this Eagle Scout project, he still found time to focus on academics, graduating Newtown High School in the top demi-decile of his class. He also spent time with the NHS Cross Country team, Indoor Track, and Track and Field. He starts his first year of college soon at Purdue University and was awarded a few scholarships for his incredible dedication to his community and academic career.

Somogie put it best, saying, “This kid’s going places.”

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.