Eagle1993 Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 https://patch.com/new-york/southampton/teen-who-fought-join-boy-scouts-attends-state-union A spokesperson for the BSA responded: "Given her unique circumstances and experiences, we have communicated directly with Sydney and her family about her specific path to Eagle, recognizing her accomplishments to date. For more than 100 years, the pinnacle of the Scouting experience for some has been achieving the highest rank of Eagle Scout. To honor the rigor of the path and dedication required to become an Eagle Scout, it's imperative that they follow the same steps as Eagle Scouts before them, and future Eagle Scouts who will come after them. "Our goal is to create a level playing field and ensure that all youth just joining Scouting will have the opportunity to achieve their dream and earn the rank of Eagle Scout. In keeping with this philosophy, all requirements must be completed while the individual is a registered member of Scouts BSA, or after achieving the first class rank in Scouts BSA," the BSA spokesperson said. The BSA gave an analogy: "If you regularly sit in on classes at Columbia University, but aren't matriculated in the school, after auditing a full course load and after the traditional four year college experience, you unfortunately still are not eligible for a Columbia diploma if you were not officially enrolled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RememberSchiff Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 15 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said: The BSA gave an analogy: "If you regularly sit in on classes at Columbia University, but aren't matriculated in the school, after auditing a full course load and after the traditional four year college experience, you unfortunately still are not eligible for a Columbia diploma if you were not officially enrolled. Good analogy. IMO at the start of this Eagle Path that Scouts BSA generously provided and communicated, she should remove all insignia not officially earned and get to work. My harsh $0.02, 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelpfulTracks Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 I doubt there will be any capitulation on this matter, even though legislators are passing resolutions and making noise. Doing so would open Pandora's box on so many levels. For example, what do you tell the Life and Eagle Scouts that have joined Crews? All of the work they did as Boy Scouts, prior to joining Venturing, doesn't count towards awards in Venturing, but BSA would count work done by someone that didn't even bother to join Venturing? What do you say to all those girls joining Scouts BSA who have been in Venturing for years? Sorry, your work as part of BSA does not count, but we are going to allow someone who has never been in Venturing to count their work? NO! I am also thoroughly disappointed in seeing her wear the Life rank at the State of the Union. She was also wearing a political button on her uniform. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutldr Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Can someone explain the recent photo of Sydney sporting a Life Scout badge being used as a photo op by Pelosi? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle1993 Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 53 minutes ago, scoutldr said: Can someone explain the recent photo of Sydney sporting a Life Scout badge being used as a photo op by Pelosi? She has unofficially been part of a Troop in Manhattan for several years. The leaders have signed off on her MB and leadership positions in the Troop. If she was an official member she would be at Life Rank and she wears the patch. I agree she should not be given the Eagle Scout (she needs to start over and the BSA response is spot on) but I would support the BSA in awarding her the Silver Buffalo award. She was a strong and vocal advocate for adding girls to the program and while I think others reasons caused BSA to change their policy, she was the most visible reason behind it. Therefore, given in part to her work, tens of thousands of girls have this new opportunity. “The Silver Buffalo Award is the national-leveldistinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. It is presented for noteworthy and extraordinary service to youth on a national basis, either as part of, or independent of the Scouting program. The award is made by the National Court of Honor and the recipient need not be a registered member of the BSA.” https://www.scouting.org/awards/awards-central/silver-buffalo/silver-buffalo-recipients/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJCubScouter Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 23 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said: I agree she should not be given the Eagle Scout (she needs to start over and the BSA response is spot on) but I would support the BSA in awarding her the Silver Buffalo award. She was a strong and vocal advocate for adding girls to the program and while I think others reasons caused BSA to change their policy, she was the most visible reason behind it. Therefore, given in part to her work, tens of thousands of girls have this new opportunity. Works for me. Of course, that isn't going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walk in the woods Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 1 hour ago, scoutldr said: Can someone explain the recent photo of Sydney sporting a Life Scout badge being used as a photo op by Pelosi? Crass politicians using children to pander to their voter base? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred8033 Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, Eagle1993 said: I agree she should not be given the Eagle Scout (she needs to start over and the BSA response is spot on) but I would support the BSA in awarding her the Silver Buffalo award. She was a strong and vocal advocate for adding girls to the program and while I think others reasons caused BSA to change their policy, she was the most visible reason behind it. Therefore, given in part to her work, tens of thousands of girls have this new opportunity. I fully agree. If she gets to automatically count her unregistered time as official time, then we need to go back and retroactively see who else to credit? All venturers? All siblings that showed up at cub scout and boy scout events? IMHO, at earliest, she can earn eagle in 14 to 17 months. But she needs to do the positions and complete the requirements while registered as a scout in a troop. Anything else is just wrong. On a personal note, I did not mind her wearing the scout uniform if she is now registered as a scout. That's fine. Wearing it at a very political event is questionable, but let's leave that as celebrating a huge achievement and a big change. Fine. BUT at best, she should be wearing the scout rank patch. Wearing the life patch was wrong. Period. It's a proud thing to advocate for change. It's right to celebrate when you succeed. A similar case is that I'd also be greatly disappointed in a scout wearing an Eagle rank patch before his EBOR. I fear her troop has misled her. She should not be wearing the patch or have been pretending to go through advancement in her troop. Now, the troop could pencil whip her through rank and just let time pass. But, I'd hope she honestly does the work, earns the rank just like all the new scouts that are newly joining. Give her Silver Beaver. IMHO, she's earned it. Even as a kid I think you could justify her earning it. But not eagle until she completes the requirements as written while being a scout Edited February 6, 2019 by fred8033 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RememberSchiff Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/92-103.pdf "Long-established policy limits the award of the Silver Beaver to adults 21 and older who are registered with the Boy Scouts of America as volunteer Scouters." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walk in the woods Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 48 minutes ago, fred8033 said: Wearing it at a very political event is questionable, It's not questionable, it's a clear violation of standards. https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/10/23/can-packs-troops-teams-or-crews-participate-in-political-rallies/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireStone Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Ugh.. this kind of sucks. I really dislike how this is playing out now. And pardon my speculation, but I think some adults are driving this current controversy. Sydney had my support all along. But if it really is her pushing for this exception, my support is withdrawn. However as mentioned, I have a suspicion that adults are behind this. Maybe troop leaders wanting to have bragging rights to the first female Eagle Scout. Maybe dad who's still yelling about "discrimination and harassment". Who knows. I don't know. It's all just very disappointing. She's not a Life Scout, she can't possibly be. But someone gave her that badge and so my suspicion goes back to the troop. Seems like they went rogue and signed off on her rank. If they could they'd sign off on her Eagle rank, except they need National to approve it, which would be the only reason she wasn't wearing an Eagle badge yesterday. Her dad said something interesting on twitter: "Don’t make girls wait until college to earn Eagle Rank." Is that the motivation? You want her to be able to go to college with the rank all wrapped up and done? Either way, it's all very sad. She accomplished so much and now it will be tarnished by what appears to be adults with ulterior motives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an_old_DC Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 3 minutes ago, walk in the woods said: It's not questionable, it's a clear violation of standards. https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/10/23/can-packs-troops-teams-or-crews-participate-in-political-rallies/ Everything about Sydney is a clear violation of standards. A female in a Boy Scout Troop? Earning rank? Going on outings? Holding positions of authority? as for @fred johnson‘s concern that Sydney was misled, she, her publicity-seeking father and female Scoutmaster [who always knew that the rank advancements she submitted for Sydney to their council would be denied but kept submitting them anyway] all have always known this is wrong. That’s why Sydney calls herself “an unofficial Life Scout.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle1993 Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 16 minutes ago, walk in the woods said: It's not questionable, it's a clear violation of standards. https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/10/23/can-packs-troops-teams-or-crews-participate-in-political-rallies/ Is the State of the Union a political event? I would think this is the same as wearing it to a townhall meeting and different from a rally. Is there a picture of her wearing it to a political rally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle1993 Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 23 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said: https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/92-103.pdf "Long-established policy limits the award of the Silver Beaver to adults 21 and older who are registered with the Boy Scouts of America as volunteer Scouters." That is why I thought Silver Buffalo would work. It doesn’t seem to have those limitations. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walk in the woods Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 2 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said: Is the State of the Union a political event? Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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