Tips and timelines to choosing Eagle projects that are tailored to specific scouts.
- Eagle Scout project showcase (Boy’s Life)
- How to find a great idea for an Eagle Service Project (Bryan on Scouting)
Transcript:
When your scouts are choosing an Eagle project the most important tip to get across to them is that the project will be easier and more fulfilling to them if it is something they are passionate about.
There are lots of choices when choosing an Eagle project, but nothing makes it more painful than something the boy is not interested in doing.
Completing an Eagle project is not about checking the right boxes and finishing the program, it’s about using all that they have learned and channeling it into something to benefit the community.
As in life, the best results come from harnessing the enthusiasm for something you believe in.
When meeting with my scouts about selecting a project I always start with guiding them towards something they like. If they are hikers I lead them towards project to enhance trails, or something that benefits that community.
If education is their passion, there are lots of options to lead and inform young (and old) people by building informational kiosks, or developing materials with local educational resources. Community gardens, public spaces, introducing ways for people to get together and enjoy nature, or even learn about their community are all directions I have lead scouts.
At the end of the day, it’s their project and my council only goes so far, but of the projects I’ve been associated with, the most successful are the ones that lead from passion.
Passion however can only lead you so far.
As a leader, it’s your responsibility to inform them of the pitfalls along the way. As a general rule, local community oriented projects are easier to complete. Not because of the projects themselves, but because of the overhead of dealing with school systems and municipalities in general.
For any project, tell the boys to meet with the representative of the organization and get a feel for how responsive they are. If whatever organization they are, if it’s hard to get them on the phone, or get them to meet with you, then you have two choices. 1) Choose a different organization or 2) build that communication time into your plan.
As a general rule of thumb I tell scouts to plan for 9 months from soup to nuts for the project.
You need 1-2 months to formulate the project, and settle on what you think you want to do. 2-3 months to get it past your own unit, committee and local council. After that you need a month at least to handle fundraising and fleshing out your project plan and then another 1-2 months to organize and hold your project.
Afterwhich you have at least a month to collect all the info photos and data to write up and submit your project.
Can it go faster, sure it can. I’ve been told of projects that can be organized, submitted, completed in under 2 months.
Most scouters will bend over backwards to help you get to Eagle, but don’t leave it to that. Scouts should plan projects well in advance of their 18th birthday.
Under the best of circumstances I have seen scouts slip paperwork under the door of council to beat the deadline. Don’t let them be that scout!
Strive to be done long before 18. Having Eagles as part of your active troop is a great way to show the boys that they can do it too.
But this is what works for us.
Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was Choosing an Eagle Project.
