One good thing leads to another which sums up how my Eagle Scout project was born. To understand why, I have to take you into the past to a Boy Scout camp on the Hudson River in Alpine, New Jersey. In my journey in earning the Ad Altare Dei religious award, I attended a religious retreat there which truly deepened my understanding of the many saints in the Catholic faith. It was Saturday night in October of 2019, and we gathered around a play fort to pray to Our Blessed Mother, Mary. It was dark at first, but one by one, 59 candles were lit after saying a prayer - one for each of the 59 beads of the rosary. We prayed a “living rosary,” where instead of holding the physical rosary while praying it, we prayed and experienced the rosary in a beautiful ceremony of light. This experience stuck with me ever since, and led to the formation of my Eagle Scout project. Flash forward to 2020 in the height of COVID, where I began my brainstorming process for my Eagle Scout project. Immediately I knew that I wanted to do something to help my church, which has always been an important part of my life. However, I was not quite sure what to do. Then I thought back to the retreat, and my project was born: a permanent living rosary garden in the shape of a heart. During the planning process, the saddest day of my life happened, the day that my grandfather, Rich Anton, passed away. He was my biggest supporter in every aspect of my life, and always urged me to become an Eagle Scout. He was very religious and he prayed the rosary daily, even when he was in the hospital towards the end of his life. He knew the importance of God in one’s life, and passed that knowledge on to me every time I saw him. Because of him, I was inspired to complete this project. In loving memory, I dedicate this garden to Rich Anton, “My Dziadziu.”
-Matthew Adamski


