Photo Exhibit of Westchester County Airport History Created by Scarsdale Scout/Cadet
- Sunday, 17 March 2019 14:06
- Last Updated: Monday, 18 March 2019 19:24
- Published: Sunday, 17 March 2019 14:06
- Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 5548
Noah Cooperman, Steve Ferguson, Joel Shkedy in front of the informational plaques Cooperman created for the observation room at Westchester Country AirportAviation and history buffs can enjoy a new photo exhibit of the early years of Westchester County Airport created by a Boy Scout from Scarsdale Troop 4 who is also member of Westchester Cadet Squadron 1 of the Civil Air Patrol. The exhibit can be viewed online, and selected photos are now on display as informational plaques in the observation room on the airport’s third floor.
Troop 4 Boy Scouts John Ceske, David George, and Noah Cooperman preparing wood to become informational plaques.
The Scout, Noah Cooperman, a junior at Scarsdale High School, had befriended Joel Shkedy, an Operations Specialist at the airport during an airport mock disaster drill in which Noah was a volunteer. When it was time for Noah to develop an Eagle Scout service project, he knew he wanted it to benefit the airport. “Joel took me around the airport to come up with ideas for the project. Toward the end of the tour, he introduced me to Steve Ferguson, Assistant Manager of the airport. Mr. Ferguson told me he had been hoping someone would digitize an amazing scrapbook of the airport’s early history, and so the project was launched.”
Scarsdale Troop 4 Boy Scouts Noah Cooperman and Wyatt Coleman reviewing historical photos to be archived with Westchester County Airport Operations Specialist Joel Shkedy. With the assistance of fellow scouts from his troop, Noah photographed all 140 pages of the large, fraying scrapbook and uploaded them for public viewing in as an online photo album. He then selected 25 photographs and created informational slides about each that are also available online. Ten of these were picked by airport management to become informational plaques now on view at the airport. Cooperman created the plaques by hand leading a team of scouts as well as cadets from his squadron.
