Newtown Boy Scout Troop 370 celebrated its newest Eagle Scout on June 24, when Matt Tassiello was honored during his Court of Honor. The special event was conducted at Dickinson Memorial Park, and among its guests were Selectman Will Rodgers (himself an Eagle Scout) and Grant Nunnaly.

"Grant is one of Matthew's cousins, and he is a bagpiper, so that added a very nice touch to the ceremony," Pam Tassiello, Matt's mother, said June 30.

A 2017 graduate of Newtown High School, Matt's Eagle Scout project was the creation and then installation of planter boxes for a courtyard at the high school that is used by teachers. To become an Eagle Scout, he said, "You have to do a service project and you must do something that benefits some organization outside of Boy Scouting, and generally an organization within the community" where a Scout lives.

Matt had approached NHS Principal Lorrie Rodrigue while considering projects that he could do. He had hoped to create an outdoor patio area for some of the high school's teachers, but there were no areas around the school that could be built up without creating the need for additional security keypads for faculty's use to also be installed.

So Matt changed tactics, and decided to dress up an area that was already available: an outdoor courtyard that was accessible to teachers but that was in dire need of attention. The area courtyard is approximately 1,365 square feet, with glass and brick walls on three sides and a set of stairs protected by a locked gate at the ground level on its southwest side.

"There's not a lot of color out here," Matt said June 16, sitting down to talk about the project ahead of his Court of Honor. "It's just the brick and the concrete and the glass, so I figured planter boxes would make it look nice out here when we get something to grow."

Students in the NHS Greenery program had taken care of planting items in the boxes a few weeks earlier, he said.

"It will add some more color, and a natural feel to the space," he added. A collection of benches and small picnic tables were already in place before the addition of the planter boxes.

The basic design of the boxes was found online, said Matt, but the Boy Scout updated some of the plans "to make the dimensions a little more in line with this space," he said.

The boxes were constructed at Matt's home, and then installed in the courtyard space in early October.

"It looks pretty good," he said, looking at the collection of boxes. Pressure treated pine was used so that "hopefully these won't rot away for years," said Matt.

Between the construction and installation, Matt estimates he had help from approximately 15 other Boy Scouts for his Eagle Scout project. Assistant Scoutmaster Bill Watts and Ted Kimble also helped with the project, said Matt.

While Matt aged out of Troop 370 when he celebrated his 18th birthday in February, he continues to visit troop meetings, "and help out and stuff," he said. Troop 370 is based at Newtown United Methodist Church.

Matt joined Cub Scouts at age 8, and transitioned into Boy Scouts when he was 11.

He has earned approximately 25 Merit badges, he said, well over the minimum of 13 that are required for any Scout considering Eagle status.

He is working part-time this summer at Newtown Hardware. Later this summer he will head to the College of Virginia Tech, where he plans to study engineering.