Digital fabrication technology has impacted some unexpected aspects of life. One recent Potomac project demonstrates how even the hallowed Eagle Scout badge has evolved to capture young people’s innovation and creativity by using the latest tools.
Philip Trevisan, a recent high school graduate from Princeton, NJ, came to us when he was working to earn his Scout Eagle rank. The goal is to “give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, school, or community”, and Philip thought the best way to do so was through a project that would not have been possible five years ago.
Explains Philip: “When most people think of Princeton, they think of its university, and not much else. But they’re missing out on a huge amount of history that goes unknown, and I wanted to change that.” To that end, he created a simple, easy way for almost anyone with a smartphone to immediately access the rich history of Princeton with a few a few taps. Philip’s idea was to celebrate and share the biographies of the ten most famous people interred in the Princeton Nassau Cemetery, ranging from jazz musicians to theologians to presidents. They include former U.S. President Grover Cleveland, Aaron Burr, Jr., Jonathan Edwards, and George Gallup.
QR Codes that were laser engraved on plates that could be attached near the gravestones were a simple and easy way to link visitors to a web page with the bios. To start, Philip led a group of about 15 older scouts in writing short biographical pieces of Princeton’s illustrious citizens to be listed on the Cemetery’s Website. Younger scouts would install the QR Code-engraved plates that could be read with a simple smartphone reader app.
Perhaps Philip’s Eagle Scout project also teaches salesmanship! He convinced Potomac to donate the QR Code plates to his project. CEO Mike Adelstein adds, “It was an easy sell to support Philip’s Princeton project. My Dad is a 1955 Princeton Alumnus and my family has spent a lot of time visiting Princeton with him over the years.” Potomac has worked extensively to develop high precision QR Codes for a variety of products including medical and biotech devices.
Philip says that “The typical Eagle Scout project usually consists of something like building a bench or a bridge, and while those are certainly helpful to the community, I thought I would do something a little different. Not only does this use technology to make history far more easily accessible, it will hopefully be something permanent that the community and visitors can use far into the future.”
