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IMHO it would also be a good time to rethink "Eagle required" merit badges - subject areas, number, difficulty...

I served many years on EBORs as the District rep. I think if your project write-up clearly stated how the project was to be funded, and it didn't violate any BSA policy for fundraising, you should be good to go. The funds were donated by family members. It doesn't matter what the source was, as long as it didn't infringe on the Council's FOS campaign for business contributions. Good luck, and congratulations in advance!

Good. Those who oppose the mere existence of this badge will cheer the delay. Those who want it done right will cheer that this was rushed and will now be properly vetted.

IMO, 1972, 1999 was a return to choice. In some cases, a scout could select a preferred "required" merit badge from a subject groups as I did back in the day. At my EBOR, I would have answered that Lifesaving was most important as I was a lifeguard and rescued a few people. Today, I might say Public Health. Would I have First Aid, Swimming, Personal Fitness, Cooking merit badges? Nope. First Aid should be a yearly re-certification with each year requiring more skills. Every FC scout should be strong swimmer, physically strong, and a passable patrol cook. What groups for Eagle

Thank you very much everyone for your guidance and perspective. I thought I'd add that my scoutmaster is actually on the Eagle Board of Reviews and project reviews for the district, so I'm hesitant to bring up concerns about the district scouters to him. I did mention their requirement for fundraising and the contradiction in the GTA, and his advice to me was to save time in getting the project approved and just do a fundraiser. I think he might either agree with the district or not want to contradict them to a scout, which I can respect. I ended up (very respectfully and matter of fac

This just in https://www.scouting.org/program-updates/proposed-eagle-scout-required-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-merit-badge-delayed/?fbclid=IwAR0vhrN-iX5aviqmDxkuy-5d3N4PMBMAelEQtXR1fpxz04nSkW00plCqGqQ Proposed Eagle Scout Required Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Merit Badge Delayed January 7, 2021 The introduction of the proposed Diver

Agree 100% - each uniform material has it's place and a contingent of folks who like them. Myself, my favorite uniform is the venturing nylon ones. I wish the BSA would produce a tan version of those. They are light, comfy, and keep up pretty well. My outdoor uniform is canvas. My son had the microfiber ones and I never liked how they aged. I thought that they look nice at first, but given a couple of years they start to look "soft" and. I've got a poly/wool uniform too. I like the look of it, but it's not rot really an outdoor uniform. You buy dress slacks to do with th

And every different garment visible from some feet away: no "uniform."

I would be agreeable to adding a requirement to citizenship to the community related to this. A compromise?

I love this idea. Allows Scouts to find their own path, but make sure they balance between the various scout skills, oath & law.

1972 was the BIG change. Many of the core badges (swimming / camping / cooking) were part of the group that could or could not be earned. That was the change wherein one could become Eagle and not have camped at all and basically not have gone outside at all

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Swimming and Camping emphasize skills associated with keeping you safe, warm, and alive. Citizenship and Personal Management are about higher level functions. They may never camp or swim the day after the EBOR. They will, however, be a part community, nation, and world the rest of their lives. They will have to engage in personal management (to one extent or another).

My hope would be (though not likely) is that they actually take one of 2 paths for this new set of requirements. Whether one thinks the DEI initiative is a good thing or a bad thing, it is likely not going away. BSA National has opened the door, so they will not be able to close that door 2 Hopeful Paths Restructure the Citizenship Merit Badges to include some new items. Some of the DEI requirements could relate to community, nation, or world. Remove the Citizenship in the World MB from Eagle required and insert the (obviously reworked) DEI merit badge in it's place Dou

I don't think we are ready for opening that can of worms. It seems to me that there is a decent mix now for the required merit badges. I can't say that I can think of any MB that must be there that isn't and ones that exist that shouldn't be there. There are ones that the scouts may not like but they cover and reinforce part of the scout law and oath. When I ask scouts at their EBOR what merit badges they think are the most important ones it surprises me when they say Personal Management or the Citizenship MB's. But this answer happens a lot. I never get the answer of Swimming or

@sunshinescout, @CynicalScouter knows, as I do, that any monies raised for an Eagle Scout Service Project (ESSP) belong to the beneficiary of the project. If any Scout, unit, or organization other than the beneficiary, keeps money raised by an Eagle Scout candidate for purposes of funding an ESSP, then that is tantamount to theft. Now, if there is money left over from a fundraising effort, and the Eagle Scout candidate gives it to the beneficiary, and the beneficiary chooses to give it to some other organization or individual, that is their prerogative. Yet another reason Natio

I suppose it depends on the proposal and the scout sometimes. I've sat on a few project review boards where I'm sure the scout thought we were being unfair and mean. Every once and a while you get a scout that has a proposal SO rough that there's just no help possible besides a little "hard truth" and the suggestion to come back again after a little more thinking goes into it. I usually try and handle situations like that with questions that point out all the areas the scout hasn't even considered. Most of the time they just say "Can I just go think about that and come back later tonight?"

Thank you. The rare useful comment by someone who stays on topic.

Hi @Chadamus, Sorry to be a few days late here. It's probably also worth noting the BSA publication, "Troop Leader Guidebook, Volume 1" describes a role of Assistant Scoutmaster for Advancement In the same manual, it also says: My interpretation of the BSA's materials is that a Troop can assign most of the traditional duties of an advancement chair/coordinator to an ASM. There still should be someone overseeing this on the Troop committee, but the week to week work can indeed be done by an ASM. Hope this helps.

Here's an update from an Indian SM on the "longer" other side of the pond: Hope it helps to know we are not alone in our trials.

Once upon a time, I worked for our local Transit system. I was the Late Desk, which meant I welcomed the last busses into the depot, closed up and locked the doors for the night (maybe 1:30am ). One Friday night, about 10:30pm, I answered the phone and the adult male voice on the other end asked if I could answer some questions about the Metro Subway system (???). I first asked how he had gotten this number (which was not generally available to the public). He said he had a friend who also worked for the "County". Well, okay, I'll help you if I can. He said his son was going down town th

Moderator note Temporarily locked, National policy change