A senior at Atlantic County Institute of Technology has attained the highest rank in Scouts BSA program of The Boy Scouts of America (now Scouting America).
Sydney Prince, 18, a resident of Mays Landing, has completed the final steps on her trail to attaining the esteemed rank of Eagle Scout. Sydney spent the last months of 2024 working hard all the way to the end of her six year journey through the Scouts BSA program. Prince, a Life Scout with Troop 452, is the youngest of the group of 10 girls that founded the Troop in February 2019, when the Boy Scouts of America began allowing girls to join their ranks and have the opportunity to participate and benefit from the same program that boys have had since 1910.
One of the most challenging and demanding requirements to attain Eagle Scout is that of conducting the Eagle Scout Project. This project, designed and executed by the Eagle Scout candidate is geared toward providing a benefit to a nonprofit community group or local organization that has a need. The project must meet the standards set forth by the National Council of the BSA and must go through thorough reviews at local and Council levels to gain approval for execution. Prince is not the first scout to choose to design her project to benefit the needs of our local first responders.
As a senior at ACIT, she is enrolled in the Health Sciences program and is also very close to completing the National Emergency Medical Technician certification through that program. No small feat for a high school student who is also enrolled in Advanced Placement level courses in other subjects, plays a myriad of sports and has had a pivotal role in building the program at Troop 452 since its inception.
No stranger to the emergency services, Prince spent the summer of 2024 working as an intern for the Galloway EMS and decided to assist that organization with establishing an outside relaxation and decompression space for those first responders where they can enjoy the fresh air and a comfy and quiet space after a long shift or difficult incident. Through her project, Prince designed, carried out the logistics of planning, procuring, transporting and installing thousands of pounds of materials, supplies and the equipment and tools necessary to construct a beautiful paver patio, complete with landscaping border and custom built Adirondack chairs in an otherwise barren plot of dirt behind one of Galloways two EMS stations.
Her project took careful planning, a lot of resilience and an execution of leadership skills that are not common for a 17-year-old high school student. The main objective of the project is for the candidate to utilize the leadership skills they have learned and honed through their years in the Scouting program to successfully execute that project. A major aspect of a project of this magnitude is cost. Coming in at an estimated cost of $3,500 for materials, Prince was able to successfully obtain all of the materials plus some bonus supplies through generous donations form 84 Lumber of Pleasantville and Atlantic Masonry Products and The Home Depot, both of Egg Harbor Township.
Without these very generous business donors, completion of this project would have proved difficult, if not impossible. A project of this scope also takes a great deal of time as well. Through the planning and execution of her project, Prince, along with 24 volunteers (both youth and adults) contributed 329 hours of work to the project. Of that, 55 of those hours were the hours Prince spent with design, planning, logistics and execution.
With the successful completion of her project in November 2024 and the successful completion of her Eagle Scout Board of Review on Feb. 4, 2025; Prince has found herself a permanent place in history as the 7th Eagle Scout of Troop 452. After high school graduation this coming June, she plans to attend college and pursue schooling and a career in the field of health sciences, continuing to help and nurture as she always has.
