Joining Eagle Scout Nicholas Theis (center) at the 10 th Street Wharf ceremony are (l to r) USCGA Commander Bob Babezki, American Legion Post 524 Commander Bob Marzulli, Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian, and Mr. and Mrs. Theis.
Newly installed Eagle Scout Nicholas Theis knows how to bring a community together around an important cause. Nick’s Eagle Scout project involved no less than five local entities with results benefitting the safety of people from all over the region.
Thanks to Nick’s efforts, loaner life jackets will now be available free of charge to boaters at the 10th Street Wharf in Ocean City. Nick placed a life jacket loaner station at the busy bayside location, with the help of Ocean City’s Flotilla 81 of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Also involved in the project were Ocean City American Legion Post 524, which sponsors Nick’s Boy Scout Troop 32, the Gill family, operators of the marina, Halliday-Leonard Builders, who helped construct the sign above the loaner station locker, Copies Plus, who printed the colorful sign insert, and the City of Ocean City which approved the site.
Eagle Scout Nicholas Theis holds one of many loaner life jackets available free of charge at the 10 th Street Wharf, thanks to his recently completed Eagle Scout project. Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian was on hand to celebrate Nick’s scouting elevation and to officially open the safety station to the public.
“Statistically, we know that the single most important factor in preventing drownings while boating is the wearing of a properly fitted life jacket,” said Flotilla 81 Commander Bob Babezki. “This site was chosen due to its central location in the boating waterways behind Ocean City.”
The life jacket loaner program is a supplement for those who have either forgotten their life jackets or whose children have outgrown their old ones. Life jackets borrowed from the loaner program locker, should be returned the same day of the loan.
To have his project approved by the Boy Scouts of America, Nick had to plan, develop and give leadership to others in a service project that benefited a community organization outside of scouting, generally in the community where a Scout lives.
Nick, began his path to Eagle Scout by starting as a cub scout. He is a recent graduate of St. Augustine Prep and will attend the University of Missouri in the fall.
