Who needs to help with Eagle Project

[Just Asking]

My son's Eagle project required skilled labor and thus he did not enlist the help of the troop in building it. Those who helped were his father (an engineer), an electrician, the town public works department, a fellow scout (also a friend) when non-skilled labor was needed, the scout's father (an assistant scoutmaster), and his younger brother. Is there any requirement that more members of the troop must help with the Eagle project? His scoutmaster seems upset that there was not more troop involvement. He wouldn't sign off on requirement 5 (service project) during the scoutmaster conference until my son updated his Service Project Workbook work log by updating specifically who helped during each work session rather than a count of how many people helped. The "who" was in his project plan. Once he updates who worked when, will there be any reason that the scoutmaster would have for failing requirement 5? I would think passing his Board of Review would meet requirement 5.

[Beavah]

Hi Just Asking,

 

Almost every final project BOR I have been on expected a detailed accounting of work time by individual, so that's not unusual, eh? Same as expecting a detailed accounting of revenues and expenses.

 

The concern whenever it's an "all adult" work crew is whether and how the boy showed leadership. Could the adults have done this project on their own? Did they "take up the slack" and provide too much support, as adults (especially parents) often do? Did the boy really recruit them as "skilled labor" or did they step in?

 

I think it's a reasonable thing for the SM to ask, and a good thing to prepare the boy for. His BOR will ask him those questions, and good boards "look more closely" at a situation like this. If yer right in sayin' that these helpers were part of his (already approved) project plan, then there shouldn't be too much problem as long as the boy himself did as much work as any of his "workers" and made use of good opportunities to demonstrate leadership. The SM is just doin' the job he's supposed to do - verify that the boy was really in charge, and prepare the boy for the questions he might get at his BOR.

 

Now what happens at da BOR really depends on what the boy says and on the evidence, eh? He's got to make a case that this was really "his" start to finish - not a family project, not a public works dept. project, and that he really faced leadership decisions. Sometimes, a board will send a boy back to do a bit more to really show independence and leadership. That's rare, but it's OK, eh? It's a good thing for kids to learn to work hard to meet all expectations, even if it means some extra effort.

 

And in Boy Scoutin' there's no such thing as "failing requirement 5". There's just, "Hey, Bill, you've done a good job so far, now here's where you've still got a bit more left to go." No failure, just not yet there. As a parent, don't turn it into a failure for him by makin' it that in your eyes. With your encouragement and support of both him and his SM, I expect he'll get through the process just fine, and in a way that you both are proud of.

 

Beavah

 

[evmori]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here & assume (hate doing that) the original plans submitted to the District Advancement Chair spelled out thee type of labor necessary to complete the project. If my assumption is correct, the SM is just getting huffy because the Troop wasn't involved. The Eagle candidate could have gotten the Troop involved helping with other tasks but chose not to. That's his option.

 

To answer the question the thread title is asking - Those that can aid in successful completion of the project.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[Beavah]

Yah, Ed, but da troop committee and SM had to sign off on the project proposal as well as the district, eh? So they had to have seen it. Seems like there was still some difference in expectations. Maybe the lad cut down on things a bit? Or replaced some troop workers with some "skilled" workers along the way?

 

Hard to say from afar, but I don't see the SM as gettin' "huffy." Just doesn't seem like it's too unusual, or will be too much of a problem for the lad. Nuthin' more than adults doin' their job. Or at least we shouldn't assume anything bad without more to go on, eh?

 

 

[eisely]

I concur that there is essentially no limitation as to who can work on an Eagle project. I also concur that an accouting of hours by name is part of the package. This is particularly important if other scouts do participate and need the service hour credits. In my experience, most eagle projects are executed on schedules that are separate and apart from when it may be convenient for scouts from the boy's troop to help out. Our eagle candidates routinely advertise their schedules within the troop and solicit help, but there is no arbitrary limitation on other participants helping out.