An Enriching Scout Project for All
On April 12, 2025, Duncan Lawrence’s Eagle Scout project came to fruition at the enrichment building at Project Chimps. 17-year-old Duncan is with Troop 101 of Blairsville, Georgia, and was the brains behind creating a display of enrichment items. The Scouts mounted this display on the enrichment building between the garage doors. It included examples of everything from whiffle ball tube toys to firehose cubes the chimps often play with. A bored chimp is potentially a dangerous chimp, and at Project Chimps we try to give the residents choices of activities to keep them as busy as possible. Duncan and his Scout troop were happy to help with a display to educate tours about these common enrichment items and how important enrichment is.
Capable Kids
Over a dozen boys from Troop 101 were in attendance to help Duncan’s visualization become a reality. A lot of the boys from this troop grew up together since Cub Scouts and they varied in age from Middle Schoolers to High Schoolers. There are six Life Scouts in the troop and several, including Duncan, in the Order of the Arrow, the scouting honor society. Duncan’s father, Tom, said that this troop is known for “jumping in and getting things done.” In the past, they’ve done everything from clearing land to building camp buildings to refurbishing structures. It was obvious that they are extremely capable kids. Power tools, for example, are all too familiar to these young hands. Duncan, wheelchair bound, may not be able to use power tools but he made the plans for the display project via a combination of Morse Code and Canva!
Q & A with Duncan’s father Tom
The following is an interview with Duncan’s father Tom to better understand Duncan’s Eagle Scout Project:
Q: Tell me a bit about Duncan.
A: Using a wheelchair gives Duncan freedom and autonomy with a level of safety. He has cerebral palsy (CP), which is a neurological condition where the brain and the muscles don’t communicate clearly, so Duncan’s intelligence is fine and his muscles are strong, but they don’t coordinate well. He is also legally blind. He can see, but his vision is limited and inconsistent. Because of these challenges, his wheelchair is a useful tool for navigating the world.
Q: That’s an awesome wheelchair by the way. Can even do off-roading! So that shows how active Duncan is and how involved as parents you are. Can you give some examples of how active Duncan is?
A: Because of his CP, Duncan has been doing physical therapy since he was a baby. It took him almost a year to be able to lift his head, but now, at age 17, he walks with canes, can do a full mile on a treadmill, lift weights, and can probably do more pull-ups than most people you know. He also loves to swim and camp, and he has a pretty good arm with a football.
Q: How long has Duncan been a Scout?
A: Duncan started with Scouting as a Webelo in Cub Scouts at age 9 and is now Life Rank in Scouting America with only a little paperwork to finish up for his Eagle. Duncan is also the recipient of the Scouting World Conservation Award for his work earning plant, animal, and conservation merit badges, participating in conservation service projects (like Project Chimps). He also served two terms in his Troop as Outdoor Ethics Guide, during which he taught younger Scouts the Outdoor Code the principles of Leave No Trace, and the TREAD Lightly method. Duncan is also a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s National Honor Society.
Q: How does he benefit from being a scout and doing service projects like this?
A: One of the beautiful things about Scouting is that you almost never hear the word “no.” What you hear instead is “let’s find a way to make it happen.” Duncan’s disabilities make it easy to define him by what he can’t do, but Scouting doesn’t do that. Scouting has the same aims for every youth: character development, leadership development, citizenship training, and personal fitness. The Scout Motto is “Be Prepared.” Be prepared for what? For Life. Scouting has been a gateway for Duncan into community, skills, training, and a whole lot of fun. Scouting is enabling.
Every Scout is required to do service for others as part of normal rank advancement. This creates a habit of serving others because it’s the right thing to do. Regular servant leadership teaches Scouts to engage with each other, their community, and the world through active and enthusiastic altruism. The second tenet of the Scout Oath is “To help other people at all times.” This is amplified even further in the Order of the Arrow. Duncan has just grown up in that system as a normal way of relating to the world.
Q: What made Duncan interested in Project Chimps?
A: When Duncan was a fairly new Scout, he helped out with another Scout’s Eagle Project at Project Chimps. While we were there, he learned about the mission and met some of the people. We talked about it as a family and signed on to sponsor Bo on a yearly basis. We came back later as a family for Chimp or Treat a couple of times, and we always keep up with the Chimps online.
Duncan was staffing a Scout fundraiser in Blairsville several months ago, and Ali Crumpacker stopped by to talk to him about a project idea that she needed done and thought might appeal to him. The enrichment toy wall was heavy on design work but not so heavy on construction work, so it worked out well. Duncan has been studying art for about eight years, and Ali knew it would play to his strengths.
Q: How did Duncan think of the idea?
A: Ali stated the need, and Duncan met with Caregiver Jessika Suttles to scope out what could be done and ideas for how to do it. They’ve both been very supportive of him during the whole process and gave him a lot of freedom to work up the design. The Eagle Scout Project has a defined process in Scouts, and it has to follow very specific steps for proposal, approval, planning, execution, and reporting. That structure guided Duncan through all of the design and feedback steps and set him up to succeed.
Q: It’s clear that Duncan is a brilliant young man trapped in a body that does not cooperate with his ambitions, however I’ve heard he has unique tactics to overcome this. I heard Duncan used Morse code and Canva to communicate his idea. Can you tell me more about his process?
A: Duncan doesn’t use a regular computer keyboard because of his CP and vision issues, so he uses a device called a TandemMaster developed by Tania Finlayson (an inventor who also has CP). The TandemMaster takes Morse Code signals from a switch bank and encodes them so that a computer receives the signals as if they were from a computer regular keyboard. Duncan uses a three-switch interface (dot, dash, and enter) and a large monitor with large print to type for school. It’s slow but very durable and functional.
He started using Canva in high school to do presentations and the interface is really simple so, when he has to do designs and layouts, it is his tool of choice. He created scale images of the enrichment toys and used Canva to do a scale layout. Ali also had him research the enrichment goals and design a new educational sign to go along with the display. After all that, he had a design that he could circulate for approval.
Q: How does Duncan think the final product turned out?
A: He’s very proud of it. More than that, he’s happy that Project Chimps is pleased. Also, the Troop leadership was very enthusiastic about the whole project, how well he ran it, and how well it turned out.
Q: What are Duncan’s plans for the future?
A: Duncan wants to continue to study art and pursue a career in a museum. His current plan is to try to get a position in exhibition design, so this Eagle Project for Project Chimps can go into his portfolio.
We are happy to have had Duncan and Troop 101 not only come out and build such a useful display, but we were part of providing an enriching experience for the boys. We wish Duncan and all of Troop 101 the best for a bright future.
Take a private tour today to learn about Project Chimps including Duncan’s new display about enrichment items. Is your Scout or school group interested in doing a project with Project Chimps? Find out how here.
