A Dorchester County boy scout troop completed a late Summerville High School student’s Eagle Scout project to honor and remember him.
17-year-old Cotter Smith, suddenly passed away on Mar. 14 after suffering from an aortic dissection, a tear in a layer of a large blood vessel in the heart. He was just days away from earning his Eagle badge and had to complete his final project, building a gaga ball pit at Sand Hill Elementary School.
Gaga ball is a game like dodge ball but players can only hit people below the knee.
Smith’s troop, Troop 2, or “The Deuce” as they call themselves, completed the project last weekend.
Even though Smith did not complete the project himself, troop leaders are confident that he will still earn his badge.
“It’s something that we all believe that he has earned because he’s finished everything,” said Mark Edwards, Committee Chairman for the troop.
The decision of whether or not to award Smith’s Eagle badge will have to be determined by going through a board of review process.
In April, Troop 2 will travel to the Grand Canyon for a 50-mile trek, a trip that Smith originally proposed and completed before. Troop leaders say they will be thinking of him throughout the trip.
