Life BOR

[kahits]

Just a quick question... what should a Board of Review for a Life scout entail. I have some candidates that are asking me, and having only sat on an Eagle BOR, I don't quite know what to say.

[gwd-scouter]

Kahits, you haven't posted in a while - good to see you're still around and I hope things are going well with your troop.

 

Life BOR is much the same as any other BOR - asking questions about what the candidate did to get to that rank. However, the further a scout goes along the advancement trail, the longer the BOR will be and the more in depth the questions. For instance, a Tenderfoot Scout may be asked what kind of knots he learned. The First Class Scout what kind of knots and lashings he used to build a camp gadget. The Life Scout who may have earned pioneering merit badge about his experiences earning that badge.

 

BOR members will/should ask questions about what the candidate did in his POR, what kind of service projects he did, what merit badges he did to earn Life and what he thought of them. Like any BOR, it shouldn't be a retest of the Scout's skills, but a conversation. I like to think of the BOR as an interview.

 

Like any other BOR, the candidate may be asked about his participation in the Troop. What kind of trips did he go on? What did he like/dislike. Is there anything that could be improved in the Troop? What can he do to make those improvements?

 

Questions should also include the candidate's goals for his next rank. In this case, Eagle. Does he have any ideas yet on a project? Does he have a preference for a POR? What merit badges must he complete and what are his plans to do that? In our Troop, the Life BOR always includes a discussion on the Life to Eagle process.

 

Questions may also be dependent on the age of the Scout. For example, an 11th grader sitting for a Life BOR may be asked if he has a job, how he balances the demands of his job, school, scouts, and other activities.

 

Finally, many questions arise during a BOR based on answers the scouts has given to a previous question. It can, and probably should, be a free flowing conversation. As I said, more of an interview - not an inquisition.

[Beavah]

Yah, kahits, since you've done EBORs I think the best way to think of a Life BOR is as the semi-final game, eh? Ask da same sort of things you do for Eagle, but less of 'em. Get the lad thinkin' about that "bigger picture" that we do at Eagle BORs, but just a bit. Be OK with answers that aren't thought through all the way and such.

 

Plus some concrete questions about MB's and such just to put him at ease!

 

Of course, if the boys are just askin' yeh what it's like, you can just say "well, why don't you finish the rest of the requirements for Life and then yeh can find out!!"

 

Beavah

 

[John-in-KC]

I like what Beavah said.

 

When I was Advancement Guy or CC, my first comment to the Scout was:

 

"The next time we see you, it won't be 'just us' seeing you. There'll be someone from District, who you may or may not know. There'll be someone from the community, who you may or may not know. This is our last chance to share with you the basics of Scouting."

 

And off we'd go. No, no retest. I despise the BOR questions "what are the elements of the Boy Scout Badge?" I want to know what was fun, what was challenging, what activity was important to him, what was make-work. I want his thoughts on what he saw done well, and what he saw done not-so-well. I want to get feedback from his heart on the gut-check values of Scouting: How he interprets the Oath, Law, motto and slogan.

 

HTH.

[Eagledad]

Everyone are right on and gave excellent advice. I only add that I spent a little more time on character and leadership during my confrences because that is the expectation of Boy Scout. I gave more focus on character during my Star confrence and little more time on Leadership during my Life Confrence. My reasoning was that I held Star Scouts and higher ranks to a higher level performance living of the Scout Law and Oath. The Life Scout is closer to Eagle and generally the older scout with a lot more Leadership Responsiibility.

 

Barry

[sandspur]

Interesting. Just transferred to a new troop/city. This troop asks skills questions (typically knots, first aid, orienteering) and re-examines even skills from lower ranks. About 25% of Scouts seem to take the BOR twice for skills deficiencies. I have never seen this before.

[gwd-scouter]

Hey sandspur - welcome to the forum.

 

Your new troop is not unique in that practice, unfortunately. I know of a troop in our district that does the very same thing. In fact, years ago I was asked to sit on one of our troop's BORs for a Star Rank candidate. I was the new Advancement Coordinator with the Troop and had not yet had the chance to go to training. I did read up on conducting Boards of Review ahead of time and what happened with this Star Scout in no way matched what I had read.

 

Indeed, the candidate was asked to demonstrate knots, lashings, first aid, etc. In the end, he was turned down for the rank, not because he couldn't tie the knots, but because in the opinion of the other Board members, he did not show appropriate Scout Spirit. I argued with the other two gentlemen at the time, but I lost the argument - being new and a woman, I held no sway in the Troop. To the men, Advancement Coordinator simply meant I was to put stuff into Troopmaster, but could not challenge anything I was asked to enter (sorry, different topic).

 

Needless-to-say, when those other leaders checked out of the Troop and our new leadership came in, all were properly trained and do SM conferences and BORs as they are supposed to be done.

[eghiglie]

For both the SMC and BoR we don't retest anything. All that does is frustrate the Scout and takes up valuable time.

 

I want to know what was great, mundane and needs improvement in the Troop and how the Scout Oath and Law fit into their life.

 

I ask about the MB that was hardest, easiest and most fun.

 

The BoR asks them more or less the same questions. Both are about 20 minutes long.

 

After the Life BoR is over and they advance I schedule some private time to go over the Eagle rank with the boy and parents.

 

The merit badges that everyone in my Troop has a great dislike for is Personal Management and Cit in the Community.