sunshinescout

Thank you very much everyone for your guidance and perspective. I thought I'd add that my scoutmaster is actually on the Eagle Board of Reviews and project reviews for the district, so I'm hesitant to bring up concerns about the district scouters to him. I did mention their requirement for fundraising and the contradiction in the GTA, and his advice to me was to save time in getting the project approved and just do a fundraiser. I think he might either agree with the district or not want to contradict them to a scout, which I can respect. I ended up (very respectfully and matter of factly) expressly stating to project reviewers that I wasn't going to do a fundraiser. Some were unhappy, but one ended up approving it. @CynicalScouter I (and my family) ended up paying the nominal costs of the project. I think everything should be in order. @Owls_are_cool I'm sorry I was vague about that. I filled out the project proposal in the workbook, it was approved by the district, and only then did I start work. Definitely, I think I will have to have a conversation with the beneficiary and scoutmaster to make sure they are very happy with the project. I've also done so continually over the past couple of months, and they've said they don't have any concerns. @InquisitiveScouter Thank you! I did get the proposal from the workbook approved and the signature page complete. I've taken great care to stick to the proposal, and I've engaged younger scouts as my scoutmaster asked, and several older scouts (total about 6 scouts). My scoutmaster seems happy with this. I find it reassuring that National is there to help scouts. I'm just very nervous that despite following my approved proposal, the requirements, Guide to Advancement, and my scoutmaster and beneficiary's requests I still might be denied, but I think I've been reassured that it will be okay. @fred8033 I've only ever had success correcting (or more so getting around) adults by being very respectful and kind and appealing to their superior. I've met many adults that don't seem to want to follow the rules or be fair, so it's a skill I'd like to develop. I definitely don't want any dispute with the district, so I think I will just suck it up, hope for the best, and keep an appeal in my back pocket. Some of the scouters were quite degrading toward my project proposal (making it seem like I was lazy and incompetent about my project), and I think they might have the same take when it comes time for a Board of Review.

I'm a Life Scout working on my Eagle project. I wanted to get the advice of some experienced Scouters here. In my council, Eagle BORs and project reviews are done by the district. In my experience, both personally and talking to other scouts, the district Scouters do not faithfully follow the requirements or the Guide to Advancement. For example, some of them require fundraising for projects that don't need it (GTA 9.0.2.10 Fundraising Issues says otherwise), routinely reject project proposals that are mostly sound, call scouts back for multiple meetings, and ask for additional information outside of what the project workbook asks (GTA 9.0.2.7 says an effort should be made to have just one meeting and GTA 9.0.21 says "we will not require proposals to include more than described in the" workbook), among other inconsistencies. Some of the district Scouters also weren't very "helpful, friendly, courteous, kind" to me, or other scouts, by being overly critical and asking overly pointed questions, despite us doing our best to remain respectful. Several district representatives I spoke with at one of my project reviews didn't like my project (it's a little out of the box, but I've been assured by others that it is a fine project). My scoutmaster and beneficiary are pleased with the progress being made on the project and have assured me that I am on track to meet their expectations. I really like my scoutmaster and adults in my troop and have worked very well coordinating with my beneficiary., who's been very helpful. I'm very close to completing the project. However I'm worried that when it comes time for my Eagle board of review they will ask for me to redo the project or make changes, which again isn't consistent with the Guide to Advancement. (GTA 9.0.2.13 Evaluating the Project After Completion says that but I've been told that scouts have been sent back to do work to meet some of the district Scouters' arbitrary and varying definitions of "leadership.") Do you have any advice for me? Is my district typical of what you've seen in your experience? Can you provide any insight into appealing to council/national? Are they good at applying the Guide to Advancement and the requirement as written? I feel really badly that I have to worry about this as a Scout, and the randomness/arbitrary nature of my district's standards for Eagles seems unfair. It's added a lot of stress to my Eagle project, which I feel should be an enjoyable milestone of my scouting experience.