Life Scout almost 18. I need help

[lnknprkn]

Hello everyone,

 

My name is James and I'm a Life Scout. I've been in scouting since i was a kid, and earned my arrow of light. Now I'm a life scout at the age of 17, and my birthday is in late January. I have all of the required merit badges and need to do 1-2 more of the regular ones.

 

With a small time frame between now (Dec 18) to January 5th, is it possible for me to be able to attain the eagle rank in time? What do i need to have turned in BEFORE i turn 18? is it just the eagle application? have the eagle board of review?

 

please help me, time is running out. any help is greatly appreciated

 

- James

[ASM416]

You need to complete the requirements for Eagle before your 18th birthday. The BOR can be held after as long as the requirements are done and the application is turned in before your birthday. I only know this from personal experience but i am sure someone can quote the rules on this one.

 

I would suggest you sit down and have this talk with your Scoutmaster, Advancement Chairman or Eagle Coach. They will not only have advice for you but will be able to help you along the way.

 

Tim

[Gold Winger]

Have you done your project?

[packsaddle]

James, You really need to meet with your Scoutmaster immediately to discuss this problem. Under normal circumstances, all the requirements must be completed by the age of 18.

[mdutch]

James,

Just 3 months ago,I was in almost exactly the same situation as you. Assuming you have finished your project, it is doable, but you will need to make a plan NOW, and follow the plan.

First, look at the eagle scout rank application (http://www.nesa.org/trail/58-728.pdf) and figure out exactly what you have left to do. Next, sit down with your Scoutmaster or Eagle Advisor and make a plan for doing it. Figure out which merit badges you will do (I found that architecture, scholarship, and public speaking in many cases can be done relatively quickly.). Get in touch with Merit Badge Councilors now!

Before your 18th birthday you must have finished your project, finished your merit badges, held a leadership position, and hold your scout master conference all before your 18th birthday. In many councils, the application (which also has to be signed by the troop committee chair) must be turned in to the council office by your 18th birthday. Check with your SM.

You can do this, but it will take alot of planning and some work.

Good luck!

[NealOnWheels]

Do talk to your Scoutmaster now. Ask your advancement chair to get a copy of your advancement record from the council to check for discrepencies. There is little time for errors.

 

As far as requiring the application to be turned in by your 18th birthday I know of no councils that require this. There are six requirements on the application. Requiring a Scout to turn in an application by their 18th birthday amounts to a seventh requirement - something a council is not authorized to do. Do check with your Scoutmaster, however, as this is something you do not want to argue over.

[ASM416]

After looking at the Eagle application closely, I have to agree with NealOnWheels. I would check to be sure but I do not believe you have to turn in the application before your birthday, just have the requirements finished.

 

Tim

 

[FScouter]

If the requirements are all done, what would be the problem turning in the app? It only takes 5 minutes to fill it out.

[John-in-KC]

Like all have said, talk with your Scoutmaster.

 

1) You've said nothing about designing, planning for, and implementing an Eagle Leadership Service Project. This requires approval of your SM, the Committee, and the District Advancement Committee. If you're done, great. If not, this is one of two long poles in your tent.

 

2) The second of the long poles are those missing merit badges. Since I don't know what you have, I can't help you with decisions. If you don't have Computers or Scholarship, they are not difficult to earn, even seeing you as a HS senior.

 

3) I wish you well, and keep us informed, but "behind the power curve" is a good name for where you stand just now. If you ask questions, be prepared for us to ask a couple back... advice can be too generic otherwise.

 

YIS

[Lisabob]

Fingerprinting MB is also a fairly quick (and fun) one to earn if you don't already have it. If you're looking to link two similar ones together and if you have a member of local law enforcement available as a MBC, you could do crime prevention pretty easily too - probably do both in the span of a couple of days as long as you read the books first.

 

Make sure you pay attention to the paperwork details for the Eagle application and get all your i's dotted and t's crossed so you aren't tripped up by silly administrative issues. Your work isn't done until it is signed, sealed, and delivered!

 

Good luck to you, and let us know how things turn out.

[SSScout]

Inknprkn: Ditto all the above.

Congrats on getting this far along. Hope you had a leetle fun along the way and made a few friends!

Three questions for you:

1) What's with this "...need to do 1-2 more of the regular ones"? You don't know exactly how many MBs you have and therefore need? Sit down at your dining room table with your Eagle packet/notebook and figure it out. You either have'm or you don't. Bluecards?

2) I wonder why you are asking a bunch of (well meaning, concerned and knowledgable) strangers about this. Are there issues with speaking with your SM, AdC, ? Have you an Eagle Advisor in your Troop? (oops, more than three questions) Any contact with your District AdC yet? Don't forget to keep your PARENTS informed........

3) What are you doing wasting time reading this? Get cracking, boy! Good Luck and God speed!

 

YiS

[jstephens42]

Another quick merit badge is Coin Collecting. The hardest part is putting together the 'date set' which should cost you no more than a few dollars for some penny rolls. Grab the book, sit down with it for a few hours and knock one off your list. And who knows, you may find a new hobby as well.

 

Good luck and let us know how you did.

[lnknprkn]

alright thank you so much for everyones reply. my scoutmaster is actually out of town, but i do have some good news.

 

1. all my merit badges were actually done! believe it or not haha, i was quite surprised when i rounded up all my blue cards. i have all the required merits, and also 5 extra non required, so i am in the clear in terms of MBs

 

2. my eagle project is pretty much done. i received all the necessary permission/signatures, finished the project, and i'm currently working on documenting on the end result

 

*to my knowledge* i have to turn in the eagle application (along with my eagle project workbook?) BEFORE i turn 18. and i am allowed to have the bor AFTER the 18th birthday. do i assume correctly?

 

thank you so much for everyone who has helped. it is very much appreciated

 

- James

[Beavah]

*to my knowledge* i have to turn in the eagle application (along with my eagle project workbook?) BEFORE i turn 18. and i am allowed to have the bor AFTER the 18th birthday. do i assume correctly?

 

Hey, James, congrats on gettin' your project and merit badges done, eh?

 

It's a bit hard to give yeh specific advice online, because da process is different between councils and districts. If yeh can't meet with your SM and your troop Advancement Chair doesn't know, call your BSA council office and ask for da number of your District Advancement Chair.

 

Before you turn 18, you have to have finished everything. No more work on MBs or PORs or labor of any kind on your project. EBOR and paperwork can happen within 90 days of your 18th birthday without any big deal. Yeh might find some folks don't know that or don't like that, though! It's good practice to try to do da BOR's before a lad's birthday - just in case somethin' turns up, he'd have time to fix it before he turned 18 and could have another BOR. So be prepared to explain that it's OK, and you're doin' it after because da Christmas holidays got in the way.

 

Things to put on your to-do list (maybe):

* Finish your project writeup and get the approval signatures from your SM/advisor and the representative of the organization you did the work for in your Eagle Project Workbook. Try to get da signatures before the 5th, just to document that your project work was done by your 18th birthday.

* Do your last SM conference and get your SM's signature on your application.

* Get your Committee Chair's approval signature on your application [in districts where da EBOR is held in the troop, the CC may sign after your BOR].

* Submit your Eagle Application to the council registrar to check your MBs/ranks - council registrar signs and returns to you [many districts ask yeh to do this before an EBOR.

* Ask for letters from your references to be mailed to da Eagle BOR chair [many districts ask for letters, but some don't. If they don't ask for letters, the council or DAC may hold on to your Eagle Application so they can call your references].

* Write up your personal statement and your resume of leadership positions and awards.

* Contact your SM or AC or CC or DAC to have 'em schedule an Eagle BOR [who you contact just depends on your area, eh? Some districts also do some form of separate final project review, too, before da EBOR]

* Get your uniform up to snuff if you've been lazy about sewing .

* If it's been a while, look back over da Scout Oath and Law and make sure you've got it well memorized and can talk about what it means to you.

* Go to your EBOR with copies of your project report, and other documents for people to read [or send 'em in advance if they ask for that]. Bring your Project Workbook and Eagle Application.

* Be calm. Be confident. Most of us don't bite, though a few dull old goats may growl a bit.

* After your BOR, da adults will sign your application and usually take care of the paperwork from there without your help. Remember to ask 'em for an Adult Application to be ASM, though!

 

and finally

* Be sure to come back to Scouter.Com and let us know when we can celebrate!

 

Remember, this is just an old internet guy's version. Your local process can be a bit different, eh? And some other folks may add, subtract, or call me a kook because their council/district is different than what I said. Yeh can use my list as a guide, but talk to someone there who knows, just to be sure.

 

Beavah

(This message has been edited by Beavah)

[mdutch]

Ditto to everything Beavah said, especially the part of getting in touch with either your troop eagle advisor or somebody at your council office to find out how things work by you. Also, in many cases, your SM will want you to have the writeup of life purposes/resume before your SM conference (and the conference MUST be done prior to your 18th birthday).

Best of Luck!