A Lawton Boy Scout whose Eagle Scout project faced a few hiccups on its way to completion — including the COVID-19 pandemic — has won Eagle Scout Project of the Year honors from the Boy Scouts of America Last Frontier Council.
Matthew Aguilar put together the USS Oklahoma City Memorial, the newest military-themed memorial in Elmer Thomas Park. He and his work force completed the final components of his memorial by early fall, erecting an anchor from the decommissioned nuclear-powered submarine and surrounding the memorial site (which now includes granite stones highlighting the sub’s history) with some of the anchor’s chain. The memorial has been gracing the southwest shore of Lake Helen since August, with the Aguilar family planning a formal dedication ceremony Dec. 11.
Aguilar’s project, completed in time for his 18th birthday, won the Eagle Project of the Year for the Black Beaver District and also took state honors after he became the district’s representative at the Last Frontier Council. That state title will be officially conferred upon during the Gathering of Eagles banquet at 6:30 p.m. today in Oklahoma City.
Beating out 10 other projects for top honors also means Aguilar will compete nationally for the Eagle Scout Project of the Year, said his mother Denise Aguilar.
“This is just icing on the cake, since our main goal was just getting this project done for him by his 18th birthday,” she said.
Denise Aguilar also said three of the Eagle Projects in the last five years have come from her son’s troop, Boy Scout Troop 4176: the Patriot Pavilion in Elmer Thomas Park, by Nicholas Sasseen in 2020, and the Ten Commandments Monument at Central Baptist Church, by Conner Sasseen in 2017.
Aguilar has said patience was his most effective tool in the two-year process to secure a piece of the decommissioned submarine USS Oklahoma City (the anchor was the first piece granted from the sub) and turn it into a monument honoring those who served in the U.S. Navy. That number includes two members of the Aguilar family.
“The hardest part was waiting,” Aguilar said in August, of a multi-step process that ranged from initial contacts with the correct U.S. Navy office to securing formal permission to receive a piece of the submarine, to figuring out how to transport the anchor to Oklahoma and clean it, to securing the proper documentation to allow placement in a Lawton park and transfer ownership to the City of Lawton.
The Last Frontier Council Gathering of Eagles banquet honors youth and adult volunteers who make a difference in their community, said Sarah Spinks, council representative. Other awards will include the National Eagle Scout Association Outstanding Eagle Scout Award, the Silver Beaver, Certificate of Merit and Meritorious Action Award.The most recent class of Eagle Scouts also will be honored.
