PEABODY — Elbow grease and a no-quit attitude helped St. John’s Prep sophomore Aaron Kelly deepen his appreciation for his school and earn the coveted rank of Eagle Scout.
The 16-year-old Peabody resident spent May with a team of assistants cleaning more than 260 graves of Xaverian Brothers who founded St. John’s, home of the St. John’s Prep Eagles, in 1907.
Arrayed in rows in a corner of the school’s grounds overlooking the Greenleaf open space wetlands, the marble markers list the brothers’ names, the dates they were born and died, and the length of their religious service.
His initial inspiration for the cleaning project came during a walk with eighth grade classmates through the cemetery.
“We were walking along and I saw the graves were dirty and blackened,” Kelly said.
That prompted him to consider cleaning the graves as part of the evaluation and project completion process required to earn Eagle Scout status.
A Boston native, Kelly embraced scouting in the first grade when he joined Cub Scouts because many of his friends were involved. His friends dropped out of scouting, but Kelly stuck with it, completing requirements for merit badges that crowd the sash he wears with his uniform.
“I was the only one to stick with it. My dad kept motivating me,” he said.
Kelly initially wondered if the cleaning project would meet the rigorous evaluation and approval standards for Eagle Scout projects. He kept it in the back of his mind into 2017 when he committed to earning Eagle Scout status and focused on how to accomplish a project.
With encouragement from his father, Vin, Kelly presented the project to St. John’s administrators for approval and got the green light to do it after briefing Scout Troop 58 in Danvers on his plan.
After researching the most effective ways to clean stone without damaging the graves, Kelly launched his project last spring, assembling a team of assistants and equipment including brushes, a portable hand pump, and Simple Green, a gentle cleaner strong enough to clean off accumulated dirt.
Supervising a group effort to accomplish a goal is an integral requirement for earning Eagle Scout status. As his team scrubbed one grave after another, Kelly learned the names of brothers who devoted their lives to St. John’s and logged more than a half century in religious life.
“He was really impressed with the dedication of the brothers to teaching and said, ‘Someone has to take care of these graves,'” Vin Kelly said.
School activities and other commitments forced him to clean the graves in batches, halting work if he was too busy with other activities or if his team members were tending to other obligations. He said the older graves along the ridge overlooking the marshy Greenleaf space presented the biggest cleaning challenge.
His commitment to finish the project earned the admiration of his father and his mother, Ana. Kelly’s sister, Carolyn, a participant in the Peabody Area Chamber of Commerce’ Young Entrepreneurs program, offered him plenty of encouragement.
The project cemented his Eagle Scout status. Fellow scouts will honor Kelly’s achievement during a January “court of honor.”
“Only 5 percent to 7 percent of scouts make it to Eagle,” said Vin Kelly.
Kelly capped of his project by planting a daffodil in front of each headstone to symbolize the cemetery’s renewal and salute the Xaverian Brothers’ St. John’s legacy.
“I am impressed with their commitment,” he said.
