Tribune Staff Reports
Born and raised Elizabethtown resident Gage Dixon has been going to Ceraland Park since he could walk.
He learned to ride his bike on the safe streets within Ceraland, he learned how to play baseball there, he learned how to swim, fish and run and he learned Cub Scout and Boy Scout essentials while camping there.
Why not give back to a park he loves?
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That is why Dixon, a Member of Boy Scout Troop 509 at St. Paul Lutheran Church, chose the Columbus park as the site for his Eagle Scout project, Gaga Frenzy, an octagon-shaped game arena for playing a dodge ball-like game called gaga.
As it nears the one-year anniversary of the gaga pits at Ceraland, Dixon will be honored from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 4 with his fellow Eagle Scout, Dalton Barwick, in a shared ceremony.
Once he received approval from the Hoosier Trails Council Boy Scouts of America and park manager Jim Kreutzjans, Dixon began fundraising with a goal of one month to completion. He sold Boy Scout popcorn and participated in car washes, and small business owners and family and friends donated.
With the kindness of corporate sponsors, he began construction Sept. 30, 2017.
Through his sister Lauren Dixon’s Girl Scout leadership member, Carol Littiken of Troop 3060, he received assistance from her husband, Rob Littiken, to survey and dig out the site at Ceraland after 811 dig approval. Rob taught Gage how to survey and how to use the backhoe to dig, saving the Scouts many hours of labor.
Columbus Pawn deeply discounted tools for Gage’s project. 84 Lumber management in Seymour and help from Chris and Amanda Clapp donated the majority of the treated wood for the Gaga pits. The Home Depot in Seymour donated safety equipment, tools and hardware. Lowe’s management in Columbus deeply discounted additional material and tool needs.
Dennis Wilkerson, assistant scoutmaster of Troop 509, worked up the gaga pit plans on his CAD program for the project. US Aggregates Inc. in Columbus donated gravel and delivered it to Ceraland. Dalton Barwick and family, Kenny Barwick, Kay Barwick and Brady Barwick, donated pea gravel that remained from his Eagle Scout project from Simmons Cemetery.
Troop 509 (Dennis, Gage, D. Wilkerson; Kenny, Kay, Dalton and Brady Barwick; and Chris, Maggie, and Lauren Dixon) framed out the pits, hand-shoveled gravel to level and got the sites ready for cement. Lee’s Ready Mix donated all of the cement for the gaga pits. Milestone in Columbus sent skilled workers to professionally brush finish the gaga pits.
Troop 509 then cut and assembled all of the 16 panels and cut the posts and set them in cement to hold the panels. Taylor Brothers Construction of Columbus donated skilled professionals to help finish up the gaga pits and design handicap-accessible doors for each. Paul Wendel with QuickSigns in Columbus designed the rules and recognition signage for the gaga pits.
Additional sponsors were Mattie’s Mercantile, Armand Farms, Greg Hicks with State Farm Insurance, Zeller Insurance, Brent and Becky Church of Columbus in Bloom, Barbara Hackman, Barbara Stamper, Crista Burbrink, Randy and Anna Scudder, Linda Iwamuro, Dustin Traylor, Bob Hatfield, Brad Siscoe, John Zaharako, John Clark, Jack Spinks, Jack Nickels, Bob Medina, Robert Cooper, Dakota Bowers, Bubba Groce, Dana Prophet, Morris Jones, people who donated at the farmers market during fundraising efforts by rounding up for his project and people who physically helped build the gaga pits.
As a 14-year-old, Gage completed all of the requirements and earned his Eagle Scout rank May 14. This took more than 200 man hours to complete.
Gage continues in Boy Scouts and is working toward earning his driver’s license and saving for a car. He also is working toward getting college credits while in high school for a science degree. He plans on going for his Associate of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus and then getting his Bachelor of Science at Indiana University.
He is the troop representative for Order of the Arrow for Troop 509, working toward additional Palms ranks and is working at events at Camp Maumee in Norman.
Gage attended St. Paul Lutheran Preschool before going to Rock Creek Elementary School, where he became a bus buddy who helped younger children get on the correct bus.
He then attended Northside Middle School, where he was voted as a peer leader in seventh and eighth grades. He played eighth-grade football, finishing the last game even after being in an auto accident and in pain the day before.
Gage then decided Columbus East High School had the classes he wanted. He played golf as a freshman.
He has been active in his community and in his Boy Scout troop. He has helped raise funds and has participated in the Hoosier Trails 5K fun run fundraiser that benefits Hoosier Trails Council. He has actively participated in the Elizabethtown Volunteer Fire Department fish fries with his father, Chris Dixon, every year since he was 8, and he and Troop 509 have done road cleanups in Elizabethtown.
Gage also is active in Boy Scouts in Lenni Lenape District in Order of the Arrow and continues to participate in special events at Camp Maumee, serving as kitchen help, ground cleanup projects, training camps and CPR certification and training.