Hewlett High School senior Ramiel Jeacoma earned his Eagle Scout award by repurposing an old postal mailbox from 1966 into a flag drop and installing it outside Trinity-St. John’s Church, in Hewlett.
Jeacoma has been a member of Troop 20 in the Five Towns, led by Scoutmaster Eugene Corless, for 11 years.
“I was invited into it by a friend to attend a meeting, and at first I wasn’t hooked, but then I kept going and I had a great time,” Jeacoma recalled. “Basically, for 11 years I’ve been loving scouting.”
His favorite aspects of scouting are the people he’s met and the skills that he’s learned, he said.
For his Eagle Scout project, Jeacoma knew he wanted to do something with an old mailbox he received from a former United States Postal Service employee. The box was donated to him in hopes he would use it for his Eagle Scout project.
“I was donated an old mailbox from 1966, and I wanted to repurpose it into a flag drop where people can retire their flags — so that people could collect them and retire them respectfully by either burying, dedicating it to someone or burning it,” Jeacoma explained.
He planned the project for a year and a half, and in recent months he received permission from the Rev. John Christopher Ballard, of Trinity-St. John’s. It sits outside Trinity-St. John’s because the troop meets there and it is central within the community.
In addition to buying the necessary supplies, Jeacoma prepped the box and installed it. He sanded, primed and painted it, and added a plaque dedicating it to George Joseph Canamare, a former Troop 20 member who died in the Vietnam War. The whole process took four months.
Jeacoma received help from fellow troop mates during the repurposing portion.
The box was installed in April, and Jeacoma has already collected four baskets full of flags to retire.
“Me and my father will personally be retiring some of the flags by bringing them, but also the beneficiary at the church will be burying some of the flags in dedication to veterans,” he said.
Jeacoma was awarded the Eagle Scout rank by a Board of Review on June 26.
Ramiel’s father, Mark, noted that he provided additional guidance as the project progressed — and rides to the Home Depot for supplies.
“I was there just to make sure there was an adult there,” Mark said, “but Ramiel really took all of the actions and did the incredible job of organizing it and getting people to participate and help.”
“I’m very impressed that it came out so nice, but I’m also really impressed that the mailbox has found a home,” Mark said. “People are actually using it, which is one of the coolest aspects.”
Ramiel expressed his gratitude for his fellow troop members, who have supported him throughout the process.
“I definitely wouldn’t have been able to get Eagle without my troop being so kind, helpful and courteous about everything that they do,” he said. “People like Samuel Sole, Joe Pampalone — one of the people who leads our troop — Eugene Corless, my scoutmaster, they’ve all helped me throughout my career, and I can’t thank them enough for helping me and making me the person that I am.”
Corless described Jeacoma as a good example of “learning and then teaching others” in his scouting career.
“Mastering oneself is what happens over time, and the most important thing is the leadership skills Ramiel embodies (are) exemplified by the scouting program,” Corless said. “I think that is reflected in his choice of project, which is a combination of a civic duty of retiring flags, part of the community being outside the church, and the dedication of the box to George Canamare.”
Jeacoma “doesn’t take what we all have for granted,” Corless added, and has the ideal scouting skill of leading by example and living every day as a good person.
“As his scoutmaster, my role was to empower him by showing framework and logistics, phases and steps that would be his responsibility to carry out,” he said. “That is the purpose of the scout service project, is that they learn for the first time how to propose, organize and carry out something like this.”
Corless acted as a sounding board for Jeacoma during the project.
“Ramiel is a very significant scout to make Eagle, because he’s the first individual that’s been with me the entire 11 years of his scouting career,” Corless said. “He’s our first homegrown Eagle Scout from the bottom to the top. It’s an important one for us, and a source of pride.”
