National Service Territory (NST) 3 recently announced our Golden Gate Area Council Eagle, Apara Sai Jella (2021), as the NST 3 Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. Apara Sai is an Eagle Scout from Troop 36G of the Meridian District. Her project received a nomination at the beginning of the year for consideration as the Council Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. After reviewing all the submitted projects, Apara Sai was named the council winner.
Upon winning the Council Project of the Year, she became eligible for consideration for the National Service Territory Project of the Year, which she ultimately won. Apara Sai’s project was up for review, along with the other council winners from NST 3, which consists of the twenty councils based in California and Hawaii. As the NST 3 winner, the Glenn A and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award selection committee will review her project and the other fifteen NST winners for recognition as the NESA Service Project of the Year.
The National Eagle Scout Association (NESA) established the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award to recognize valuable service of an exceptional nature by a Scout to a religious institution, a school, community, or other entity. The award recognizes a Scout’s Eagle Scout Service Project, which is a requirement to earn the rank of Eagle Scout.
Apara Sai’s project, first featured on ggacbsa.org for Project Pride’s Rehabilitation Center transformed the backyard of their facility in Oakland creating two areas – a ‘Children’s Area’ and a ‘Women’s Area’. In the Children’s Area, volunteers assembled and built a playground, placed rubber tiles, painted a racetrack and hopscotch, and painted a mural. In the Women’s Area, volunteers planted a garden, laid turf, and created a circular area lined with wall blocks and filled with pebbles, and added another mural. Additionally, the team built and painted benches to put throughout the backyard. The project was done on two consecutive Saturdays. On the first one, there were 25 volunteers. On the second, there were 28 volunteers, some of whom had participated the previous on-site day. These volunteers contributed a total of 746 hours. Total cost of the project was little over $4800 and money was raised through a separate, independent online campaign.
Apara Sai will be recognized as the Golden Gate Area Council’s Project of the Year at the Las Aguilas Annual Recognition Dinner, on May 4, 2022, at the Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville, Calif. Previous winners from the Golden Gate Area Council and its legacy council are available on our website.
The year an Eagle Scout completes their board of review determines eligibility for Council Project of the Year nominees and not the year they complete their service project. Eagle Scouts who are members of the 2022 Eagle Scout Class can begin to submit their Eagle Scout Service Projects for consideration using the online nomination form.
