This document is a speech by Matthew Abdalla about his senior project. [1] He is an Eagle Scout who is interested in a law enforcement career, and his senior project involved creating a 3D scale model of a fitness trail he is building for his Eagle Scout project at the local sheriff's department. [2] His research paper and project both focus on fitness issues for law enforcement officers. [3] He discusses the steps he took to complete his senior project, including overcoming obstacles of scheduling conflicts and lack of money, and what he learned from the experience about time management, communication, and his ability to complete challenging work.

1. Matthew Abdalla
Susan Lester
Advanced Grammar and Composition
22 March 2012
Senior Project Speech
Have you ever wondered how boy scouts and being an officer of the law are alike?I have
wondered about that question and how those two things are related. I am a life scout in Troop 469
and I am working on my Eagle Scout Rank.Eagle Scout is the highest rank a scout can earn and it
is the most prestigious award, plus it makes a scout stand out in a crowd, because people look up to
Eagle Scouts to lead just like they look up to police officers. Many police officers are Eagle Scouts
and they live part of the Boy Scout Oath, which says to be physically strong, mentally awake and
morally straight. I started off as a Scout in May 2005, and being a Police Officer really peaked my
interest when my troop went to a police station to complete a requirement for Second Class. I saw
them exercising out on their obstacle course, and I thought wow, they really need to stay in shape
to do their job. Physical Fitness makes one more alert and efficient when he/she is doing their best
in their career.The idea of my Senior Project stemmed from my Eagle Scout Project, which is,
blazing a portion of a 2 mile fitness trail for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department off
Univeter Road, to help them stay fit and able to do their job on and off the field of duty.The link
between my senior project and my personal narrative is that my Senior Project is a scale 3-d model
of my Eagle Scout Project.With this thought in mind I’m going to tell you about my senior project
research paper and how it applies to my Senior Project.

2. My paper is on Fitness Issues in Law Enforcement, and it relates to my career because I
want to be a police officer when I graduate college, and being fit is going to be an important part of
my job and my life, and when I am in a tight place, being fit could mean life or death.I chose this
topic, because it related to my Eagle Scout project and that it also ties into my future career of law
enforcement. My research paper relates to my product in the fact that it says a way officers of the
law can stay fit is by exercising daily and my product shows a 3-d scale version of the portion of
the fitness trail that I am building for my Eagle Project to help them stay fit. The process of
creating the scale model was very time consuming, but I am going to illustrate the steps I took in
constructing the model.The facilitator I chose was Captain Joe Satterfield of the Cherokee County
Sheriff’s Office.The qualities I was looking for in my Facilitator were, that they hold me
accountable, they have honor, they are honest, and have integrity.I chose Captain Satterfield as my
facilitator because he is also my contact in the Sheriff’s Office so I can conduct my Eagle Scout
Project in June. The Credentials and qualifications he has is a Master of Public Administration
from Columbus State University, a Bachelor of History from Reinhardt University and an
Associate of Criminal Justice degree from Abraham Baldwin College, he joined the Cherokee
Sheriff’s Office in 1993, and he is an Eagle Scout. Now I am going to describe in detail the steps I
took to complete my product.The first step I took was establishing a meeting schedule with my
facilitator.I encountered an obstacle when I started planning; our schedules are so different that we
had virtually no time to sit down together.I overcame that solution by selecting Thursdays because
his son has a cub scout meeting with my brother and I am a leader their working under Captain
Satterfield, so that was my solution to that problem.The second step was gathering all the materials
I needed to construct the model.I also encountered an obstacle and that was money, my family did
not have enough money in January to buy the supplies.The solution to that problem was just

3. simply to wait till the first of February for my dad’s pay check.The third step was beginning
construction on my product after all the materials were gathered.I encountered a third obstacle and
that was time to actually sit down and work steadfast on my project.The solution was using my
new found time management skills and working over February Break. Finally I am going to tell
you what I have learned about myself, and gained from this rewarding experience.
I have learned that I can work under pressure, and I learned that I can do anything I put my
mind into, and if I work hard anything can get done. I have learned that my work habits have
improved, in the fact that I can turn stuff in on time and meet deadlines, and I can stay
organized.My communication skills have improved, while I worked on my Senior Project, I have
honed my skills in making a business call to a police officer, and sending business emails.The
careers I am interested in are being a Police Officer, a federal agent, or being secret service. While
I am an enlisted soldier in the Georgia Army National Guard, I will go to Georgia Military College
and get an associate’s degree in criminal justice, and then I will transfer as a Junior into North
Georgia College and State University, to complete my Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, and
at the same time when I graduate, I will commission as a part-time Officer in the Georgia Army
National Guard. Thank you for taking time out of your day to listen to my speech, and if you have
any questions I will answer them at this time.