Advice needed(long but serious)(A successful conclusion)

Some of you may remember this one and the discussion that went on shortly
after last Thanksgiving:

>Here's the situation:
>We are a small/medium troop of about 25 boys, of which nine are Life
Scouts. Two or three of the boys are getting close to Eagle, and two of
these nine are lacking in "Scout spirit" in a big way. The troop has never
had an Eagle in its 10-year history. The SM decided that in order to avoid
accusations of being unfair, he would confer with 3 other adult members of
the troop before signing off on his Scoutmaster conference, the
understanding being that if 2 of the 3 felt that the candidate had
demonstrated Scout spirit in the last six months, he would go with that
consensus. Wouldn't you know it, the first boy to request a conference was
one of the most immature, disruptive scouts in the troop. This boy suffers
from such a lack of respect from the other boys that as a life scout with
nearly 40 merit badges, he has only been able to serve as an assistant
patrol leader, despite running for Troop office at every election. He has
yet to be elected to the OA. (He holds an appointed Instructor position to
satisfy Troop leadership requirements, but is the feared by the younger boys
for his outbursts.) Wouldn't you know it, I was the first of the adult
leaders to have to deal with my new job. I took the candidate off to the
side and sat down with him, and went over the 12 points of the Scout Law and
the Oath. We decided together that he needed some work before he was ready
to become an Eagle Scout.
>

I would like you all to know the (I feel) successful conclusion of this
situation. I got a lot of advice and support from SCOUTS-L members and felt
that you all should share in this.

Last night, (Wed), the scout that was the subject of this posting
successfully passed his Eagle Board of Review, becoming Troop 94's FIRST
Eagle (pending Nat'l approval, of course). Since I had the talk with him
last November, explaining why I felt he was not ready to become an Eagle, he
has become a different person. This change in him was so profound that in a
matter of three short months, he was able to drop all the baggage he had
been carrying for four years in this troop, and make a 180 degree
about-face. The BOYS were so impressed with this change that 3 weeks ago,
they elected him SPL and last week elected him to the OA (he doesn't know
yet - tap-outs in a month or so).

Just thought I'd pass it on. So many of you helped me feel more comfortable
with having to be the "bad guy" on this one.

BTW, there were TWO boys up for Eagle last night, and the other candidate
was successful, too.

Thanks,
Mike

-----------------------------------------------------
Mike Montoya, ASM, Troop 94 mmm@yosemite.net
http://www.yosemite.net/mariposa/clubs/t94/
"I used to be ...Faster, Lighter, & Less Gray!"

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