Eagle Project Guidelines - Avoid the Maze!

Eagle Scout Projects are actually very simple; any Scout can complete a project without a lot of fuss if he avoids the maze.

There is a whole lot of opaque, misdirected and downright wrong advice out there. Much of it may come from district or council level Advancement Chairpersons.

Despite their best intentions these folks have erected a maze of confusing, contradicting directions that can leave Scouts and Scouters feeling frustrated. One major way to avoid the maze is to ignore (that’s right ignore) anything but what is said in two documents – The Eagle Project Workbook and the Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures book. For some reason many Councils and Districts have issued an annotated version of the Eagle Project Workbook with oft times misguided information. In effect they have added (hardly ever subtracted) to the simple verbiage that describes an Eagle Project. A clean,current copy of the manual is always available at the National Eagle Scout Association website . If it is not in this manual it is not National Policy – enough said. The 2008 printing of the Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures book is available here as a PDF document.

Eagle projects are discussed on page 27-28. A careful, literal reading of this section will dispel many myths and urban legends. Here are three persistent questions that have simple answers: Are there a minimum number of hours for the project?

Answer: no.

There is no minimum number of hours that must be spent on carrying out the project. The amount of time spent must be sufficient for the Scout to clearly demonstrate leadership skills. ACPP Pg. 28 Can the District or Council make special rules or amend the requirements for projects?

Answer: no. The project must also be reviewed and approved by the district or council advancement committee or their designee to make sure that it meets the stated standards for Eagle Scout service projects before the project is started. ACPP Pg. 28 No council, district, unit, or individual has the authority to add to or subtract from advancement requirements. ACPP Pg. 3 If, in the course of planning, executing or reporting on an Eagle Project you are told something that does not make sense it probably is not official policy. Ask, politely, to see the policy any document published by the BSA- if it isn’t there it isn’t true.