A local Boy Scout’s Eagle project was literally made in the shade.

Pflugerville resident JuanCarlos Falcon beautified a barren plot of land behind Brookhollow Elementary School earlier this month to provide a shaded area from which BES teachers can supervise classes at recess while avoiding the unrelenting Texas sun.

“My mom works at Brookhollow so I asked her where would be a good spot to build an Eagle Scout project? And she said there is a perfect spot at the back of the school where there’s a tree that shades everything,” Falcon said. “I put benches here so that teachers can lounge while they watch their students over in the recess area.”

The project was one of the main requirements Falcon had to meet to earn his Eagle Scout rank, which he did.

To utilize the natural shade of a tree that had been going to waste, Falcon constructed paths and planters around a bench beneath the tree. He also constructed what he calls an “octagon garden” that he said adds to the beauty of the area. His landscape includes planters consistent to the aesthetic of other planters around the campus where the Brookhollow staff can grow vegetation of their choosing.

Falcon said Troop leaders shot down his idea for the shade garden initially because they were concerned with flooding and wheelchair accessibility. Falcon modified his plans for the site to accommodate both of those variables and got the project approved.

“For a couple of nights I had been thinking of the design, and then I saw these planters and thought, what if I were to put paths between these planters over here that leads to a garden.”

Once he broke ground, Falcon finished the beautification project in a single day. He said the labor was the easy part.

“The hardest thing about the project was getting the funds, because I hard to raise over a $1,000 purely by donation. That took me about 10 days,” he said. “I called many people. I sent out e-mails. I met people face-to-face and asked them for contributions toward the project, and it all worked out really well.”