Ellington

Former Hickory Valley Christian School student August Kirchner’s Eagle Scout project is his way to “give back” to the school that prepared him for high school, he said.

“They helped me a lot to get into McCallie,” said August, a rising junior and a resident of Fort Wood downtown. He said his eighth-grade year at HVCS was one of his best all around, and school counselors even prepped him for McCallie interviews.

The Kiwanis Club of Brainerd awarded August a $1,000 grant for the project, a playground “fort” with a slide, swings and a climbing wall. The new apparatus rests in the yard of the school’s science-house-turned-summer-camp-house.

“There’s always at least 10 kids in there,” said Kelly Nichols, HVCS summer camp director. “It is literally backyard fun.” She said the big, shady front yard, paired with the home’s traditional kitchen-and-bedrooms layout for crafts and snacks helps campers feel like they’re playing at a neighborhood friend’s house all summer long.

August said he spent 125 hours putting together his grant presentation, organizing volunteers and assembling the fort, which took a full week in and of itself.

Without the grant, August’s mom, Jo Beth Kavanaugh, said her son would have had to do a lot of fundraising.

“I think he was a slam dunk first grant,” said Kavanaugh. “This project is worth a lot more than $1,000.”

Though Kavanaugh is president-elect of the Brainerd Kiwanis club, she did not serve on the committee that awarded the grant.

Kavanaugh said Kiwanis looks for multiple benefits when awarding grants — this project helps the school, students, neighborhood kids and local Boy Scouts.

“I think it might up the game a bit with some of the other Eagle Scouts,” she said. “Maybe the boys’ll start thinking a little more creatively.”

Nichols added that the project also drew in HVCS parents.

“It gets them involved, too,” she said, “which I thought was really good. It’s always good when communities work together.”

August is a member of Troop 30, which meets behind Brainerd United Methodist Church. His troop leader is Barney Danks.