Buzz Aldrin Reach for the Moon Eagle Project

Hi, my name’s Christian Uva. I’m a junior at Montclair High School and a Boy Scout in Troop 13 Montclair working on my Eagle project, and I'm looking for donations  to help fund it. For my project I'm creating an information board about Buzz Aldrin—Montclair’s man on the moon. It’s aimed at inspiring kids to achieve great things and it will be located near the Edgemont Park playground. The board will talk about the different parts of Aldrin’s life, including his childhood here in Montclair and his accomplishments at NASA, but the main message is to inspire kids to work hard and follow their dreams. When I first found out that Buzz Aldrin, one of the first people to land on the moon, grew up a few blocks from my house, walked the same school halls I did, and was even a Boy Scout like I am, it made me feel like I could accomplish great things just as he did because he was once a kid from Montclair like me. I want to share that same message with Montclair kids in the future and help inspire them to pursue their passion, whether it be in space or anywhere else here on earth.

I'm researching and creating the content on the board by myself, and then working with a team of scouts, teachers and journalists to review and edit the content before publishing it. I've been planning this project with the town of Montclair and the Friends of Edgemont Park, and I've gotten permission from both of them to move ahead. To make that happen, I’m going to need you to help by donating whatever you can; any amount helps, even if it’s just a few dollars. I need to raise $2,000 by April to be able to pay for the board and other construction materials. I'm planning on installing the board in the late spring to early summer. Again, anything you can give is greatly appreciated. Thank you for helping!

This is a project that's near and dear to me. I've been a space geek since I was two years old when I first saw a space shuttle launch on TV, and first learned about the moon landings and that Buzz Aldrin came from my town. That sparked my love of space. I spoke out to rename Mt. Hebron Middle School, where I was a 6th grader, in his honor because I knew how important that school was to him. Even after the school renaming, I hope to continue honoring him in his home town with this project, and this time I'm hoping to capture the imagination of children the way I was captivated by space at a young age. This is a photo of me with Dr. Aldrin taken during his book tour when I was four years old. I think, if I remember correctly, I was talking about orbital rendezvous with Dr. Rendezvous himself.


Below are three photos to help illustrate what I'm planning: the first is the board model I'm planning to use (it's an example photo from the board manufacturer's website and the content has nothing to do with Buzz Aldrin), the second is an overhead view of the board's location in Edgemont Park, and the third is a photo of me standing roughly where the board will go. Also, the banner photo at the top of this page isn't a perfect representation of the final product, but rather a rough rendering to show where it will go in the park and how it will look.