Dominique Claseman from Olivia, Minnesota, came to the Olivia City Council as a 15-year-old to discuss his plan to build a veterans memorial in his hometown. He even had architect drawings with him and space already picked out.
t was a huge project, but he was confident that people in the community would want to donate to something like it.
Two years later, his vision finally became a reality.
On Memorial Day, hundreds of people gathered for the dedication of the new veterans memorial in Olivia, completed by Dominique as his Eagle Scout project a few weeks shy of his 17th birthday.“The memorial before you is the result of the generosity and support that I, and the veterans of community, have received,” the young man said in his speech.
Ron Kopacek, who headed up the dedication’s honor guard, was impressed by how Dominique managed to do it.“Fifteen years old, sophomore in high school, he’s going to raise $12,000 to $15,000 we’re thinking, ‘What? Really?’”But the dedicated teen said he questions himself on how he even did it sometimes.