Way to Go: Peter Levchuck, Garden City

A Garden City teenager has embraced his heritage by helping to beautify a local museum.

Peter Levchuck, a Boy Scout who is a junior at Chaminade High School in Mineola, recently completed a series of improvements to the Polish American Museum in Port Washington as part of the community service facet of attaining Eagle Scout rank.

The work, which spanned six weeks, included painting eight exhibition rooms, planting 200 tulip bulbs, installing an irrigation system and creating a website for the museum.

"Being Polish, it's inspirational to see the history in the museum," said Levchuck, 17. Of the museum officials' reaction to his work, he said: "They were over the moon. It's really rewarding."

To fund the projects, Levchuck asked relatives and friends for donations and placed an advertisement in a community newspaper. He was awarded certificates of recognition for his efforts by both the museum and Nassau County.

More recently, Levchuck has assisted fellow Scouts on their community service projects, which range from restoration work at local churches to hanging artificial beehives at the Garden City Bird Sanctuary.

Levchuck is an editor on his school's newspaper and a member of the Drama Club, the Glee Club and the National Honor Society.