Auburn High School student Mitchell Homick knew early on what he was going to do for his Eagle Scout service project. Homick, a Boy Scout in Troop 21, which is led by Scoutmaster John Hai, has spent the last year building little libraries that he donated to the Auburn Enlarged City School District’s elementary schools. He also did two for the town of Throop, one at Sawyer Park and the other at the Throop Sports Complex.
“I always thought about this for my Eagle project,” said Homick, who is going to be a senior in September, “but Mrs. Ridley, who works here at Owasco, was saying how for Throop, they were thinking about little libraries and I was thinking about the idea so that worked out and then it extended to the school district from that.” Little libraries are spots where children can take a book and leave one in a way to foster a fondness for reading.
“It just has been quite the process watching him as a little Cub (Scout) all the way to Eagle and that he's giving back to the elementary schools and his education has been so important to him,” said Mitchell’s mother Taryn, who is a teacher's assistant at Owasco. “That's a huge thing. The way it worked out was he came to me and he said, ‘I think I want to do little libraries as my project’ and I said, ‘Oh goodness, that's a huge undertaking.
’ The next day, I just happened to be at work and Mrs. Ridley said, ‘Do you know anybody who needs to do an Eagle (Scout) project or a Girl Scout project and .