SAUGUS — There will definitely be mixed emotions all around when Saugus Boy Scouts Dominic Imbrogna and Colin Wildman have their Courts of Honor for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout.
Imbrogna, 16, and Wildman, 17, worked tirelessly for months to pull together the projects, which are meant to simultaneously demonstrate a scout’s capacity for leadership while providing a service for the local community — two things the boys say they’ll miss seeing from the troop in coming years.
Due to a lack of membership among lower scout ranks, Troop 61 will be disbanded because it could no longer meet the Boy Scouts of America organization’s five-member minimum requirement.
“It’s a major bittersweet moment,” said troop Scoutmaster and former Saugus scout Kevin Wildman, father of Colin. “It’s a real heartbreaker to me because I’ve been there my entire life.”
The sad news failed to deter Imbrogna and Wildman, however, with both saying they found invaluable experience in learning how to lead a service project.
“I learned a lot about planning and overcoming obstacles,” said Ibrogna, who organized a small gathering of volunteers to clean up nearly 400 veteran graves at Riverside Cemetery over Halloween weekend. “Managing people, handling big things that pop up, and being (flexible enough) to rearrange your plan … There was a ton of planning that went into it.”
Imbrogna’s father, Joe, said he was proud when his son first broached the project idea. As a veteran himself, the elder Imbrogna felt the cleaning was a necessary effort after witnessing the level of disrepair many of the graves had fallen into over the years.
“We just feel the veterans deserve respect,” he said. “We had a lot of comments while we were working. People stopping by were very excited.”
Both Imbrognas said they wouldn’t have been able to complete the effort without help from a number of Saugus businesses, including Prince Pizzeria, Dunkin Donuts on Essex Street and Village Park Plaza, and Throne Kings.
Imbrogna also acknowledged the contributions of town manager Scott Crabtree, the Saugus Cemetery Commission, Riverside Cemetery superintendent John Falasca, and Saugus facilities manager Tom Whittredge.
“Everybody pitched in,” he said. “We were very lucky.”
Over the weekend, also with the help of a small crew, fellow scout Wildman built two osprey platforms (nest sites) in Saugus’ Rumney Marsh.
Wildman said his project was inspired by other osprey platforms he’d seen along the Saugus rail trail.
To learn more about building the platform, Wildman spoke with an environmental specialist before seeking out approval for his project from a number of town officials.
“I thought it would be really cool to build one of my own and add more to Saugus,” he said. “I decided I wanted to help the osprey population by building more platforms, so I talked to the conservation commission and they thought the idea was really good.”
He said he hopes other members of the community enjoy seeing more ospreys along the trail.
“The platform is meant to help the osprey population, so I think it’ll be really cool to see an osprey that built a nest on my platform using it,” he said.
Although he was also disappointed knowing the legacy of Troop 61 would end with him and his fellow scouts, Wildman said he’s grateful for the experience scouting has given him.
“I hate to see our troop go down. It’s meant a lot to me in my life, just being a part of the troop and the guys I’ve met and everything I’ve done,” he said. “This is the end of 61, but we’re going to make the best of it.”
His father added: “It’s an honor to lead such a great troop with such a great history over the years … I continue to give back because other people did it for me when I was a youth, especially my scoutmaster, Jim Virnelli. I would not be the person that I am without him being a great leader and we would not be here today if he did not inspire us to continue to teach the youth and shape them into the leaders of tomorrow.
“I am dedicated to the program because it has helped me in many ways and given me a great foundation to grow upon, and I want to give that same opportunity to the next generation.”
