When it came time for Alex and Nick Lagerberg, both 16, to choose Eagle Scout projects, they each chose something that would give back. The Springfield residents were adopted from Russia as young children. Nick’s project benefited their orphanage, while Alex’s extended a hand to needy area children. Now, Alex and Nick are looking beyond their high school years at Lake Braddock Secondary School, to joining ROTC at college and going into law and foreign affairs careers. They are this week’s People Profile.
How long have you lived in the Springfield area? Alex: Twelve years.
Family. Alex: I have a mom, dad and a sister.
Favorite school subjects. Alex: History and English. I get good grades in those classes,
Nick: History and geometry. I want to be a history teacher when I retire, and geometry I’m just good at.
Activities/interests/hobbies. Alex: Basketball, designing pictures. I like to collect nice sunglasses.
Nick: I like playing on the computer, and I like soccer and basketball, and football.
Describe your Eagle Scout projects. Alex: I went to Inova Fairfax Hospital, and I supervised the handing out of gifts to needy children … it was around Christmas of ‘05, it was a Secret Santa.
Nick: I was adopted when I was 4, and I felt like giving back to the orphanage. I got toiletries and clothing, coats and stuff and sent it there. Raytheon shipped them out, it was pretty expensive. It was 16 boxes.
Any major challenges in the projects? Nick: Just getting the word out.
How did you start in the Scouts and what sort of experiences have you had in Scouts? Nick: I was a Tiger Cub, then switched to my church scouting program. We did a 50-mile hike along the Appalachian Trail. We started at Harper’s Ferry and just went downwards. We did it in five days.
Post high-school plans: Alex: Army ROTC, then leave as an officer and go into foreign affairs. I want to be more involved in the world.
Nick: Get a job. After school, I want to work in landscaping just till I go to college. In college I want to go into the ROTC to get through college. I hope to be an officer for five years and then I am going to be a lawyer. I want to do criminal law.
Music: Alex: Rap, mostly what’s on the radio right now. I mostly like Li’l Wayne.
Nick: Anything that’s out right now. I don’t like country, though.
What do you like or dislike most about living in the Springfield area? Alex: The area is OK, it’s just the school system. I don’t like the grading system [where] 93 is an A. It shows how much harder Fairfax County students work.
Nick: I don’t like the high grading system.
If you could change one thing about the community, what would it be? Alex: Age restrictions, for getting jobs and things like that, going to clubs. At the gym you have to be 16 to go in without your parents.
Nick: Lower the price of houses.
What is the last book you read or the last movie you watched? Alex: The last movie I watched was "Spider-Man [3]". I really liked it; I wanted to see it. For school I read "Taming of the Shrew." My favorite book is "The Gadget" [by Paul Zindel]. It’s about the atomic bomb, historical fiction … the boy is there with his father, and his father is the guy in charge of making the atomic bomb. He watches the tests on it.
Nick: "Band of Brothers." It’s really good, I like it. It’s pretty intense. The last book for school was "The Catcher in the Rye."
If you could go anywhere in the U.S. on a road trip, where would you go? Alex: I’d leave from Orlando and go to Hollywood. Oh yeah, and I want to do it on a sports bike.
Nick: I’d start here and go to San Diego. On a Jeep Wrangler, something I can off-road in.
Personal goals. Alex: Go to college, get married. Live a good life.
Nick: Graduate. Live to the second coming. Get married, have a wife and three kids.
— Lea Mae Rice