The task for Nick Davis was simple. Find something with the greatest need and make it better.

And it turned out, he found the greatest need was in the basement of his parish, Good Samaritan Church in Ellijay.

Davis, who just turned 18, rounded up members of the church youth group and turned a storage room filled with cast-asides into a new youth center.

Out went the boxes and the dark blue walls. What emerged were brightly colored walls with toys loved by teens, a $400 foosball table donated by the Knights of Columbus, a video game system and donated furniture.

“It wasn’t a matter of if it would be done, it was a matter of when,” he said.

For his efforts, Davis received the Boy Scouts of America’s Eagle Scout award, the highest medal given by the organization. Davis received the Eagle Award in a Court of Honor presentation at his parish.

The recognition is a rare accomplishment. Only about 5 percent of all Boy Scouts achieve that goal.

Davis is a member of The Mountain District, part of the Northeast Georgia Council, Boy Scouts of America. The Scouting goals are citizenship training, character development and personal fitness.

Father Randy Mattox, pastor of Good Samaritan Church, said the project is a big help to get the teen program off the ground.

Now, they have a place of their own to meet that they helped put together, said Father Mattox.

“It’s very helpful. We didn’t know what to do with it,” he said about the storage room.

The church, about 75 miles north of Atlanta, has been a mission of St. Anthony Church, Blue Ridge, but was elevated to a parish in December. It serves about 160 registered families.

Davis, son of Nick and Mychelle Davis, earned the award after earning 28 merit badges and completing the service project.

The home-schooled 12th-grader was a member of Troop 75 in Marietta, Troop 7777 in Woodstock and Troop 402 of Ellijay. Davis plans to attend college next year. He has a couple of choices, but Belmont Abbey, a Catholic college near Charlotte, N.C., seems like a good prospect.

He started in Scouting 11 years ago, lured by the idea of camping outdoors. At 16, Davis was motivated to earn the Eagle rank knowing at 18 he would be too old for Scouts. He has two younger brothers, Mike and Sean, involved in Scouting.