Eagle Packet - Requirement 6 Statement of life purpose and ambitions

[Advisor Greg]

I am seeking guidance/maybe an example or two of what would be adequate to meeting this requirement. My personal opinion might be no less than an 8-1/2 page and maybe no more than 3 pages.

[Eamonn]

Hi and Welcome to the forum.

This is a for the Scout chance to tell us what he plans to do with your life. What his interests are, what

he might want to study, what profession he may wish to pursue, what hobbies he thinks you will continue, and so forth?

When my son did this he said he wanted to be a teacher, mentioned what colleges he was going to attend and mentioned that he was interested in computers and Scouting. He added that he wanted one day to get married and have a family.

Be careful that you allow the Scout to say what he wants to say and not what might be expected for him to say!!

Eamonn.

[mdutch]

I'd be careful making requirements like that. It simply needs to do the job. As my teachers throughout school have also answered when us students have asked how long a paper should be, "Long enough to answer the question". If the answer they give was long enough for the SM to get an idea of the scouts life purpose and ambitions, then it is good. And if it isn't long enough,perhaps that just mean there are more things that can be talked about at the SMC and the BOR.

[evmori]

It can be one line, one paragraph or one volume. There is no required length & requiring one is adding to the requirements.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

A blessed Christmas to all

[Trevorum]

Greg,

Welcome to the forums! I'd agree with mea's answer that the essay should be long enough to answer the question, and also with Ed's caution against interreting the requirement FOR the Scout. I've often been asked this question, and I generally tell the candidate to approach it as if it was an essay for English Class on which they really, really needed to get an "A". That said, I've seen answers as short as 2 paragraphs and as long as 2 pages.

 

As an aside, I think this is the most overlooked requirement for Eagle. It's sorta buried in the application - fine print if you will - and is a pretty good indication of how well the candidate has prepared for the SM conference. At least three times, I have had to postpone conferences that had begun when the candidate discovered he did not have his ducks in a row afer all.

 

[packsaddle]

Yes, welcome to the forums.

The length is mostly for the boy to decide. I've never seen anything longer than two pages nor shorter than 1/2 page. The statement is useful to engage the boy in later discussions about his life interests. I've never seen a wrong or insufficient answer to this requirement.

[Venividi]

Advisor Greg,

 

If you receive a statement that is well written, it will be easy to recognize. If the statement looks to you like not much thought was put into it, ask the scout about it, ask some open ended questions to get him to think and respond. Then ask him if he thinks he could do a better job if he added some of the additional things that he just talked about with you. And then let him.

 

venividi

[evmori]

If you receive a statement that is well written, it will be easy to recognize. If the statement looks to you like not much thought was put into it, ask the scout about it, ask some open ended questions to get him to think and respond. Then ask him if he thinks he could do a better job if he added some of the additional things that he just talked about with you. And then let him.

 

And if he responds with "I wrote what I wrote & that's all I'm writing." he's done! We need to remember who is advancing here.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

A blessed Christmas to all

[AvidSM]

I agree with the other posters in that the Req 6 statement has no set length - that the eagle candidate need only write as much as he needs to get his point across.

 

The statement helps the EBOR to know the candidate a little better. They can use this to ask more meaningful questions during the BOR. If the EBOR knows where the scout is headed in life, it might even give some good advice to the scout.

[nathanhippiesmith]

I am a Life Scout with a finished Eagle project in the process of filling out paperwork. I have the 2004 printing of the Eagle application and it mentions the Life Purpose and Ambitions requirement. Looking at the current 2009 printing, I can't find it anywhere. Does anyone know if this is still a requirement? I was looking for help when I found this thread, and had all intentions of doing it. Any reply is much appreciated.

 

Nathan Smith

Life Scout

Troop 57, Oakville, IA

Runner and Secretary

Tribe of the Silver Tomahawk (Formerly Lodge 80)

[Oak Tree]

Nathan, are you looking at this form? http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/512-728_web.pdfREQUIREMENT 6. Take part in a Scoutmaster conference (with Scoutmaster, Coach, or Advisor). Attach to this application a statement of your ambitions and life purpose and a listing of positions held in your religious institution, school, camp, community, or other organizations during which you demonstrated leadership skills. Include honors and awards received during this service.Emphasis in bold is mine.

 

[eghiglie]

I've seen three of these statements, the first one was about 5 pages and led to more questions than it answered, the SM didn't sign off the conference until the statement made sense. The boy described his plan on how he would complete each year of college. The next version was about one page and it was very nice.

 

The second two I saw were each two paragraphs and discussed why the boy wanted to be Eagle and what the career goals were.

 

All three made Eagle.

 

Keep it short and mention only the high points.

 

So long as it gets the point across it can be as short as the boy wants it to be.

[Twocubdad]

I had a Scout tell me his life's ambition was to become Chief Scout Executive so he could fire the idiots who keep coming up with these ticky-tack requirements. No, he didn't actually put that in the essay, but in sharing it with the district BOR rep, he said he wouldn't have a problem with it. It is, afterall, the Scout's amibition, so who is he to argue?

 

My advice for stuff like this comes from my eighth grade English teacher -- essays should be like mini skirts: long enough to cover the subject, short enough to be interesting.

[evmori]

I've seen three of these statements, the first one was about 5 pages and led to more questions than it answered, the SM didn't sign off the conference until the statement made sense. The boy described his plan on how he would complete each year of college. The next version was about one page and it was very nice.

 

It isn't up to the SM to decide if the Scout's statement makes sense. And a SM conference has nothing to do with the Scout's statement and is not a pass/fail requirement. If the Scout had a SM conference, the requirement is completed.

[mmhardy]

The CEOs in many large organizations (Such as Jack Welsh) have stated that if it takes longer then a single sentence to outline a goal then you dont know what you want.

 

Personally I would be impressed with a short list of ambitions and life purpose that he could speak to. A Scoutmaster conference should be a chat not a reading exercise.