It took a few months, several drafts and multiple municipal meetings, but Corbin Blanchard was able to complete his Eagle Scout project on Saturday.

Blanchard coordinated a project to revamp the boat ramp at Mary’s Pond on Perry’s Lane. What was recently just a dirt path down to the water is now paved with asphalt, lined with stone and wheelchair accessible.

The Eagle Scout project is the highest rank for a scout and requires each young man to exercise leadership and organizational skills.

“It really allows the boys to apply what they’ve learned in scouting. Soup to nuts, if there’s anything that has to be purchased, they have to hold their own fundraiser. They have to come up with materials and everything,” explained Mike Blanchard, the leader of Rochester’s Troop 31 and Corbin’s father.

For Corbin, a high school junior studying graphic design at Old Colony, the project took some legwork. After police Sgt. William Chamberlain suggested the ramp, he spoke with Highway Surveyor Jeff Eldridge and drew up a diagram. Eldridge offered up some concrete slabs that were leftover from the building project at Rochester Memorial School, which Corbin planned to fashion into stairs leading to the edge of the pond. Because the project is on state property, it had to be handicap accessible.

“They said, ‘this is a very nice diagram, but it’s a shame this isn’t going to work,’” said Corbin.

He went back to the drawing board, consulted with officials and opted for a sloped asphalt pathway instead.

In addition to getting state approval, Corbin went before the Conservation Commission for an OK since the ramp is located near wetlands.

Much of the project required professionals to execute it, so Corbin worked with Eldridge and companies associated with the Highway Department for the ramp’s grading and paving. On Saturday, Corbin’s troop finished the project by placing riprap donated by Eldridge along the sides of the ramp.

Now that the ramp is finished, Corbin has a lot of paperwork to do to get his official Eagle Scout designation.

“It’s like the doctorate of Boy Scouts, [but] it’s worth it in the end,” said his dad. “I’m proud of my boy.”

The troop has had several Eagle Scouts in the past several years, and including Corbin, there are four boys who are working on or will begin working on their projects within the year.

That’s a good number considering how few Boy Scouts make it to Eagle.

“About three and a half percent of all people in the Boy Scouts actually make it to Eagle. Those who make it from Tiger Scout to Eagle Scout is less than one percent,” said Mike.

Corbin, one of the senior patrol leaders for the troop, will soon be among that tiny number. The former Tiger Scout said he’s always enjoyed being a part of the group.

“I enjoy camping, and I just enjoy being with my friends,” Corbin said. “It brought me closer to this awesome group of guys.”

Completing his Eagle project is a milestone that means a lot to this almost lifelong scout.

“It takes all of the leadership skills that you’ve acquired during scouts, and it sort of throws it all out into one project where you can enact this in something that’s important for the community.”