Good Ideas for Girls Earning Eagle in 2-3 Years

[Cburkhardt]

Three girls in our 27-member Troop will need to earn Eagle in 2 or 3 years.  These young women came our way because they heard about our Troop and have different but compelling reasons to want to become Eagle Scouts within a compressed time frame.  Let's start commenting about how this can be done in a quality way.  First, the three circumstances:

Girl A is the daughter of a Scoutmaster of another established all-boy Troop.  She has been a "tag-along" for many years.  She has been on camp staff for 4 years.  She turns 18 in a month and wants to earn her Eagle in 2 years.  She joined our all-girl Troop last month and will be going to college away from our area.  She will get a lot of merit badges this and next summer on staff and will probably affiliate with another all-girl Troop where she goes to College to do her leadership.

Girl B just contacted us.  She is 17 and moving into our area to attend college.  She has been a Venturer for 3 years and has attended summer camp for 3 years with her Crew.  She wants to join our Troop, and can probably be one of our older girl leaders this fall.

Girl C is about to turn 16, is from our area, and knows a lot of the younger girls who have joined.  She has wisdom beyond her years.  She has no previous Scouting background and will be "starting from scratch".

All of these girls perfectly exemplify great opportunities for us to extend BSA advantages to deserving young people.  All of them have said they want to do the full program the right way.  All of them will be able to progress rapidly through the early ranks because those ranks are designed for young scouts.

Please consider taking one or more of these examples and suggest helpful approaches that come to mind.  We are not going to re-argue whether girls should be in Scouts BSA or whether the temporary 2-year Eagle extension is appropriate.     

[fred8033]

I've reviewed and signed 300+ eagle project proposals.  I've been on EBORs and helped many scouts.  My personal opinion is that all the requirement "hoops" are guidance to create a quality program.  Focus on the quality and the program.   Opportunities for advancement can naturally occur within that structure.  Get these scouts out doing things.  Camping.  Volunteering.  Exploring opportunities.  There is no "ideal" scout path except individual paths that keep the scout active.  

• Make sure these new scouts get a big activity every year.  Maybe a few big/moderate activity every year.  Each month should include smaller manageable activities / programs.  Most importantly, let them set their journey and decide what these activities are.  
• PLC consider rank requirements during annual planning.  I've always viewed advancement as an individual scout activity (not a troop program), but the troop annual program plans should support / consider the concept of "first class in the first year".  What I mean is that it's up to the scout to take advantage of opportunities and to drive their own advancement.  But the PLC should create opportunities in the annual plan for scouts to earn first class and earn merit badges.  For example ... the troop doesn't have to teach the biking merit badge and have structured meetings around the biking merit badge, but the troop could offer a bike camp out each year.  It would address a merit badge, selecting camp sites, using taut line knots to secure tents, etc.  

Most importantly, these scouts do have that tight of a time line.  The scout and the scoutmaster sit down in a SMC.  Draft on a piece of paper a timeline of what needs to happen when.  The SM should help the scout understand their path toward Eagle.  Things that take time.  Challenges.  How to get some things done.  Then, have the scout put the paper in their scout handbook.  Maybe every few months the scout and the SM can chat about progress and how the scout is doing.  

[T2Eagle]

I second Fred that for you and the Troop focus on having a good program and advancement will flow for anyone who wants it.

If I was counseling these scouts, and this advice is for scouts who are 16,17, 18 and would not be the advice I would give to younger scouts, I would tell them the requirements for Eagle can be broken down to three categories: outdoor skills, leadership and service to your fellow scouts, merit badges.  A good deal of this is going to be about their time management.  They need to set themselves some interim goal points ---  1stClass AND five or six mbs in four months.

I would emphasize to them to read through all the requirements and all the mb requirements, both right away and several more times in the future, the same way you do with a class syllabus.  That way you know when an activity is part of competing and requirement and you can be sure to add the extra touches necessary in real time to make sure your getting the whole requirement complete on your first possibility.

This is a doable time table for anyone who is this age and motivated.  if you look at some of the things that challenge or trip up younger scouts, like Enviro Sci or Communications, those are no more than a good night's or at least a good weekend's homework for a high school senior or college student..

best of luck to them.

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by T2Eagle

[qwazse]

First, nobody *needs* to earn Eagle, but it's great that you have three great teens who want to within the time allotted to them.

you don't want to take anyone for granted, but I suspect the 16 year old starting fresh will need most of your attention. She simply doesn't know scouts and scouters well, so you're going to need to make sure she gets connected to your better merit badge counselors, that she understands the first class rank requirements, and respects whatever younger scout may be her PL or SPL. We have similar issues with boys who join in their late teens. Sometimes they have a buddy who will show them the ropes, but they are often much more in need of adult guidance.

Girls A and B are treading new territory. They will need to work a balance between troop and college. For them, you will need to constantly ask if they are having fun. A younger mom with a big heart might be a good mentor. On the flip side, their college classmates might have some cool things to offer your troop. Keep challenging them to find was to build synergy between their schools and scouting.

I think this is a great opportunity for these girls, but your number 1 priority is building 1st class scouts. It sounds like you have a good idea of who is well on their way. Like any scout, you need to listen and watch and at SMCs give them honest appraisals.

[The Latin Scot]

It may be encouraging to remember that while 2 years may sound like a tight squeeze, it's not impossible. Scouts have been doing just that for a century - starting at 11 or 12 and earning it at 13 or 14.  If they can do it at such tender ages, I'm sure these young women will be even more capable of making it happen, what with their advantages of maturity, desire, and resources.

I will express, however, that if a young lady joins a unit with the driving goal of earning the rank of Eagle Scout, she may have already misunderstood the purpose of Scouting. The goal of a Scout should never be "to earn one's Eagle." This overlooks the vast and myriad spectrum of opportunities which Scouting affords our youth, the real goals which are represented by the rank of Eagle Scout, but not beholden to it. Learning how to camp, learning how to vote, learning how to treat a wound. Learning first aid, and communication skills, and crafts and sciences and cultures, becoming invested in the world around them, and using what they learn to help others. Discovering for themselves the possibilities - and responsibilities - of the world around them. Above all, becoming, truly, trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Those are the true goals of Scouting. 

So, if you want to give these girls the most that Scouting has to offer, make this focus on personal development your top priority, using the Path to Eagle as a means of organizing, focusing and measuring their personal progress towards becoming better people, but never sacrificing the structure and integrity of its requirements for the sake of "pushing through it." It's a tool towards preparing young people with the vital life skills and knowledge they will need to be effective and honorable adults, and if a Scout follows the advancement program faithfully and diligently, with the goal of absorbing all that they can from the program, then they will have achieved the real achievement of Scouting - becoming a good, moral, contributing part of their families and communities. So, I opine that the single best approach, FOR ALL SCOUTS, is simply to follow the program faithfully, intentionally, and sincerely, using advancement as a tool to help you organize your activities and measure your progress as you work to learn all you can in the time allotted you, but not allowing it to become the reason you Scout.

Those early ranks teach the core principles and skills of Scouting. They are not designed for "young Scouts." They are meant for new Scouts, of any age, and they are intentionally designed to create the essential foundation of skills and knowledge espoused by this program. I have more respect for the First Class Scout who has truly invested himself in mastering the requirements of his rank than for the Eagle Scout who brushed through them just to get started on his leadership tenures. For these new Scouts, it's FAR more important that you focus on ensuring the early ranks are passed thoroughly than it is to "skip to the higher ranks." Besides, success at those levels inherently depends on whether or not the Scout has truly demonstrated his competence in the requirements leading up to First Class. 

It's wonderful that these girls are driven and willing to work. Your job is make sure that they are in Scouting to become Scouts, in the deeper sense of that expression. Working carefully, not hastily, towards Eagle will help them to get the most out of their experience. And even if they don't make it that far, such an approach will ensure they still reap the true benefits of the program for the rest of their lives. Good luck!

[Cburkhardt]

Dear Friends:  

These are splendid suggestions, and I certainly agree and recommend them to all readers.  

We anticipate that the Scoutmaster daughter/4-year camp staffer and the 3-year Venturer are good examples of tag-along girls who have probably fully-absorbed the Scouting spirit and have already acquired much of the required First Class skills (which they will have to of course demonstrate mastery of).  Both already have their merit badge plans on paper.  I am really pleased we will have them to inspire our 11-13 year olds.  Their significant growth will probably be on the leadership side of things.

Our challenge is the “unscouted” girl who turns 16 this summer and perhaps others that might materialize in the fall.  As I have shared elsewhere on this Forum, girls are now seeking us out based on word of mouth, including older ones.  What has been pleasing is that there have been no parents or girls showing simply to “gun for Eagle”.  We will be working very closely with her and she will be at summer camp with us.

[Cburkhardt]

Please post 2-year Eagle plans for boys and girls on a short track.  We are seeking schedules and hints on things that need to be “worked from the start”, such as particular required merit badges to present timing pitfalls.

[malraux]

Do you have leadership plans for the scouts who will be in college during the later half of the process? I'm not sure how that will work during the extended time rule.

[Ranman328]

Not to be a downer here but one thing I don't hear anyone saying is that not everyone earns the Eagle Rank.  I get the feeling that people are walking in thinking that every girl is going to earn eagle.  Stats show that only 4 of every 100 Scouts earn Eagle.  My Troop has been around since 1970 and has produced 82 Eagle Scouts.  I have 23 Scouts in my Troop and it is hard enough to get the these guys the positions of Rank each year.  I would recommend teaching the Program so they learn the skills and not be so worried about getting badges. Those will come but they need to do the work and learn the skills through First Class as they will be teaching the younger ones the skills.  It won't look very good having a Star or Life Scout that can't tell you how to tie knots or treat water for drinking. The Scouts run the Troop not the adults. 

[Eagle94-A1]

3 hours ago, Cburkhardt said:

Please post 2-year Eagle plans for boys and girls on a short track.  We are seeking schedules and hints on things that need to be “worked from the start”, such as particular required merit badges to present timing pitfalls.

 

I think this is a grave disservice to any of your girls, or any Scout for that matter, to create a 2 year plan for them in order to earn Eagle. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO NEED TO CREATE THEIR OWN PLAN AS EACH INDIVIDUAL IS DIFFERENT ( major emphasis). Part of the journey to Eagle is the Scout deciding their own path, the Scout deciding what they want to do, the Scout deciding how they are going to achieve their goals. 

What have they learned if you hand them a plan? 

[Eagledad]

4 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

 

I think this is a grave disservice to any of your girls, or any Scout for that matter, to create a 2 year plan for them in order to earn Eagle. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO NEED TO CREATE THEIR OWN PLAN AS EACH INDIVIDUAL IS DIFFERENT ( major emphasis). Part of the journey to Eagle is the Scout deciding their own path, the Scout deciding what they want to do, the Scout deciding how they are going to achieve their goals. 

What have they learned if you hand them a plan? 

This discussion is exactly what many experienced scouters on this forum  predicted would happen. The non scouting public identifies Scouting only by the Eagle. And by golly the girls parents are going to get it for them.

Greenbar who?

Barry

[Ranman328]

1 minute ago, Eagledad said:

This discussion is exactly what many experienced scouters on this forum  predicted would happen. The non scouting public identifies Scouting only by the Eagle. And by golly the girls parents are going to get it for them.

Greenbar who?

Barry

This is the concern I posted on another discussion thread and I can't tell you how many times I was slapped on the nose with the newspaper.  I do hope all the talk of "Eagle, Eagle, Eagle" is just the initial excitement of the girl program but I fear it is not.  Most of these girls have not earned Scout or Tenderfoot yet but we are talking about Eagle. 

I was at our Troop Shed recently which is at our CO location on a Friday evening.  They have a large property with a Pavilion and field where they let Scouts camp for free.  Our lone girl Troop in the District was going to camp there that weekend.  I had to take my son to the lower field because he is putting in a stage at the fire pit for the Scouts to do skits and things and he needed to take some measurements.  This is his Eagle Project.  As we drove through the area, we noticed two of the Scoutmasters and one mom already there and they had set up the camp kitchens, and tents and already had a stack of chopped wood for the fire.   Not a single Scout in sight.  That would have been a great opportunity to let the girls do it and check off a bunch of requirements at one event.

[Treflienne]

3 hours ago, Ranman328 said:

Not to be a downer here but one thing I don't hear anyone saying is that not everyone earns the Eagle Rank.

As I am familiarizing myself with the rank advancment materials, one thing that has impressed me is that every rank along the way to Eagle is worthwhile for its own sake.   So if an idealistic new scout says "I want to earn eagle" but ends up not doing so,  then she still benefitted from as much of the journey as she did.   Work on improving your physical fitness? Great.  Learn to swim? Super.  Try taking on a leadership role in the troop?  Valuable experience.    It seems to me that we should help each scout grow starting from where they are at -- but certainly not expect that all will have the desire, or the ability, to reach Eagle.

Big difference from GSUSA where the "Journeys" are a prerequisite to working on the Bronze/Silver/Gold Award, and where the attitude towards the "Journeys" is sometimes hold-your-nose-and-get-it-over-with-it -- i.e. some do not see much value in those Journeys for their own sakes.

[Jameson76]

11 hours ago, Cburkhardt said:

Please post 2-year Eagle plans for boys and girls on a short track.  We are seeking schedules and hints on things that need to be “worked from the start”, such as particular required merit badges to present timing pitfalls.

So...not to do a disservice to the journey, and it is each Scout's journey, basic project management, if you have hard stop to achieve something you will need a plan.

We had an older teen (15 and 8 months) join the troop a couple of years ago.  Mainly he wanted to attend high adventure with friends in the troop.  As he did attend one high adventure and then camp (as a "new" scout) we talked about what he wanted to do in Scouting.  Long story short, we backdated a plan for when HE would need to attain various ranks.  HE would have to do this, HE would need to attend our second summer camps to get enough optional merit badges, HE would need to serve in the leadership, HE would need to propose, plan, and perform a project.

Fast forward, he is 18 in maybe 90 days.  He has earned his 21 merit badges, served as JASM in the troop and at summer camps, went to high adventure, went to outings, and just got his project approved.  Should wrap up before 18th birthday.

It can be done if THEY want to earn it, see the value, and you can support the journey.

[Cburkhardt]

Thanks to the over 700 who have visited this posting in the last 24 hours.  Understanding how to best provide advice on this is a concern shared by many.  We are going to deliver on this.  And, Happy Easter to everyone of you, regardless of your faith.

There is a clear need to provide guidance on basic scheduling and requirements/leadership sequencing to meritorious older young men and woman who have been presented the opportunity to advance through Scouting’s ranks during this exceptional period.  Thanks to those who had useful prioritization thoughts to offer.  To those who seemingly think that these young people should figure out how to do this entirely on their own, let me tell you that we are going to provide Scoutmasterly advice so that those who want to have as much of the scouting experience they can — and maybe even earn Eagle — can do so in an organized manner and not be crushed by failing to catch one of our elaborate rules.

I have been considering it and believe the critical timing issue is to immediately start earning the merit badges this and next summer.  I believe at least three combined weeks at a first-rate council camp with a broad variety of offerings is the way to go.  Our 2 girls who have  gobs of experience in BSA as tag-alongside, Venturers and camp staff will each spend 2 weeks this summer at camp and probably one more next year.  The “unscouted” girl will have a more gradual start, because we need to see her learn and master the basics.  She will work merit badges as well and spend a week with us during our Troop visit to our council camp.  Next year she will likely need to do 2 weeks at camp.  For all 3 girls we will spend a lot of time to assure they are learning and exercising leadership and serve the requisite time in officerships.  

That some of these girls are going to college during this period presents a logistical challenge.  As I noted earlier, we have one girl leaving our area.  She will dual register with a troop in her college town to continue her work while away — especially her leadership roles.  And, we are receiving a long-time venturer in our city who will attend college here.  She and her parents are well along the way on all of this.  Because our Troop meets on Saturday mornings it will work well for her school schedule.  Her mother is also an experienced commissioner.  Do not hesitate to have your professionals assist to find a destination college town troop for your young person.  The third girl will live here and do her Scouting work with us as a junior and senior in high school.

Again, if any of you and your scouts have reduced to writing a sample schedule for rank, merit badge and leadership service, please post it for others to see.  I am aware that some good templates have been developed.  I will share our details as we develop them.