North Hills High School senior achieves Eagle Scout rank with bike rack project

Earlier this year, North Hills High School senior Sam Coldren was passing through Bruno Sammartino Park, not far from his family’s home in Ross. He noticed that a new playground and new basketball court had just been put in and figured people would be riding their bikes to the park and spending more time there.

Coldren also noted there was no safe place to store a bike at the park. An avid bike rider himself, he figured it would be a good idea to put a bike rack there so folks could store their bikes. A member of Boy Scout Troop 181 for the past 7 years, Coldren was also looking for an Eagle Scout project.

“I was looking around at other people’s Eagle Scout projects just to see what they were doing,” Coldren said. “I was riding my bike down there one day and I leaned my bike up against a tree and I was like, ‘Do you know what would be really nice? A bike rack.’ So, I thought, ‘Why not see if they would like a bike rack down here.’”

Once his idea was approved by his Boy Scout advancement chair, Coldren began to work closely with Eloise Peet, the Parks and Recreation director for Ross Township, to ensure the bike rack installation met the needs of the community

“She thought it was a great idea,” Coldren said. “When she approached me, she was super excited to get started because there was so much going on there. She was glad to see that someone was willing to do something for the park to improve it.”

As with any worthwhile project, Coldren was soon faced with plenty of challenges. Initially, he was only going to build a bike rack. But the plans expanded to creating the bike parking area. His project involved designing and welding the bike rack, ordering steel from a local metal shop, and constructing the rack at school with help from fellow scouts.

“I think the most difficult part was figuring out how I was going to split the work because welding is not something you can get a bunch of 12-year-old younger Scouts to do safely,” he said.

Once the bike rack was built, he led 14 Boy Scouts of America youth volunteers from Troops 181 and 9181 to dig up the top layer of ground, create a level, flat surface, lay landscaping fabric, edge the area and place the rack. Coldren was facing a deadline of completing the project before his 18^th birthday last August. He achieved his Eagle Scout requirements in June.

All of this had to be planned around Coldren’s rigorous personal academic and athletic schedule. He is a varsity football and lacrosse player for North Hills High School, and performs public service work for the Will Allen Foundation run by the former Steelers safety to promote education and remove obstacles to joining the workforce. Meanwhile, Coldrun maintained a 3.2 grade point average.

So, how did he manage his time with such a busy schedule?

“Most of it was actually my mom helping me out because it really was a lot,” Coldren said. “I was doing everything and I’d get done with the day and she’d be right on me ‘Hey, work on your Eagle. Work on your Eagle.’ Because every day we knew that time was limited.”

Sam’s mother, Anne Coldren, is very proud of her son.

“To see Sam achieve this is a thrill for sure,” she said. “I’ve been right by his side through all of it and I loved the program and I just can’t say enough good things about the troop we’re in and the leadership that’s there and the growth we’ve seen. It’s all about learning skills and leadership and how to fail in the world and then learn from it. If you don’t have a few missteps in a safe environment, it’s hard to move forward in the world.”

Sam’s father Aaron said he was impressed with his son’s work ethic.

“He sacrificed a lot in terms of hanging out with his friends,” he said. “He was at practice, he was at scouts, sometimes both on the same night. He doesn’t have a lot of downtime and that’s one of the things throughout this process that I felt bad about because there were many times when he didn’t have the opportunity to just be a kid because he taking care of some other responsibilities. I’m proud that he was able to do that.”

Clearly the sacrifices paid off, as in addition to achieving the rank of Eagle Scout, Sam Coldren was chosen as a first team member for the Western PA BIG 56 Athletic Conference for football as a defensive end. He was also named student athlete of the month for October by the North Hills Athletic Association.

A lockdown lacrosse defenseman, Coldren has signed a letter of intent to play lacrosse at Seton Hill University.

However, making Eagle Scout might just be the accomplishment of which he’s most proud.

“I’d already worked at it for 11 years and not getting an Eagle would almost be a disservice to myself, putting so much time and effort into the Boy Scouts and not having something to show for it,” he said.

As for Sam Coldren’s bike rack at Bruno Sammartino Park, it appears to be getting plenty of use from visitors and will continue to for the foreseeable future.