Ideas for Eagle Projects

[Shell in WA- USA]

My son, hit me with a question the other day about ideas for Eagle

projects. He says he doesn't want to do the "ordinary thing of building a bench and/or trail" like so many other Scouts, but something different. I had a few ideas for him, and directed him to some places to search for ideas and information. But I was curious, what are some of the eagle projects you've come across over the years?

 

I know of one in our troop where the Scout had all the troop boys

sewing blankets for donation to the hospital to be given to the crack

babies that came through. (I believe they made 150 of them.)

 

Now your turn....

 

 

[Scoutmaster Ron]

Here are a few:

 

Raising a guide dog for the blind

Crutches,eyeglasses or wheelchairs in needy places of the world

Earthquake kits for schools

[frank10]

Have him start asking everyone what they need. When he finds a need that he can fill he will know it's right. One Scout ended up painting numbers on the curb in an area where the houses are set too far back for emergancy workers to find them.

[red feather]

Maybe have your son check with local retirement homes and see if they would like a visit by scouts to either read to them, listen to them, or just be young men in scout uniform for them to fawn over or whatever. That is been done in ' the troop that I have the honor to be associated with' with great success and have had several invites to come back and do it again.

 

yis

[Mike F]

My oldest son recently scheduled a visit with the volunteer coordinator at a regional VA hospital and came away with a number of very good options. He's working with our Eagle coordinator to refine one of them and will be turning his buddies onto the excellent lead for some meaningful projects.

[John-in-KC]

Here's one several of our Scouts are doing...

 

World War II and Korean veterans are in the last stages of their passing. Vietnam Veterans are approaching 60. Desert Storm vets are now from 30-60 depending on their age when they deployed.

 

The Library of Congress is collecting oral histories of Veterans. In our case, we're chartered by a VFW post, so the project was to collect WWII member oral histories. Our candidate led a team of Scouts and Scouters in collecting the histories, videotaping them (and ripping the videos to Mpegs on CD-ROMS), scanning significant personal documents, and then furnishing one set to the Post and the other to the Libary of Congress.

 

Here is the LOC url for the project:

http://www.loc.gov/folklife/vets/

 

BTW, the first Scout that did this now has his Gold Palm...

 

YIS John(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[Senior_Patrol_Leader_T15]

I did a Blood Drive for mine, one of my friends did a Food Drive that kinda gave the Scouting for Food an extra boost. These are projects that don't require "building", but getting before and after pictures are harder.

 

BTW, ask him what he ever has looked at in his community and said, "they need to do something with that," and their ya go, their's a project in waiting.

[Shell in WA- USA]

I mainly asked for my own self to see what other gret projects there have been. And there have been some good ones here.

 

If you're interested, my own son right now is strongly considering doing a 6 mo reading program for the Children's Hospital at the moment. But he's got a couple other things in mind too. He's also toying with a Blood Drive or collecting cell phones for the crisis center.

 

Whatever he chooses I know it will be good. He's putting alot of thought into it.

 

A local Scout just recently did a Sculpture of a German Shephard Dog for his project and it was dedicated for a local Police Academy in honor of the K-9 units and fallen dogs. That's pretty cool too. Although I know the parents and they said they were happy to get their table back after the boy's 6 mos of sculpting!.

[John-in-KC]

AS A NOTE:

 

Different Districts and Councils have different interpretations of what passes muster as an Eagle project.

 

I know of a District and a Council which WILL NOT APPROVE orchestrating a blood drive as an Eagle project.

 

Always a good idea for a SM or L/E coordinator to visit with the District Advancement Chair at roundtable and seek current local guidance. That way, he can guide his young men.

 

YIS John

[ManyIrons]

Shell, glad to hear that your son is looking for a project that is both meaningful to him and to the community. It's great to watch the boys with a project they're really enthusiastic about.

 

His first idea sounds similar to one a Scout in our district is planning -- working with an elementary school teacher to create books on tape for their reading program. Part of the plan was to involve the theatrical departments of local high schools and colleges to get good quality speakers. Although the school uses cassette players, it was suggested that he explore the possiblility of using CDs or MP3 technology -- at least for the master copies.

 

Most of the projects I've seen over the years would probably be considered typical -- not that there's anything wrong with that:

 

- Sand dune restoration (Hurricane Floyd did an impressive job of un-doing that project)

- Walking trail at a home for young women

- Baseball dugouts at community ball fields (finally some shade!!)

- Equipment racks for dugouts

- Pavillion for a park

 

Two huge projects in our district were:

 

- Restoration of a trail down to a natural spring behind a church. The springs are important to the local history of both the town and the church. Our fellow forum member Purcelce (hey ya buddy!) can give you all the details on that one, but it's a steep trail and I recall him saying it was about "3 projects worth of work".

 

- Construction of a 14-foot wooden tower to house an orphaned church bell -- a 400 lb church bell I might add. The church relocated to a new location in 1995 and the new design didn't incorporate the bell. Unfortunately that left it sitting outside behind the sanctuary for nearly 9 years. The project was completed last fall in time for the church's 50th anniversary and was dedicated as part of the festivities. I can give ya all the details on this one. That soon to be Eagle Scout is still one of my tax deductions

 

Good luck to your son in whatever he chooses.