Eagle Scout on ScoutmasterCG Archive

To Parents at an Eagle Court of Honor

Tue, 04 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s an idea of what can be said at an Eagle Court of Honor to help parents understand their role in Scouting. This is a big day, and it all goes by fast.

Before we go any further; mom and dad, take a moment to look at your Scout. A Scout goes through uncertain times to get to a day like today. Take a moment to think about every boy who becomes a Scout. As a crowd, they are predictable. As individuals, well, you never quite know. Who knows what they’ll be thinking and doing today? They wake up in a new world every morning.

Another Eagle Scout Imbroglio

Sat, 19 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I’m not going to go into all the particulars here. It’s really all too familiar. A Scoutmaster with a diseased ego browbeating a Scout. The district advancement chairman won’t stand up to the bully. The Scout and his parents have decided to move ahead and appease the Scoutmaster. The real problem is that the Scoutmaster has said some pretty mean things and the Scout is agonizing over them.

Your mom and dad and I have been exchanging emails over this whole Eagle Scout thing. Here are some thoughts that I hope will help you make sense of the situation.

The 13 year-old Eagle?

Wed, 16 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Ask Andy answers a question about the 13 year-old Eagle and “delaying the earning of Eagle till Scouts are older and more mature… ” A bit of ancient history: I made Eagle at 15; my brother at 14; both of us stayed active in our Troop and in Scouting right up to 18, and then became ASMs (I went on to become Scoutmaster of the same Troop I’d earned my Tenderfoot badge in!). More recently, I’ve sat on Eagle boards for 17 years olds who drop out right after their Court of Honor, and 13 year olds who stay in and active for the next 4 or more years, and everything in between. In other words, something other than merely earning Eagle is operating here, and I’ll tell you from experience exactly what it is: It’s the myth that “Eagle is the ‘end of the trail’.” Too many of us who should know better are out there telling Scouts (and their parents) that Eagle is “The Ultimate,” that “Making Eagle is a Life Goal,” that “This is the PINNACLE of Scouting.”

What is an Eagle Scout?

Sun, 25 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Asking “what is an Eagle Scout?” sparks interesting conversations among Scouters. This question got me wrapped around my own axle for a few years; but not anymore.

Conversations about Eagle Scout commonly unfold like an operatic libretto. The curtain rises on the chorus singing about how once proud standards have fallen because now just anyone can be an Eagle Scout.

Stories of overzealous parents, twelve year-old Eagles (good lord twelve !), and other “grave concerns and injustices” unfold dramatically to advance the theme. In the finale the basso-profundo aria; “Well, we really make our Scouts earn Eagle, we aren’t an Eagle Factory (the chorus gasps in horror) like that troop across town.” A standing ovation, and the curtain falls until the next performance. As a new Scoutmaster (mind you, this was thirty years ago) I was in the audience listening to old Scouters sing their aria of complaint.

Keeping the Trail to Eagle Clear.

Fri, 17 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Scoutmaster's Minute - Eagle & Peacock

Sun, 31 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Eagles and peacocks are both impressive looking birds.

Peacocks are known for their elegant, showy, appearance, and for strutting around and their impressive display of feathers; “proud as a peacock”. If you’ve ever spotted an eagle in the wild you’d agree they are an impressive sight. A symbol of power, nobility and freedom the eagle’s flight through human history is steeped in myth and legend.

Assyrian carvings blended the lion and the eagle – a symbol that spread to Greece where Herodotus believed the griffin lived in the mountains of India, where it made a nest of gold.

Eagle Scoutmaster Conference

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Google the title of this post and you’ll find some pretty elaborate plans and opinions for the Eagle Scoutmaster conference. Some of them leave me thinking I should don a wizard’s robes and start boiling up some eye of newt because I am about to do something magical and mysterious.

There’s nothing magical or mysterious about it – it’s another (if more momentous) Scoutmaster conference. The Scout I will speak to tonight has completed all his requirements and is four days away from his eighteenth birthday. He called a moment ago to tell me he’s ready. It’s early July and we have pretty informal meetings at the local park (informal meaning that we get together and play ultimate Frisbee for an hour and a half). He and I will sit at a picnic table, neither of us will be in uniform and I’ll sign things while we chat. No magic robes, or top hats or brass bands – just talking to one of my Scouts.

How I would Change Eagle Required Merit Badges

Sat, 10 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Reading the requirements for sustainability merit badge got me to thinking about merit badges as tools to achieve the aims of Scouting in general and Eagle required merit badges in particular.

Faithful readers will understand that I like to think about these things and write about possibilities, take it all with a grain of salt.

Before diving in I’d also like to reiterate that I am not an official of the BSA, just a Scoutmaster with a blog.

Top 10 Reasons Eagle Applications are Rejected

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a list of the most common reasons that Eagle applications are rejected once they reach the national office. Most of these problems should be weeded out at the Troop, District and Council levels but apparently some applications make it to the national level with errors that result in delays: No Council Number on Application This requires the application to be removed from the daily work stack and placed in a special file until time is alloted to perform council lookups.

Eagle Project Guidelines - Avoid the Maze!

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Why Life to Eagle Guides?

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Why would anyone need a “Life to Eagle Guide”? 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 .

Fledge Eagle Scout

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

In ornithology ‘fledge’ generally means independence of the chick from parents; a young bird whose feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight.

Fledge is also a term that describes raising a young bird.

Ornithologists apply the term differently to individual species because individual species develop differently. Our Scouts develop individually too. Each one is a bit different than his fellow Scouts, has his own strengths and weaknesses. So when a boy is a fledge Eagle Scout there is an assumption of independence in his work. He will benefit from encouragement but only he can really spread his wings and fly; however halting or awkward those first flights must be. Our instinct as parents and adult Scouters is to help him – but we have to measure the help we lend carefully for the process to work as it should.

What Makes an Eagle Scout?

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s what makes an Eagle Scout; A Scout completes the requirements as issued by the B.S.A. and is approved by a duly constituted board of review. That’s it. So what about those oft discussed and argued qualities like maturity and leadership ability and active service? All of these things are embodied in the requirements – they are not requirements in and of themselves: Maturity To make it to a board of review for Eagle a Scout has had the following experiences: He has earned 21 Merit Badges. He has served a minimum of 16 months in a leadership position. He’s been camping for a bare minimum of 24 nights. He’s proposed, planned and carried out an Eagle service project. He’s had a minimum of seven Scoutmaster conferences and five boards if review. It is theoretically possible that a Scout could hoodwink all of his merit badge counselors, all the members of his boards of review, all of the Scouts and leaders who have signed his advancement requirements and the Scoutmaster. Many things are theoretically possible but that doesn’t mean they are likely.

24 Hours left to get "Stuff Adult Leader's Say" tee shirt

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

First of all – I apologize if you’ve had enough of the nutty tee-shirt thing!

I have tried to balance keeping everyone informed with being irritating; hopefully I have kept it below the point of being too terribly aggravating. Wow!

There’s been a big flurry of pledges to tee-shirt project on Kickstarter that will include 200 things that adult leaders say over and over again. You can read about the whole thing here and pledge to secure your shirts at Kickstarter . On Wednesday we had the project 52% funded and by today it is up to 83%!

Paul Siple - Eagle Scout

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Paul Siple, a nineteen year-old Eagle Scout in Erie, Pennsylvania, was one of thousands who applied to join Admiral Byrd’s expedition in 1928. Byrd asked the Boy Scouts of America to help him select one Scout to take on the year and a half exploration of Antarctica.

Local committees vetted applications and forwarded 88 to the national office.

These 88 were winnowed down to six candidates who would meet with Byrd in New York City. Paul Siple’s considerable accomplishments as a Scout and his extensive experience camping put him in the final six. The candidates submitted to ten days of rigorous testing and extensive interviews with various experts. The experts issued their recommendations but Byrd ingeniously settled the question of who would be selected for the expedition by asking the candidates themselves.

Quality of an Eagle Scout

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

One of the more common emails I receive concerns the frustrations of Scoutmaster’s who are faced with a boy they just don’t consider has done enough, cares enough or is good enough to become an Eagle Scout. They want to know what to do.

There’s a big difference between my idealized Eagle Scout and what’s required to earn the rank.

I realized this after twenty or thirty of my Scouts earned Eagle and none of them perfectly matched my expectations. The next twenty or thirty haven’t either. So it goes. In the end my expectations (and yours too) are unimportant – when a Scout meets the requirements he is an Eagle Scout. Each does it in their own way, on their own terms. Some are terrifically frustrating and nonchalant about the way their selfishness affects other people but they somehow complete the requirements anyway.

Avoiding Eagle Scout Problems - Part 4 -The Eagle Project

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Avoiding Eagle Scout Problems - Part 2

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Scoutmasters need to understand what makes Scouting different from everything else – why young men and women have been Scouts all over the world for the past century. If they take the time to do this they’ll avoid most Eagle Scout problems.

Scouting’s founder Baden-Powell envisioned a movement that would give everyone the opportunity to challenge and achievement based not on a single standard of performance but on a highly individualized, internalized standard. (Read Baden-Powell’s thoughts on this here). If we can encourage Scouts to define, internalize and follow an internal standard of acheivement we will have given them an set of skills that will immeasurably enrich their lives and communities. Like many Scoutmasters I was initially frustrated by the lack of measurable metrics in Scouting. Just what is Scout Spirit? What percentage of meetings or camp outs must a Scout attend to be considered active? How does one measure the effectiveness of someone’s leadership?

Eagle Court of Honor

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Scout Ken Ryan was scoutmaster of Troop 12 for thirty years and decided to retire the year I became Scoutmaster. Ken visited a troop meeting once or twice a year and maintained his registration with the troop until he died a couple of years ago. When invited to attend our Eagle Court of Honor Ken demurred.

I pressed him on it and he said: “When I was a boy and got my Eagle (that would have been in the nineteen thirties) I went to a troop meeting, my Scoutmaster handed be the badge and shook my hand.. ” At this point Ken raised both hands as if in benediction and concluded with; “… that was it.”

Eagle Projects

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

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. When the candidate is led by the hand past the difficulties and pitfalls it is tantamount to shouldering his pack on a hike; he completes the hike but misses the hiking itself. If the completing an Eagle project is seen nearly as a means to an end we miss the intention altogether. The process is complex and challenging for a reason; the candidate must demonstrate the capabilities required to bring it to completion independently.