Jay Coke Eagle Project

EAGLE PROJECT OF JAY COKE

I. My Eagle project dealt with the North Carolina Zoological Park. It is located just south of Asheboro on 1,371 acres of land donated by the citizens of Randolph County. The Zoo is a natural habitat zoo and will be the largest of its kind in the world. The Zoo itself is presently only an interim zoo but construction is in progress on the first phase of the permanent zoo, the African section, which will open sometime in the spring of "79.

II. My Eagle Project

A. GOALS:

The goals of my Eagle project were:
1. To make the people of Chapel Hill aware of the facilities at the North Carolina Zoological Park and to give them some background information about the park.
2. To raise funds toward the purchase of an animal for the zoo.
3. To involve the scouts of Troop 9 in a service project. B. THE PROJECT:

The project itself consisted of two parts: (1) A display in the Chapel Hill Public Library on the zoo and distribution of information sheets; (2) A Trash-A-Thon to raise money toward the purchase of an animal for the North Carolina Zoological Park.

(1) The display was placed in a showcase in the front entrance of the Library. It consisted of several sketches of different habitats in the African section of the permanent zoo, newspaper articles about the zoo, and pamphlets on the zoo. The display also included a map with directions to the N.C. Zoological Park.
Information sheets were placed in the Library and also distributed to neighborhoods by scouts. (See Appendix 2).

The sheets gave background information on the Zoological Park such as types of animals in the zoo, and construction of the permanent zoo. They also gave such data as zoo hours, fees charged, zoo memberships, and facilities at the zoo.

(2) The Trash-A-Thon was organized as a troop function. Scouts went to different neighborhoods collecting pledges for each bagful of trash that they picked up on a later date (A pledge limit of 10 bags was set for each person pledging). The troop had a poor participation rate which meant only three people collected pledges, and only seven people participated in the collecting of trash. Trash was collected in bags along two of the major roads in Chapel Hill: Raleigh Road, and Pittsboro Street.

While being collected, aluminum and soft drink bottles were separated from the trash and then turned in for recycling.

Poor participation was due to the time of year chosen. I chose June to carry out my project because of my heavy schedule during the school year and I thought that it would be a better time for others also; but, as it turned out, many people were out-of-town and many had other schedules.

C. RESULTS OF THE PROJECT:

The display in the Chapel Hill Public Library was seen by the many people who visit the library each day. Approximately 800 information sheets about the Zoological Park were distributed to people throughout Chapel Hill, both by the scouts in Troop 9 and through the Library. A total of $340.45, only 1/4 of our approximate goal, was collected through the Trash-A-Thon (see Appendix 3). The money was sent to the Zoological Park to go toward the purchase of a chimpanzee for Phase I of the permanent zoo, the African section.

III. The North Carolina Zoo has both economic and education importance. The Zoo will also host animal species facing extinction and help bring them back. It's greatest value, however, will be the enjoyment it brings to all
people of all ages.