A 17-year-old Boy Scout is turning a service requirement into a project that honors his family's past.

Joseph Lazarus of Wareham will be fixing up the Agawam Cemetery with the help of family, friends, and his fellow Boy Scouts starting in the early fall.

Lazarus wants to fix the cemetery because of the history it shares with his family.

"Many of my family members are buried there. There is so much history there," Lazarus said.

Four generations of family members starting from Lazarus's grandmother have lived in Wareham, he said. Lazarus said he knows of 11 family members that are buried at the cemetery.

Even the road in front of the cemetery, called Stillman Memorial Drive, shares a relationship with his family, said Lazarus's grandmother Evelyn Hickey.

Raymond D. Stillman, whom the road is named after, was Hickey's mother's doctor, she said.

"I'm a big history fan," said Lazarus, "so the bigger aspect of [the project] is pretty cool."

Lazarus is also a Boy Scout in Troop 44 located in nearby Pocasset. He is currently a Life Scout, the second-highest rank in the Boy Scout ranking system.

Lazarus is fixing up the cemetery to fulfill a requirement needed to achieve the highest rank of Eagle Scout.

Lazarus will be repairing the stone wall, cleaning up weeds, repainting the gates to the lower cemetery entrance, and even repairing a damaged "M" on the sign for "Agawam Cemetery."

He will enlist the help of a Scout leader who is a stone mason to help repair the wall.

Lazarus said he wants his project "to be beneficial to the community."

"[To] just basically make the Town of Wareham look better," he said, adding later, "It shows people care."

Lazarus will soon be a senior at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School where he is concentrating in Environmental Science, he said.

He also works three summer jobs. He is a Waterways Assistant at the Town of Falmouth Harbor Master Department. He is a Teaching Assistant at the Woods Hole Child Center. And he is a Dishwasher at Hollyberry's Restaurant in Monument Beach in Bourne.

Lazarus still needs to get approval to complete his project from Wareham's Board of Selectmen. He appeared before the Board on Tuesday to ask for that permission.

The Selectmen still need to iron out the details involved in approving the project, but were otherwise enthused about the project.

"It is a true joy that we have young people such as yourself in a community," said Selectman Cara Winslow, adding later, "We'll get this moving in the right direction for you."