'Important to learn about your past': This Somerset Girl Scout spruced up Battleship Cove
FALL RIVER — Visitors to Battleship Cove may notice some changes to the area as soon as they enter the museum: a new reflection area created by a Somerset native to honor deceased service members and inform the public about the museum.
“I really wanted to improve the scenery and help people learn,” said Sydney Boland, a member of the Somerset Berkley Regional High School class of 2021 who led the project.
Just past the gift shop are five informational signs and a map of the museum. Boland said the area was surrounded by weeds and overgrowth. So she oversaw removing the overgrowth and putting in pebbles and mulch to tidy up the area and prevent weeds from returning. The idea was to transform it into a reflection area for visitors.
Before her project, the space “didn’t feel relaxing,” Boland said. “It’s more of a friendly area than it was before.”
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She also created QR codes with the text from each of the five signs that are posted in the museum’s gift shop, so visitors can pull them up on their phones and read them as they tour the vessels.
“The main idea was getting the information accessible to all,” she said.
Boland is now a nursing student at UMass Dartmouth and a "personnelist" in the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
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She said that, as a member of the military herself and as someone from a military family, she wanted to focus on honoring past service members.
“It’s important to learn about your past because it informs your future,” she said.
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Growing up in Somerset, she would visit the museum as a child and has fond memories of Girl Scout sleepovers on the battleship, she said.
The project helped her earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting. She started as a Girl Scout in kindergarten and graduated as a cadet.
“It’s a real honor, since not a lot of girls get to this point,” she said.
Audrey Cooney can be reached at acooney@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Somerset Girl Scout creates reflection area at Battleship Cove
