Iowa Profile: 17-year-old helps build trail bridge in Bever Park

CEDAR RAPIDS — In a wooded area of Bever Park stands a new wooden trail bridge that Ethan Prentice and his fellow Boy Scouts built.

Prentice, 17, worked with the Bever Park Neighborhood Association to build the bridge — between the duck pond and Old MacDonald’s Farm, shielded by mature trees — where there used to be only sticks and small logs to help people cross a stream.

“Every time I crossed it, it was this slightly precarious, ankle-twisty (location, where if) anything just fell, you'd kind of fall into these logs and maybe hurt yourself, and so I identified that as a place for improvement,” said Brendan Paul, president of the neighborhood association.

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It took more than 150 hours to complete the trail bridge, between June 24 and July 29, with about 15 people helping at any given time, including the scouts and volunteers from the neighborhood association.

On a recent Wednesday, Prentice and his father climbed through the wooded area to check on the bridge.

“I've been at a lot of other Eagle Scout projects and other service projects, and I believe people just need to go outside and enjoy nature and being able to go work on trails can help that as well,” Prentice said.

Seeing dirt already covering the wood, Prentice seemed pleased with his work: “I’m happy I can see multiple people using this,” he said.

The scouts worked with the neighborhood association to choose from one of two design options — one that was more cost-effective and preferred by the neighborhood association.

The final design has a cement base with planks across. Instead of stairs, there’s a retaining wall so there’s an incline up to the bridge, allowing bicyclists to get ample use out of the bridge along with walkers.

Paul said he found plans from the U.S. Forest Service for trail bridges, and an engineer contact advised on the design. The plans were submitted to the city of Cedar Rapids for feedback before the group began to build the bridge.

Eagle Scout project

Prentice, who lives near the park and attends Xavier High School, said he pursued the project as part of his work to become an Eagle Scout. His 18th birthday — the deadline to become an Eagle Scout — is quickly approaching on Sept. 1.

The project is the culmination of the 11 years he’s spent with Boy Scouts, since he was in first grade, and he only has some paperwork and an interview left to complete the Eagle Scout achievement.

“I've been in scouts for such a long period of my life that it would be sad if I wasn't able to reach the highest goal that I can through all the work and help that the scouts have already given me,” Prentice said.

“If it's helping in scouts or just helping the community, I really do just like helping people and our community by either building a bridge or just even cleaning up the park,” he said.

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Plus, he said, the bridge work is something he can list on his resume that might help with earning college scholarships.

What he learned

When Prentice graduates next year, he plans to attend Kirkwood Community College to fulfill his general education requirements, then the University of Northern Iowa for his bachelor’s degree in biology and then Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport.

Prentice said his Eagle Scout project taught him about leadership and how to coordinate a team to make sure everyone has a task to do that fits their abilities.

“The best moment I've had in scouts and what I've learned from it is teaching the numerous scouts what I've learned over the time and being able to see them hopefully become Eagle Scouts themselves,” Prentice said.

Considering all the people who use Bever Park, Paul said, it’s great that the project was brought to life by youth who live in the area.

“They're young men that will come back and be like, hopefully in 10, 15 years, ‘I helped build that bridge,’ ’” Paul said.

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