Eagle service project outside sphere?

[gcnphkr 11]

One time on this forum I posted a list of questions given to about 40 district and council advancement committee volunteers at a Philmont Training Conference. Every question was on the Boy Scout advancement program and every answer was found in either the Boy Scout Hanbook or the Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures Manual and the best score anyone got was 40%. None of them even knew how many ranks there were in Boy Scouts.

Okay, now I really am curious. How far back do I need to search for this thread? Do you have any keywords that will help narrow the search. Not that I would do well, I'm sure I won't, the Boy Scout Leader Assessment Tool tells me that. But it is nice to know how much I don't know. I'd have to say just the six on page 14 of the Handbook. Scout is not a rank and Eagle is the highest, which makes six.(This message has been edited by jet526)

[evmori 11]

One of the SM's responsibilities is advancement. An ELSP is advancement. Unless the SM passes this responsibility along, then it is the SM's responsibility to review the project once it is complete to verify it was done according to the plan set forth that the DAC approved.

 

There is a thread in another forum about a Scout only completing 1/2 of the project & quit because he was going on vacation. The Scout considers the project complete! The project needs to be verified before it is signed off by the unit.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[Twocubdad 665]

I'm sorry, Bob, but I may have missed part of what you posted. You said you gave specific manuals and pages of resources. Was that this thread or another? Can you please point me in the direction direction of that info? That's the main thing I'm looking for. Again, my apologies if I'm making you double your efforts.

 

I do have a copy of the Advancement Committee Guidelines and see the reference on page 27 to Eagle projects being "outside the sphere of Scouting." Is there more?

 

You may reasonably ask why I need more. I'm looking at a whole lot of institutional momentum here. I suppose all the advancement committee guys have copies of the guidelines. No doubt they've read that sentence and have chosen to ignore it. I don't think simply pointing out that sentence is going to change many minds.

 

And I do understand that The Scoutmaster isn't required to sign for every requirement. I simply used "unit leader" generically to include the list of people who are authorized to sign for completed requirements. I will note again, however, that the Eagle project is different as the Eagle Project workbook does require the signature of the "Scoutmaster/Coach/Advisor" on the "completion" side of the workbook.

 

Personally, because leadership is such an important part of the ESLP, I feel a responsibility to be present for at least part of the project work to observe how the candidate is leading the project. I have shown up at projects and found that a dad or other adult had hijacked the project. I even arrived at one project where the Scout had taken the facility's maintenance crew up on their offer to handle the major portion of the work on the project. But that one is a point in your favor -- no I didn't trust that kid's word and no, he never made Eagle. (But that's another thread.)

 

Checking a project after it is completed doesn't tell me how it was led. And not all projects are physical things which can be inspected afterwards. No manual to reference or training to cite, but my word and my honor require that I have some first-hand knowledge of the project before signing the workbook.

[Bob White 20]

Twocub dad what you need to do is bring together the various elements of the Uniform Regulations in the Insignia Guide, The advancment regulation in the Adv. Committee Policeis and Procedures Manual, and then the inform ation on BSA Health and Safetynad Risk Management, As well as an understanding of the BSA safety policies.

 

The BSa makes it clear that the project is not a unit or district activity, and their is no such thing as an individual BSa activity. It clearly belongs to the benefiting organization. Once you realize that the project does not belong to any level of the BSA the rest is just common sense.

 

 

As far as what you feel you need to do as the leader, can you show me anything in the training or resopurces of the BSA to support that feeling?

 

Remember the unit leader is not the only person to sign that the project was completed and that the scout did the planning and leading, so does the representative for the benefiting organization by whom the project is owned.