us3packrats

One of out Scouts recently went on a campout with another troop. He is friends with several of their boys. The campout was basically to work on rank advancements up to 1st Class.

Our Scout came back with a list of requirements he completed.

The Committee now has differing opinions. Some say fine, just go over them again with him and make sure he knows them, before signing off on them.

Some, including his father, say they were done and approved by another Scoutmaster and the Scout shouldn't be required to go over them again. (They weren't signed in his book, just on a piece of paper.)

Any opinions on how to handle this, and was it appropriate for him to camp with another Troop for his advancements? We had held a similar campout earlier in the month, but he was unable to attend it because of sports.

Thanks in advance for you input.

The CO is a church and the project is being done for a park controlled and owned by a local township.

I really don't believe the Scout meant to misrepresent anything.

He was probably told to include that by one of his parents.

The recipient of the letter seemed to feel the same as Shortridge, it made him question other details.

Whether he decided to donate or not, I don't know.

My interest is for future reference to other Scouts in the troop.

It was brought to my attention that one of our Scouts sent out letters requesting donations from individuals and some businesses.

He did not show the letter to anyone in the troop ahead of time.

However, he stated in the letter that all donations made for his Eagle Project would be tax deductible.

One individual who received this letter came to me asking if it indeed was tax deductible. I was unsure of the correct answer.

Is money that is given personally to a Scout for his Eagle project tax deductible for the donor?

If it is given directly to the Scout and not run through either the CO or the non-profit the Scout is doing the project for, can the donor individual claim it with the IRS?

Thanks for all your input!

I will talk to the Scoutmaster and Advancement Chair about it. I'm sure they were trying to do the right thing, but had not encountered this situation before.

He went on a campout last weekend and was in the patrol with his friends. I think they just pulled him out for some book work stuff at the meeting.

But,there's a huge gap between and 6th grader and a 10th grader. He seems like a nice kid and I wouldn't want to him quit because we didn't handle it correctly.

I'm sure if we talk to his friends in the troop that they will step up and help teach him. They must be a pretty persuasive bunch to begin with.

Hopefully, they will all learn a lot, have fun doing it, and make some great memories together.

We have a new Scout in our Troop who is almost 16 years old.

He is friends with several of our other Scouts who convinced him to join, and he was put in their patrol.

We also have 12 new scouts (11 year olds) who just crossed over from Webelos.

This week the Scoutmaster was working on some rank advancements requirements with the new scout patrol and also had this older Scout joining them. He looked very uncomfortable and out of place. Meanwhile his patrol was outside working with the Quartermaster.

I know this young man has not joined with making Eagle in mind. I also realize that he needs to learn the valuable skills that are taught in the individual ranks.

Any suggestions for how deal with his advancements? Should the older Scouts in his patrol help him with his advancements?

I ageee that most boys find the write-up to be as difficult as anything else.

My own son made Eagle at 15 1/2 and he also took a long breathe between the physical project work and the final write-up.

Our troop has another Scout who finished his project 7 months ago and STILL hasn't written it up.

Thanks for your input. We have never had a Scout cut it so close before.

I learned this afternoon that our Council's policy is that a SC can be done anytime after the Scout's Life BOR but before his 18th birthday. So he can have his SC this week, before the Scoutmaster leaves, and before he finishes his badges.

Evidently, our Council only requires that all physcial work (badges and project,POR etc.) be done before the 18th BD.

Signatures and even the final write-up for the ESLP can be done after the Scout's 18th BD. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that, but that is what the "powers that be" have decided.

We have a Scout who is taking it down to the wire. He will be finishing his last 2 merit badges next week, 5 whole days before his 18th birthday!

However, our Scoutmaster is leaving on a well deserved vacation this weekend, and will not be back before the Scout's 18th birthday.

The question is can an Assistant Scoutmaster do the Scoutmaster Conference in his place? Or has the Scout reached the end of the line by waiting until the last minute?

Thanks! I knew I had seen it somewhere. Hate to admit that I haven't opened the handbook in a while, though.

Can anyone point me to a resource which explains the symbolism of the elements on each rank badge? I have a parent who would like to include it in an Eagle Ceremony.

Our troop is at summer camp this week. Several boys were signed up for the Waterskiing MB. When I went to our council's scout shop 3 weeks ago for the Waterskiing MB pamphlet, I was told there wasn't one anymore, that it was now Watersports. And that was the pamphlet they sold me.

Actually, I am his mother. Part of the problem, I fear, is that his father passed away when he was young. I encouraged him to join cub scouts in order to be around good male role models. Little did I realize exactly how much he would get from scouting!

Following his EBOR, he wrote extemely wonderful thank you letters to all those who presided on his EBOR and to those wrote his recommendation letters. He even knows who he would like to give the mentor pin to.

I think part of the problem is that he has never seen an Eagle ceremony, minus the father. While there are a few children of divorce in his troop, their fathers are still very involved. And even though his father has been gone many years, the void still remains. Especially, when in Scouting , you see so many father and sons enjoying it together. I suspect he maybe afraid that the ceremony will highlight this.

However this is just a guess on my part. Teenage boys aren't always that big on talking about their "feelings".

I do appreciate the suggestions that you all have given regarding a simple ceremony and will tell him that it can be whatever he wants it to be.

I'm trying to convince him that he is allowed to do something simpler than the previous ones our troop has held. A few years ago our troop had 6 boys who came up through Cub Scouts together, made Eagle within weeks of each other and held a joint ECOH. Very elaborate!

I've told my son, that if he is uncomfortable with the attention, that he should look at it as an opportunity for him to thank all the leaders, fellow scouts and family who have helped and supported him in his journey.

Hopefully, that will work.

Thanks for your answers. He should be hearing back from National soon. He's not really keen on an Eagle COH and I feared that he wouldn't be able to wear the rank badge without it. He's very outgoing, but extremely modest. It's nice to know if he backs out on a COH, that he can still wear the badge he worked so hard for.

My son recently made Eagle. He is 15. However, because of schedule conflicts, he will not be able to have his Eagle COH until late this summer. He will be joining his troop at Summer Camp before then. Is he allowed to wear the Eagle rank badge on his Class A if he hasn't had an Eagle Court of Honor? His troop will be having a regular troop Court of Honor before Summer Camp.

Thank you all for your insights. I will have the young man the call the District Eagle Chair for clarification. Our troop's leadership is in a transition phase right now, and none of us had come across this situation yet. We didn't want to steer the Scout the wrong way and cause his application to be rejected.

We have a Life Scout who fast approaching Eagle. He has even finished his Eagle Leadership Project. He is not a member of an organized church. However,he is spritual and lives the Scout Laws in his everyday life. He is concerned that because he does not have a minister/ priest to sign his application, that he will not make Eagle. Who else would be considered an appropriate reference under the "religious" recommendation line?