Sammy Foosaner Soaring Like an Eagle

Sammy Foosaner Soaring Like an Eagle

By Leonard Shapiro

It began when his grandparents went on a leisurely walk around the gorgeous grounds of the Hill School campus. Recently relocating to the Middleburg area, Marrilyn and Gerald Murray took the recommendation of their 17-year-old grandson and Hill graduate Sammy Foosaner and thoroughly enjoyed their stroll, with one exception.

“They came over for dinner one night,” Sammy recalled. “I was talking to my grandfather and his one complaint was that there was really no place to sit down. It hit my mind right away. It was the perfect idea for my Eagle Scout project.”

Gerald Murray enjoying the view courtesy of his grandson.

Sammy has been in scouting since he joined the Cub Scouts at age seven. Ten years later, he’s now an Eagle Scout, having completed his grandparent-inspired community service project. Under his supervision, including fundraising and some serious sweat equity, four sturdy benches have been placed around the Hill School property. The most spectacular site—atop Flag Hill behind the school, with a panoramic view of the surrounding area.

Not long after that conversation with his grandfather, Sammy, a Junior at Highland in Warrenton, contacted Treavor Lord, Hill’s Head of School and an Eagle Scout himself. He set up a meeting that included Bob Dornin, who supervises the Hill grounds, and Sammy made his pitch.

“I’ve known Sammy nearly his entire life and it’s been an honor to follow his path from young Cub Scout to Eagle,” Lord said. ‘His idea of installing benches along our walking trails so that visitors to the campus could rest and enjoy the wonderful landscape was classic Sammy: thoughtful, kind, and delivered with his signature enthusiasm.”

“I drew up my design for it,” Sammy said. “I did all the research, where to find the best benches, how much it would cost. When it was over, they said they’d never seen a presentation with that level of detail. They were all for it.”

Sammy Foosaner

The finished product is equally impressive. The Bench Factory based in Batavia, Illinois provided benches made out of recycled plastic milk jugs. These environmentally friendly benches will last for at least 50 years.

Sammy rounded up fellow scouts, friends, and family to help put all the pieces together, not to mention preparing the ground and the 8-foot by 8-foot raised beds where the benches are placed.

The total cost was about $4,500, and Sammy wrote countless letters to potential donors. John Pennington, the owner of Marshall-based Monomoy, a full service excavation company, donated the gravel surface for each of the raised beds.

Last November, Sammy and his father, Matt, put the first bench together, cleared the ground and placed it in the bed. Sammy and his volunteers handled the other three. In addition to the Flag Hill bench, one is located near the baseball diamond and two more overlook small ponds.

Sammy’s Eagle Scout ceremony will be held this spring, and his bench project was one important part of the process necessary to achieve that lofty rank. He’s not the first Eagle scout in the family; his mother Terri’s two brothers also were Eagle Scouts.

“What kept me going was that tradition,” Sammy said. “I want to do it with my own kids some day. Scouting has taught me so many skills. My freshman year, our troop won a raffle to attend an adventure camp in northern Minnesota near the Canadian border.

“I built a shelter out of snow. We did dog-sledding, cross country skiing. It was minus-20 at night and we slept outside, but I didn’t feel cold because we had these incredible sleeping bags. I was like a mummy. It was one of the best scouting experiences I’ve ever had.”

Sammy is a member of Troop 2950 in Middleburg, led by scoutmaster Jay Hubbard and troop chairwoman Teri Domanski. Over the last five years, eight members have earned Eagle Scout status.

Sammy is properly proud of being in those prestigious ranks. But his real reward came not long after he and his grandfather took another walk around the Hill campus.

“When he saw people were actually sitting down and using the benches, I’ve never seen him so happy,” Sammy said. “He would tell them ‘my grandson built all these.’ The smile on his face is a memory I’m going to have for the rest of my life.”