Eagle Scout Project Helps Retire Old American Flags
By MONICA CALZOLARI
ONEONTA
Benjamin Casola, age 17, decided at age 12 that when he became an Eagle Scout, he wanted to educate others about the importance of retiring old American flags properly.
“I got the inspiration because when I was 12 years old, I saw a temporary box on Main Street [in Oneonta] for flag collection,” he said. “It was only there a week, but it gave me the idea for my Eagle Scout project.”
Casola joined the Cub Scouts in first grade when he attended Valleyview Elementary School. He became a Boy Scout in the fifth grade when he entered Oneonta Middle School.
He graduated from Oneonta High School in May 2024 and is now a freshman at SUNY Cobleskill majoring in wildlife management.
Along the way, Casola earned 36 merit badges.
“Eagle Scout is the highest rank you can achieve in the Boy Scouts,” he explained.
He added, “The whole point of the Eagle Scout project is building leadership skills.”
Casola spent hours planning the project, writing it up and applying for permission to build six indoor boxes distributed throughout Oneonta. He wanted to educate people, young and old, how to properly retire an American flag.
Every spring since he was 12, Casola and his troop of Boy Scouts helped the American Legion and older veterans place American flags on every grave of every veteran in all three cemeteries in Oneonta.
Every fall, he and his troop members assisted the American Legion in collecting the weathered flags and burning them in a ceremony to honor and respect the service these veterans gave to their country.
Casola wrote letters and asked for donations to cover the costs of building and painting six boxes red, white, and blue. He received $600.00 in cash donations and approximately $400.00 in material donations from Munson’s Hardware and Building Supplies and Pickett Building Materials.
His father, Paul Casola, is the troop’s scout master.
“My dad has been my mentor ever since I became a Cub Scout in the first grade,” he added.
Paul Casola is a social studies teacher at Oneonta Middle School teaching seventh- and eighth-graders.
To teach young people respect for the American flag, Benjamin Casola decided to place the six boxes strategically in six central locations, all indoors:
- Valleyview Elementary School
- Riverside Elementary School
- Greater Plains Ele-mentary School
- Oneonta Center Street District Office
- Oneonta High School’s lobby adjacent to the Middle School
- Town Hall in the Town of Oneonta
Casola’s troop built and painted the boxes as a team effort.
“The hardest part of the project was not doing the work myself. I had to rely on others to get the job done,” he said.