Boy Scout paints playground map of the United States

Greg Becker has been fascinated with geography for as long as he can remember.

Even before the 15-year-old Wheaton North High School student learned to read, he had a favorite book: an atlas.

"When he was little and we would go to the zoo, I would give him the map and ask, 'How do we get there?'" recalled Mary Becker, Greg's mom.

So when Greg got the chance to merge geography with his other lifelong interest - Scouting - he decided to give something back to his former elementary school.

Greg, who has been involved with Cub Scouts and then Boy Scouts since kindergarten, is in the process of earning the prestigious Eagle Scout rank.

For his Eagle project, last week Greg led a group of friends and their parents in painting a 30-by-20-foot map of the United States on the playground at Longfellow Elementary School in Wheaton.

Originally, Greg was planning to do volunteer work. Then his mom suggested the map idea.

The only problem is that Greg doesn't consider himself an artist.

"At first, I thought it would be too hard," he said. "I thought I would be drawing the states out by hand."

But then Greg found the project could be done with the aid of stencils in the shapes of the states. That was much more doable, he said.

Still, Greg couldn't just rush out to Longfellow with a paint brush. He spent months planning the project and getting permission from the school.

As part of the map design, each state is assigned one of five colors. Illinois is a blue state, but that has nothing to do with politics.

The trick was making sure that none of the states with the same color touch. Over the course of several hours last week, Greg and his helpers painted the map, which shares blacktop space with nearby hopscotch and four square courts.

Mary Becker said she is pleased with the end result. "I am so proud of my son," she said. "He's done a really good job with it."

By design, the map doesn't have the states' names and capital cities aren't marked. That is so the map could be better used as a learning tool. Students can use chalk to write on the map.

To help Longfellow classes use the map right away, Greg put together a booklet of activities teachers can do with their students. One of Greg's favorite suggestions is to mark the location sports stadiums across the country.

Greg credits his love of geography to a map that was in his bedroom when he was growing up.

"It was just a normal map," he said. "But I would look at it before I went to sleep. It made a big impact on me."

Greg said he hopes Longfellow students will become interested in geography because of his Eagle project.

"Now they can run around on their own map of the United States," he said. "I think it's great."