DIXFIELD — Library patrons will find
the computer and book room much warmer this winter thanks to an Eagle
Scout project organized and completed by scout and 2009 Dirigo High School graduate Brandyn Cloutier.

With the help of his parents, Gena and
Ernie, brother Joel, grandmother, and several other scouting
friends, Brandyn painted the bathrooms and stairways, and caulked and
shimmed eight windows.

“There were big gaps that let the
cold air in. We couldn’t move them up or down,” said librarian
Peggy Malley.

Cloutier said the idea came from his mother who is on the Ludden
Memorial Library Board of Trustees. He was looking for a project to
complete his eight-year scouting career, and the library needed some
work done.

He said the windows were taken apart,
then put back together again, this time with the shimming and
caulking.

At first, he and his mother thought the
glass didn’t provide enough barrier to the cold and were thinking of
covering them with see-through plastic, but once the windows were
disassembled, he saw that very few had either caulking or shimming.

The group devoted nearly 80 hours to
the work.

He first presented his proposal to
Malley, then to the Pine Tree Boy Scout Counsel. Once approved, he
began gathering the paint and materials needed to complete the work.

“It needed to be done,” he said.

Cloutier, 17, leaves for college next
week. He will attend Mount Ida College in Newton, Mass. and study
fashion merchandising and marketing.

But first, he plans to install shades
in the bow window of the children’s section of the library, a room,
said Malley, that becomes very hot because it faces the east sun.

She said the main part of the library
had become so cold during the winter months that one of the part-time
library employees used a windowsill to keep her yogurt cold.

“It’s awesome that they did such a
great job. It was very neat and professional, and because the room
will be a lot warmer this year, I expect to save money on fuel. And
that helps the town and the taxpayers,” she said.

Cloutier will return from college to go
before the Scouting Board of Review, then again for his Court of
Honor. He’s not sure when either event will be scheduled.

Cloutier believes his years in scouting
have produced great accomplishments.

“I like how it showed me leadership
and to make the best of every situation. I learned commitment to stay
with something and to push myself,” he said.

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Brandyn Cloutier led an Eagle Scout project that resulted in windows that are not only better shields against the winter weather, but can also be opened and closed. With him his Ludden Memorial Library librarian Peggy Malley.