Eagle Projects

You’ve used an iterative process before … … whether you know it or not. Iteration means trying something out in a slightly or wholly different way if it does not succeed when first tried. I have some email questions to answer this week and one got me thinking about iteration. Scouting is an iterative process, we repeat the same class of experiences in an effort to gain knowledge and that knowledge foments growth, it goes very deep, but the practice is very simple....

The B.S.A. has published a helpful guide – Navigating the Eagle Scout Service Project Information for Project Beneficiaries – that defines the way an Eagle Project works from the perspective of the benefiting organization. Key elements of the process are explained : The Eagle Scout Rank and the Service Project Typical Projects Project Restrictions and Limitations Approving the Project Proposal and Project Scheduling Approving Final Plans Permits, Permissions, and Authorizations Supervision Project Completion and Approval Much needless confusion and difficulty over the Eagle project can be avoided if everyone involved takes the time to read and understand resources about the whole process of proposing, approving and reviewing an Eagle project....

My son passed his Eagle board of review in late September and I was invited to join the district advancement committee to review Eagle projects in mid-October. A few days later, the new advancement book was released, so I’ve been reviewing it in detail. These changes are now in force. The BSA Advancement Resources page has links to the 2011 Guide to Advancement and the 2011 Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook....

Do we need “Life to Eagle Guides”? We already have a Scout Handbook and an Eagle Project Workbook – any Scout can understand and work their way through the trail to Eagle with these resources alone. Yet every Council and District seems to have ‘resources’ that are often confusing and often contain information that is contradictory to both the letter and spirit of National policy. Visit the National Eagle Scout Association website....

Open the Eagle Scout Project Workbook (opens PDF file) and you will find about 2 1/2 half pages of instructions about conducting the project written in less than 1000 words (966 to be exact). Google the words “Eagle Scout Project” and you’ll get about 1.4 million references. Avoid Eagle Scout problems by reading only the 966 words in the workbook. If you think this is adequate advice stop reading now and move on....

Reaching the rank of Eagle Scout is a laudable and challenging goal for any boy, and we ought to keep the trail to Eagle clear. In many instances the process has been clouded by a self-appointed priesthood pledged to ‘maintain standards’ and ‘the integrity of the award’. They most often do this by unethically and incorrectly adding to the requirements in subtle and not so subtle ways. Perhaps it is a local anomaly but we seem to have an inordinately difficult time with the approval of projects, conduct of boards of review and a high degree of nit picking....

There is a cottage industry of advice, methods, plans, presentations, and seminars concerning Eagle projects that resembles that for college applications. In an attempt to improve the outcome these machinations compromise the process at the heart of an Eagle project. Developing, presenting, obtaining approval for, executing and reporting on an Eagle project is a complex problem to solve. Many are eager to offer well-intended assistance to make things easier but in doing so they undermine the initiative, determination and skill required by the process....