Museum's 'Around Town Tour' features Eagle Scout project

Brian Kehm, a member of Boy Scout Troop 188, has completed his Eagle Scout project with a DVD of towns of Plymouth County. Three of the towns will be featured in a program this Sunday, March 9, at the Plymouth County Historical Museum. [Click to enlarge]

An Eagle Scout project by Brian Kehm of Le Mars will be featured in the Plymouth County Historical Museum's "Around Town Tour" for 2008.

The first "Around Town Tour" will be held this Sunday, March 9, a 2 p.m. in the museum's Old Central Gym and features the towns of Akron, Brunsville and Craig.

Kehm, the son of Dave and Janet Kehm, said he chose the project after Dr. Wayne Marty, then museum board president, approached his scout troop with the idea of making an historical document, in this case a DVD, about Plymouth County towns as a Eagle Scout project.

"They asked for a video of points of interest in each town," Kehm said.

He started the project in the summer of 2006 and completed it more than a year later. Kehm worked through the project, which features 12 Plymouth County communities, planning filming and interviews in each location.

He did an interview with each town's mayor or representative, except Seney, which is an unincorporated town.

One of the requirements for an Eagle Scout project is to show leadership, so Kehm enlisted the help of scouts from his Troop 188 as well as from Troop 184, to introduce each town on the video and to help in the taping process.

"I showed them how to videotape, and how I wanted it done," Kehm said.

"It took a lot of time with contacting the mayors and getting all the video shot," Kehm said.

"We put a lot of miles on the car," his dad Dave said.

"We covered the county," said Kehm.

Kehm said he learned a lot of history of the towns and found people willing to share stories about their community. He took outdoor video in the fall and did interviews at the homes or offices of the mayors.

After getting all the videotaping completed, Kehm had to edit the tape and put the presentation together.

"The editing took a long time," Kehm said of splicing the clips together using Windows Moviemaker software. He had done a music video in school, so he had the basic computer skills needed to do the project. He estimates it took 50 hours to put the finished product together. That product is a DVD which runs about one hour and 20 minutes.

"I had fun doing it," he said.

Once completed, the project went before the Boy Scout Board of Review in Sioux City, and his Eagle Scout project was approved in December.

A sophomore at Le Mars Community High School, Kehm started as a Tiger Club when he was in first grade and has earned 59 merit badges in his nine years of scouting. There are 21 required badges to become an Eagle Scout.

"My troop works hard on getting through the requirements and encourages us," said Kehm. His longtime Scoutmaster Rick Stream stepped down the first of the year, and Trudi Hall now serves as Scoutmaster for Troop 188.

He also got an extra push from his parents, Kehm said with a smile. "Mom really kept after me," he said. His father, Dave, also earned the Eagle Scout honor.

"The troop pushes the boys to advance," said Dave.

"A lot of our troop members have gotten the Eagle Scout honor," Kehm said.

Kehm currently serves as Senior Patrol Leader for his troop, and organizes the troop's meetings. He's looking forward to a hiking outing at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico this summer. The outing involves hiking for 10 days in the Rocky Mountains, carrying a 50 pound backpack. He's already training by running, and soon he and other participants will be hiking around town carrying backpacks.

He encourages boys to get involved in the Boy Scouts program.

"You get to learn a lot. It's fun to be with friends and do the activities such as camping, rock climbing and canoeing," he said. One of his favorite activities has been the high adventure course, which involves climbing large trees using hooks, and then returning to the ground by way of a zip line.

Kehm will speak briefly about his project at the museum program this Sunday.

Featured will be the communities of Akron, Brunsville and Craig. Mayors and city council members from each city in the county have been invited to the opening of the "tour" in "Old Central" Gym.

In addition to the video, displays on each community will be located in the Home Room on the main floor of the museum. The museum's Hometown Hallway also will feature exhibits from the various communities.

Refreshments will follow in the Gym lobby.

Other "Around Town Tour" dates are: April 13, Hinton, Kingsley and Le Mars; Oct. 26, Merrill, Oyens and Remsen; and Nov. 9, Seney, Struble and Westfield.