Committee Approval of Eagle Project

[Crew21_Adv]

OGE and Fellow Scouters,

 

 

Concur, the ESLP form requires a committee member, not the entire committee.

 

Within my troop, we do ask all Life Scouts to present their project in front of the Troop Committee. This is not to slow their progress or to prevent them, but to assure they have covered all basis.

 

We constantly have Scouts who have not thought thru safety, permits, equipment, we even had to ask a Life Scout about royalties and maturity ratings.

 

We also negotiate calendar dates, since our Scouting calendar and personal calendars are pretty full, and the Service Project are volunteer hours (and usually weekends). The Committee negotiates with the Life Scout to maximize the service project timing so that the most Scouts, families and friends can attend. (Some Life Scouts and their families have decided to conduct the service project event, on the same weekend as a camporee, or other Scouting events which the troop has already registered for.)

 

So my Troop Committee will constantly plan to have the Life Scouts present their project in front of our Committee, but in order to assist them, not as a blockade or prevention.

 

Scouting Forever and Venture On!

Crew21 Adv

[FScouter]

Read the "12 Steps From Life to Eagle" in the advancement book. It very specifically says the project concept must be approved by the unit committee. That the the workbook doesn't have multiple lines for every committee member to sign doesn't mean that only one member's approval is needed.

 

If the committee wants to designate one member to review the concept on behalf of the entire committee, fine. But that's a decision of the committee, not the Scout.

[Stosh]

And yet this is one more reminder for the boy to assure him of who's running the show, keeping track of the process, and making sure everything is going to be successful for their dear little scout. The bottom line? "This ain't your project until a major handful of important people tell you it is."

 

That is NOT part of the requirement, but it sure seems find it's place in the process. Wouldn't one assume that if the boy read the booklet, understood the parameters of the requirements (asks questions if need be), designed the project accordingly, and presented it to the CC (or substitute if CC not available) and SM over a cup of coffee, that the process could be handled in about 30 seconds? Everything beyond that are dynamics that add to the requirement. The reason for the added "security" of the adult-led processes is to make sure the boy really knows what he's doing and that his leadership judgement is being drawn into question. As SM (CC is of the same persuasion), I generally know the boy, have discussed a number of different projects and pretty much know which project he has selected long before he begins to write up the application. I trust his leadership skills to 1) make the right decisions, 2) follow directions of the booklet and 3) write up the application to the best of his ability. For me, that is the reason why he's doing what he's doing and part of the show leadership as expected by the requirement. He doesn't need me to lead him through any decisions, processes, requirements, etc. It is expected he do it for himself. If he doesn't, the project is rejected by the council and he has to start over again. So far only once did the council call and ask about a boy's project that they thought was different than the norm. They asked me what I thought about it and I said I signed it, and they approved it on my word.

 

To me a lot of this adult involvement in the project is not an issue of "helpfulness" and having to lead the boy, but is an issue of trusting the boy's leadership judgement.

 

When I read the requirement for the boy I'm not trying to justify any adult involvement in any step of the process, but instead, trying to stay out of the way of the boy and let him demonstrate his leadership on his own. When all is said and done, there's some EBOR that's going to determine whether or not that was done and was correct, not me, not my CC, and not his parent. Get out of the way and let the boy take the lead.

 

Stosh

[NJCubScouter]

I don't know, jblake, it seems to me that if the BSA makes the Scout go through multiple levels of reviews, approvals, changes, and having to conform to the different opinions of different people, the boy is being treated in basically the same way he will be treated when he is an adult in a few years.

 

Seriously though, I think that what the workbook says to do can be done without overly burdening the Scout, if it is handled properly. As I said before, I have never known of a Scout who got hung up on the "troop committee approval" stage or who complained about it. I don't think our troop committee has ever "rejected" a plan; at most there have been a few suggestions for improvement of the plan. Someone else mentioned that a committee member in their unit suggested additions to the project, but I have never seen that in my troop. In fact, there was one project where I suggested that the Scout might want to think about cutting a couple of details out of the project itself, because what he was planning was really about two-and-a-half projects (though I didn't say it that way.) To his credit, he kept the project as it was and completed it -- though it really did take a lot more work than many other projects.

 

The point is, this doesn't have to be a problem.

[Stosh]

"I don't know, jblake, it seems to me that if the BSA makes the Scout go through multiple levels of reviews, approvals, changes, and having to conform to the different opinions of different people, the boy is being treated in basically the same way he will be treated when he is an adult in a few years."

 

Makes the scout????? Sounds like the adults are anticipating him following along, doesn't it?

 

If I read the requirement, there is no need for review, that is something that adults add to the requirement.

 

If I read the requirement, there is no need for changes unless the project is rejected by some adult committe along the way which will occur only if the boy is unable to show his leadership while conducting the project.

 

If I read the requirement, there is no need to conform to some adult's opinion. If the boy was ultimately responsible for a project, even in the adult world, that person is allowed the authority to make all the calls regardless of someone else's opinions. It happens all the time. And unless the boy is going to be told what to do for the rest of his life, there's not much need for any leadership training on the part of the BSA.

 

Sorry, I for one believe that the leadership project of the Eagle candidate is to give the scout the opportunity so that he DOES NOT "go through multiple levels of reviews, approvals, changes, and having to conform to the different opinions of different people". Instead, he takes the lead, does the reviews, seeks solid approvals as necessasry, evaluates and analyzes the changes and leads and directs other to conform to the results HE SETS as leader of a project, task, etc. in the real world he will be going into in a few years.

 

I'm thinking that most people believe the scout should be following the rules of the adults, when in fact he should be leading others in HIS PROJECT that will benefit others along the way. Surely one cannot say a scout gains particular insight into leadership by following.

 

Give the boy the chance to lead. If he isn't leading, tell him so, and then give him another chance to lead and keep doing this until he figures it out. Directing him, steering him, coaching him, mentoring, getting him straightened out, etc and all such ways are designed to make him follow, not lead.

 

Stosh

[theysawyoucomin']

We do it like Lisabob says.

 

Everybody is positive and maybe points out pitfalls that they may see. Members also allow the Scout into their network of friends to help boy get the job done. You hear a whole lot of, "Give me a call tomorrow, I'll call my friend the Civil Engineer and he can explain the process to you."

 

The field of mentors gets bigger that way.

 

I would think the the boys tell each other that it is something to prepare for but not something to dread, the Scout leaves the room in relief not feeling like he got pounded.

[NJCubScouter]

jblake, it is part of the requirement. The requirement specifically says you have to use the workbook, and the workbook has all the levels of approvals and signatures.

 

Uz2bnowl, Lisabob and others have the right answer. If done as a positive, helping experience, and not as a stumbling block, the troop committee review is fine. There is nothing wrong with giving the Scout advice. That is how it is done in our troop.