A New Chapter for the "Be Prepared 2Stop" Eagle Scout

Bringing People Together feature by Bob Blaisse, Publisher of Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors and Marple Friends & Neighbors

I hesitated at first, because I prefer my role as Publisher in our community to be separate from my family life here. But I agreed, because the event influenced my decision to launch our hometown magazine, made possible by local businesses and families coming together.

For years I was the Sponsorship Officer of the Newtown Edgmont Little League (NELL). My sons grew up watching me hang billboards in the outfields. So, I was not surprised when my oldest son John, age 15 at the time, turned to local businesses and families to lead a change in his community. Ten years later, I see my son’s influence on the mission of this magazine.

When Sheila Turner-Hilliard told me “YES,” there is a story worth telling, although personal to me, I agreed. So this month, I yield to Sheila, to share the story of 10 years ago, about a local youth and the influence that young man had on my mission now to be “Bringing People Together.”

And the Story Continues...

Remember the "Be Prepared 2Stop" Eagle Scout Project?

That Eagle Scout is now "Prepared 2Start" (Married Life)

by Sheila Turner-Hilliard

Photos courtesy of Bob Blaisse

Most Newtown Township residents still remember the Boy Scout whose Eagle Scout Project, “Be Prepared 2Stop,” rallied our community back in 2011. That’s because it was a project that so many in our community made possible and because it still impacts our local driving today. That Boy Scout was 15-year-old John Blaisse, son of Jean Blaisse and Bob Blaisse, the Publisher of this magazine, Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors.

In Newtown Township, stop signs command our road intersections. So many stop signs that perhaps over a million car stops have occurred since teenager John Blaisse was inspired to conduct his Eagle Scout Project in service to his hometown. That inspiration led John to rally his community towards safer nighttime driving by the benefit gained from stop signs that better reflected headlights so drivers could be prepared to stop. Now age 26, that Eagle Scout is all grown up and recently married.

John Blaisse as a young Scout

In his freshman year at Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor — and still a year away from being a licensed driver himself — John noticed while being driven home from school one day that the stop signs at intersections suddenly no longer had reflector strips running down each signpost. When he asked his dad why, John’s father explained they had just crossed into Newtown Township, and that those reflector strips (a new John Blaisse as a young scout thing at that time) would likely be added by Newtown Township in the future.

But the future Eagle Scout did not want safe driving to take a back seat in his hometown. So John decided to make it his personal Eagle Scout Project to have similar reflector strips added to every stop sign in Newtown Township, so headlights would better reflect more noticeable warnings for drivers to Be Prepared 2Stop. The Scout’s goal was fewer car accidents and perhaps to even save lives. The Scout with the rank of Life also hoped to earn his rank of Eagle, which requires a Scout to demonstrate significant leadership among his peers while conducting a service project in the community.

With Newtown Township approval, John went about requesting that businesses and residents adopt a stop sign, or even an intersection with multiple stop signs, all of which would be retrofitted with a light-reflective strip installed down each signpost. With each $20 donation to John’s Boy Scout Troop 315, which is chartered by St. Anastasia Church, the future Eagle Scout purchased a reflector strip from a municipal supplier. To help rally the cause, each “adopted” stop sign also gained a small Be Prepared 2Stop sticker on the back of each sign, to memorialize the project and the name of the person, family or business that contributed to fund the reflector retrofit of each stop sign.

John Blaisse (left), installing reflector strips on our neighborhood stop signs

Within a month of launching his project, John raised over $5,000 from Newtown Square community members who were willing to support his project. And on a single Saturday morning, John Blaisse led nearly 100 Scouts of all ages, adult Scout leaders and local volunteers, to install reflector strips on every sign stop in Newtown Township — more than 250 in total. Immediately, drivers noticed the nighttime difference, and the Scout responsible for helping drivers to Be Prepared 2Stop was able to earn his rank of Eagle, the highest honor awarded to a Scout.

Ten years have passed, and that 15-year-old Boy Scout is now all grown up and recently married to his lovely bride, Lyndsay Dotzman. The couple met while attending college together at DeSales University, where Lyndsay majored in Education and was Captain of the DeSales Softball Team. John majored in Psychology and was the President of the DeSales Student Government Association. The couple graduated together in 2018. Today, Lyndsay works as an elementary school teacher, and John is a talent acquisition consultant to infrastructure engineering firms.

The newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. John Blaisse

Mr. & Mrs. John Blaisse exchanged their wedding vows on July 17 at St. Jude Church and Shrine in Chalfont, with a reception following at Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center in Blue Bell. After enjoying an extended honeymoon touring beautiful Iceland, the couple now resides in nearby Westtown Township and are well Prepared 2Start their married life.

Publisher’s Note: Sheila, thank you for sharing an update about my son John’s recent marriage to Lyndsay Dotzman, our new daughter-in-law whom my wife Jean and I have come to love. Seeing a wedding photo of John and Lyndsay in our hometown magazine should not be a joy limited to Publisher privilege. Let’s occasionally publish other weddings, Bat and Bar Mitzvahs and other life event celebrations of Newtown Square residents. (Readers:If you have a recent photo to share with our community, email our Content Coordinator, Sheila Turner-Hilliard, at STurnerHilliard@BestVersionMedia.com.)