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Mar 19, 2014 | Luke Blount

Teenager's Eagle Scout Project Creates Labyrinth at Katy Church

When Andrew Jelson began planning his Eagle Scout project, he knew he wanted to create something that would benefit his Episcopal community and the larger community. But most importantly, Jelson wanted to leave something that was lasting.

 

"I wanted something that I could come back to when I am 20 or 30 years old with my family and remember that I built this and took the time to make it," Jelson said. "An Eagle project is something that needs to be here for a long time."

 

After consulting with his family and his rector, the Rev. Chris Duncan of St. Paul's Episicopal Church in Katy, Jelson decided to build a 26-foot labyrinth on the site where the old church building originally stood. On Saturday, March 8, Jelson and his crew broke ground on the project, and he worked through his Spring Break to complete it.

 

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Jelson planned every aspect of the project, from design and materials to cost and installation. Beginning with a budget of $5000, Jelson obtained $3000 from St. Paul's Vestry in addition to $1000 from his parents and another $1000 from the Katy Rotary Club. The Pavestone Company's Houston vendor was so impressed with the project that they donated all of the stones needed for the labyrinth.

 

At age 15, Jelson is approaching his Eagle Scout status at a fairly young age. Less than 10 percent of Boy Scouts attain the highest level of Eagle Scout, and most won't make it until they are 17 years of age, prior to the cut-off at 18 years old. Jelson's parents provided him with extra incentive, telling him that he wouldn't be allowed to drive a car until he became an Eagle Scout, or as Jelson termed it, "you gotta fly before you drive." With his sixteenth birthday coming up next month, Jelson will likely meet his self-imposed birthday deadline to stay on schedule with his less ambitious peers.

 

A fellow Scout and member of St. Paul's youth group, Hunter Burcaw, already has plans to expand upon Jelson's Eagle Scout project with one of his own. Burcaw would like to add a garden to the labyrinth in honor of the late Sid Shackelford, an avid rose gardener, Eagle Scout and former vestry member at St. Paul's. Shackelford served as an elected trustee to the Church Corporation for the Diocese of Texas.

 

For St. Paul's, the projects are part of a broader initiative to beautify their campus and make it more welcoming to people in the community.

 

"I don't know if our parishioners knew how big this project was going to be," Duncan said as he gestured towards a tractor and a sea of volunteers. In all, 63 volunteers worked more than 750 hours to complete the project. "This is just one of many testimonies of our congregation, and it is teaching us how to be a good neighbor and look beyond ourselves, which is the call of the Gospel."

 

To learn more about St. Paul's, Katy, click here.