Survey says: Teslovich rises to Eagle Scout with project
One Boy Scout was determined to find an Eagle Scout project that would benefit both him and the city that he lives in. So, Troop 620 member George Teslovich decided to contact Uniontown Mayor Ed Fike to see if there was anything he could do around the city.
“I wanted to do something that would benefit both me and the city,” said Teslovich, a sophomore at Laurel Highlands High School. “We talked with Mayor Fike and he hooked me up with the Uniontown Downtown Business District Authority.”
With help from the business authority, Teslovich came up with a 17-question survey designed to find out what the people of Uniontown would like to have done to improve the downtown area.
Teslovich said he called some of his fellow troop members and they spent many days walking up and down Main Street asking people to fill out the questionnaire.
“I learned that you have to know and trust the people that are working with you,” he said. “It was a team effort to get people to fill out the surveys.”
He also made trips to Laurel Business Institute in Uniontown and would go to Storey Square during summertime concerts to ask people to complete the survey.
Teslovich said the toughest part of the project was not just getting people to fill out the surveys, but also spending hours entering the surveys into a computer program to create a spreadsheet. Teslovich said that he spent about 124 hours gathering the surveys and putting them into the computer.
He started on the project early last summer and finished in the middle of autumn, he said, adding that he was happy when it was finally complete.
“It was a feeling of relief to be finished,” he said. “Now, I want to see if any of my changes that were suggested in the surveys will be made.”
Teslovich said that he gave the completed surveys to the business authority and the panel was going to look into the suggestions.
When asked to offer advice to other Boy Scouts who may be looking to pursue an Eagle Scout project, Teslovich said, “Find a project that will help you out in the future. Don’t just do one to get it over with.”
Teslovich hopes to one day attend Notre Dame University and become either an architect or an engineer.
He is a son of Elaine and George Teslovich Jr. and he is a grandson of George Teslovich Sr.