Eagle Advisors

[Buffalo Skipper]

I know there was a similar discussion a few months back on this, but what does everyone think of "Eagle Advisors"?

 

My experience has been a mixed blessing. Our advancement coordinator does not feel experienced enough to handle the Eagle process, and a former SM of the troop is our "Life to Eagle Coach." He has started a new family and is not active in the troop at this time, except as the L2EC, but he can be hard to reach. Though it may be nice to have someone else coordinate the "administrative" aspect of this, I would think that mentoring a scout from Life to Eagle would peronally very gratifying. On the other hand I have read of Eagle Advisors acting more like "Keepers of the Gate of Eagle heaven" than as real advisors.

 

Your thoughts and experiences?

 

 

[eagle77]

Never heard of Eagle Advisors till I joined this and some other scouting forums. IMHO the scoutmaster should take on the job, this is one he should not delegate. From the time that scout has joined the troop he has been his advisor, why would he want to push this on to someone else? Many of the scouts in our troop have been there since they bridged over from cubs. Who else knows the strengths and weaknesses of these scouts then he? I am a scoutmaster and I am also an eagle scout. I have seen and heard these so called gate keepers and have done all I can to put them straight as to what we as adults should be doing. I am not here to limit access but to increase access. By this I have stood up to DAC and council people who have tried to add requirements to the eagle scout rank.

[GernBlansten]

I don't view the Life to Eagle coach as subverting the scoutmaster. Its purely administrative and relieves the SM from dealing with the minutia of questions and paperwork.

I'm an ASM and the L2EC in our unit, I work as a delegate of the SM. I don't evaluate the scouts strengths and weaknesses, I just have the answers they need when approaching Eagle.

Typical questions:

Mr. Blansten, do you think this would be a good Eagle project?

Mr. Blansten, where do I get the workbook?

Mr. Blansten, my family doesn't attend any church, who should I get to write my religious recommendation?

Mr. Blansten, who do I submit my project proposal to at District?

 

The SM is still in the loop. They still work with the scout. Just not on the administrative stuff.

[Buffalo Skipper]

Gern,

I think you are doing what was intended as this "position" was conceived, and I commend you for that. Everyone does their part and that is how it works.

 

I know one instance of which I heard in my district was several years ago when a Life Scout had completed all his requirements (project, MBs, etc.) but the L2EC would not arrange an EBoR because the only 2 letters of recomendation had been received. At the time, district policy was for the troop--not the scout--to arrange the EBoR upon receipt of 3 letters. He put his foot down and the scout never received an EBoR. But this intstance is not what we are discussing here, and this case is not one I want to go into details on.

 

In a larger troop, I agree that having an ASM or CM assist with these things is a relief to the SM, but as Mr. Blansten said, it is important to keep the SM informed of progress and activity.

[evmori]

Scoutmaster=Eagle Advisor

[scoutldr]

Forgive my soapbox, but back in the day (1970) when I made Eagle, there was no such thing as an "Eagle Advisor". When you made Life, you were expected to read the requirements and proceed to complete them...or not. It was up to you. Today, however, I do serve as "Eagle Advisor" for the unit I serve. I dare say that were it not for my constant reminding, cajoling, prodding, and dragging them kicking and screaming, we would have no Eagles. I haven't met many boys who are either capable or willing to "figure it out" and get it done, without being threatened or spoon fed every step of the way. They either don't care about it, or it's not a priority with everything else demanding their time. That's not to say there aren't notable exceptions. I suspect this issue is why the Eagle stats went from ~2% in my day to 4-5% now. My own Life Scout son told me, "you need to tell me what to do and give me deadlines, then I can get it done." I looked him square in the eye and said "if that's what it takes, then maybe you're not Eagle material". And he aged out as a Life Scout. His decision...not mine.

[eagle77]

I am a Scout Badge to eagle advisor. As scoutmaster I feel it is my job to guide the boys along the trail to eagle, not bump them off to someone else at the end. I have no problem dealing with so-called admin. jobs. It's all part of being a scoutmaster, at least to me it is. Look at it this way it's like putting together a model, you work hard with the pieces you have and then as you get to the end it is time to add the paint and finish. After all that work do you want to give it to somebody else? Not me. As a scoutmaster I would like to be involved with all of the scouts advancement.

[SR540Beaver]

Just like "boy-led" varies from troop to troop, so does the size of the troop. I've been involved with one troop of about 15 boys and another troop of about 8 to 10 boys. I'm now involved in a troop with 60 boys. How the different troops operate is directly proportional to the size of the troop. Our SM does all SM conferences and interacts with all the boys. That being said, there are 3 ASM including myself who oversee our new scout program. We typically recruit anywhere from 15 to 25 new scouts per year. There are 2 who work with the scouts who have moved from the NSP until they have accomplished 1st Class. There is 1 and maybe 2 who work with the scouts working on Star and Life. What we are currently missing is an Eagle Advisor to work with the 17 guys we currently have sitting at Life. While the SM does all SM conferences and interacts with all scouts, he is simply one man and can't possibly do it all by himself. In a troop of 10, he probably could. In a troop of 60, he can't. We all tend to think that what we know of our own unit is what is "normal". It isn't. Each unit is as individual as a fingerprint.

[Stosh]

In a boy-led program, wouldn't it be appropriate for the boy's PL to be his Eagle advisor? After all it's the PL's responsibility to assist the boys in all the other rank advancement, why would Eagle be any different? Otherwise if there's a TG, he could assist in this process as well. If the Eagle candidate is a PL, then the responsibility falls to the SPL. This way the only boy the SM is advisor for is the SPL, just like he/she's his advisor for everything else.

 

Stosh

[Eamonn]

I failed to notice that this thread had stared and I gave my 2 cents in the other thread.

EA.

[scoutldr]

jblake, what if the PL is a 2nd Class? Is he still supposed to mentor the Life Scout?

[SR540Beaver]

jblake47,

 

No. A 13 year old 1st Class scout PL wouldn't know the first thing about the Life to Eagle process that a 16 year old Life scout is involved in. The only possibility might be if the PL himself is already an Eagle scout and he has a patrol member approaching Eagle. The role of an Eagle Advisor is filled by a person who is familar with the process and can give the boy guidance if and when needed. Typically, an Eagle Advisor is an experienced adult who has served on district/council EBOR's and understands the process from beginning to end.

 

Since scoutings inception, adults have always played a role. Boy-led doesn't mean adult exclusion or absence in all regards. Boy-led is different from troop to troop and is totally dependent on the level or maturity and expertise within the group. A troop of eight 11 year olds like one I helped start a few years back is not going to function at the same level of a 45 year old troop of 60 like I serve today. Yet both were boy-led based on what they were capable of at the time. Very often, the one constant in a troop is the adults as boys continually crossover and age out.(This message has been edited by sr540beaver)

[eisely]

I function in this capacity for our troop. I see my role as purely administrative and I do not want and do not attempt to replace the SM in his capacity. Functioning as a collection point for letters of recommendation is one of the things that I do. I do have to be available for consultation, but I am also pro active if a letter is missing and I notify the eagle candidate of that on a timely basis. All our EBORs are conducted at the district level so my role is very limited. I would also add that ours is a large troop. I see this role as another way to divide up responsibilities and share loads. Smaller troops will have fewer adults available and less need to relieve the SM of purely administrative burdens.

[GernBlansten]

Our unit has 40 boys. 8 are life scouts. None of the PLs are Eagle scouts and I would not expect them to know the process enough to coach a patrol member through it. Most of our Eagles get it within weeks of aging out, so there are few to help out. Actually, my son is the only active Eagle in the troop and he's JASM. He's been tasked by the SM to lead the troop guides in training the new scouts this spring.

 

My job as L2EC takes up little of my time, most of the time. However, the SM is always busy. When a scout has a question, usually the SM is busy and not always available. Plus, the SM has so many balls to juggle, keeping up with ever changing district expectations can be daunting. I keep in contact with the DAC and keep current. It just relieves the SM of yet one more thing to worry about. He still signs off on the project and does the SMC. I just don't see this as taking anything from the SM.

[Stosh]

Any patrol that has a Second-Class PL with a Life scout as it's member has a serious leadership problem. PL's are resonsible for their members. Obviously this isn't happening and the PL isn't fulfilling his POR.

 

Stosh