By: April Yan

When 17-year-old Dominique Claseman discovered that his hometown of Olivia, Minnesota didn’t have a veteran’s memorial, he decided to act and build one himself.

Olivia, a small town with many veterans is nicknamed the “corn capital of the world.” Thus, when Dominique noticed that there were no veteran memorial statues, he wanted to make one to honor their sacrifices.

He also wanted to take the initiative because his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all served in the military.

“It’s just never-ending,” he had said about his family’s roots in the military.

Claseman’s journey began when it was time to pick his Eagle Scouts project, and he felt that building Olivia’s first veterans memorial by himself would be the best idea.

His father, Mark Jurgensen, said it was natural that his son had such ambitious plans.

Jurgensen works as the Scoutmaster of his son’s troop. “I told Dominique when he was starting to kind of talk about his Eagle Scout project that because he’s the Scoutmaster’s son that he needs to go big or go home,” he said to NPR.

When Claseman started his project, he first looked at veteran memorial structures in other places. Then, he brainstormed ideas and picked the best design he thought would work for the memorial.

“I was originally picturing just a walkway with 21 boot steps and pavers on the side, along with a main stone and a couple flags,” Claseman said.

Believing it would take about $15,000 to build, he started a fundraiser. However, because Eagle Scout projects did not allow digital communications, Claseman launched flyer campaigns and spoke at local events instead of using charity fundraising sites online.

“Pretty much it was either word-of-mouth or going door to door,” Claseman said.

But his methods worked much better than he had expected. His community supported the idea of a veteran’s memorial and was willing to donate.

When the fundraising ended, he’d raised exactly $77,777 for the project. Since there was extra money, Claseman improved the design to fit the larger budget and got to work building it.

The finished memorial was shown to the public on Memorial Day and features 280 engraved pavers leading to flag poles and places to sit, surrounded by landscaped plants.

“By the time everything was said and done, he definitely went big,” laughed Jurgensen.

During the ceremony, his neighbors told him how much they liked what he had done for the town. “There’s one person that came up to me, and they said that they are so happy to see this,” Claseman said. “They’ve been living in this town for 10 to 15 years, and they were waiting for something like this to even happen.”

Claseman’s favorite part of the memorial was the footprints engraved upon the concrete. “Claseman’s favorite part of the memorial are the 21 boot prints stamped into concrete leading to the flag poles, made to represent the 21-gun salute. His father helped him by putting on the combat boots he wore when he served and making the prints.”

Ambitious as ever, Dominique Claseman has already begun planning for his next project as an Eagle Scout.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/08/07/1115439580/veterans-memorial-fundraiser-minnesota-eagle-scouts