shortest time to Eagle?

[Lisabob]

Just curious here. Say you have a Life scout whose 18th birthday is just around the corner. Suppose that all his requirements for Eagle are done (POR, tenure, merit badges, scout spirit, etc.), except that he has no project. Hasn't planned one, hasn't presented one & got the requisite approvals, certainly hasn't carried it out and done the follow-up documentation. Maybe he has a vague idea but nothing that is immediately actionable.

 

What's the shortest amount of time you have seen, or that you can realistically imagine, for such a scout to plan, execute, and document his project? Assume as well that there are no adults playing silly games to intentionally slow him down. Best case scenario for the boy. A month? Less?

 

Guess I'd better clarify that I'm not advocating this sort of an approach in any way - I just wonder what the collective wisdom of the forum might be, in terms of the bare minimum time frame for an acceptable project, start to finish.

 

(This message has been edited by lisabob)

[ordealarrowman]

From what I've seen it depends on how much effort put into it. If little effort or thought, than it wont get passed. Also the place of the project either has to be completely open during sometime time frame or need the project badly for there to be a immidiate planning and set date of the actual project. A eagle scout project takes time and effort, and without time, you need lots of effort.

[Frank17]

We just had one in our district who did it in about 6 weeks, at least to the BOR stage. He came in March to our Eagle reviews with a very poorly written plan with lots of obvious holes. We sat down with him and made suggestions and gave him things to think about, and were preparing to send him home for a redo for next month when he mentioned he turned 18 next month. We panicked, and got our DAC over to discuss ways to make it happen. We agreed we could do an accelerated review process using email and phone to approve his project plans. After a week of back and forth, we were able to approve the plans and get him started. He completed his project and SM conference and turned his paperwork in just before he turned 18. That gives him 3 months grace for his BOR scheduling.

 

That was the shortest one I have seen to date.

[scoutingagain]

As Frank17 notes, the actual project work may not take more than a weekend, with a lot of effort, but it's the Bureaucracy that will be a challenge. In our district, projects are reviewed by the District Advancement Chair once at month at Roundtable. If the plan needs to be redone, it's usually wait until next month, but most fly first time around, at least if the lad has a knowledgeable adult or advisor review the plan before it's presented.

 

Once the plan is accepted things could move pretty quickly if everthing else is lined up well. i.e. materials, labor, organization that benefits from the project, sign offs etc. But 6 weeks is probably a realistic time frame as a minimum and that assumes there are no other hiccups in the process. Anything less than that would be pushing it.

 

SA

[Beavah]

Yah, I've seen a few that were tight. One lad who had a prior project fall through because of a change of administrator in da city parks department. He squeaked by with a new project in about 4-5 weeks. Keep in mind, that's a lad who had to find a new project from scratch, but who already knew the whole project approval game. And there were a lot of adults settin' up "emergency reviews" for him b/c they felt he'd gotten shafted by the city.

 

Seen a lot of lads inside the 2-3 month window who fail to complete in time.

 

B

 

[John-in-KC]

EagleSon, from the day the light blinked on for his project, to the day he got District OK, took something like 45 days. It was pretty darn fast, but it was something he believed in.

 

He wasn't in a panic hurry, but he once he connected the dot, it didn't take long.

 

BTW, his project execution phase took five months, because he could only do it in 5man-hour segments.

[Buffalo Skipper]

I saw 2 scouts last year finish it up in about 8-10 weeks each (both closing in on their 18th birthdays).

 

Our DAC meets to approve projects once per month (breaking up into teams of 3 or 4 to accommodate several a month, before the DC meeting), but they will organize and meet for someone who is under the gun. From what I have seen, these only occur a few times a year, as most seem to be able to do it with, at least a managable amount of time to spare.

[Lisabob]

Interesting. I sort of feel like we're playing limbo here (how low can you go?) but...how 'bout 3 weeks?

 

This all stems from a conversation I had with a troop advancement chair not too long ago. There are several almost-18 life scouts and I suspect the adv. chair sees it as part of his job to push them through to Eagle if possible. Anyway he mentioned that some of these fellows have 3-6 weeks before they turn 18. I must've raised an eyebrow a little too far because he immediately became defensive and said it could happen. So I'm imagining best-case scenarios for the boys but I still have a hard swallowing that 3-4 weeks is really possible. Honestly I'm not even sure the boys are all that interested (at least a couple rarely attend troop meetings) but as I said, I'm curious.

 

 

[gcnphkr]

Just had one from project approval to SMC in 6 weeks. I know of one that did it in a week, I don't know how, just that it was done. If the materials are supplied and all that in needed is to organize labor then it could be done in a matter of days.

[Twocubdad]

A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency for my part.

 

Our council ESLP review committee meets only once a month. I've seen good, solid projects rejected for some rather petty, technical reasons and pushed out another month or more. Because of the amount of petty, technical detail required by out council, I would say most boys are looking a month or more to even research and write a proposal. I spent two hours last night working with a Scout trying to get him through the last stages of his proposal. That was our third or fourth meeting.

 

Given that, around here I'd say the drop-dead minimum is 3 months. Inside that it will require special dispensation to get through. I don't know what the project committee's policy is regarding accelerated reviews. I know if a kid is close, instead of resubmitting a proposal, they will ask him to make the necessary changes and submit them with the final write-up. But if the project isn't close, I doubt they're going to drop their requirements just because a kid is turning 18. The committee's literature says they want to see proposals submitted before a scout is 17 1/2, but of course that is unenforceable.

 

Back to that lack of planning/emergency thing, I would have to think twice about moving mountains for a boy who sat on his butt for years. By the time a kid is inside three months, he has been given ample encouragement and reminders. Of course there's a question of what is a reasonable amount of mountain moving. Meet Sunday afternoon to review his proposal, sure. Throw everyone's schedule into a corner so we can work five consecutive days on a project? Probably not. And of course there are extinuating circumstance. We had a boy who joined the troop at age 15. He made Eagle only because everyone in the troop did what was necessary to get him through. But he also did his part.

[Buffalo Skipper]

I know that in our district, the attempt is made to accommodate those few who may have put off until the last minute because they want the scout to have every opporuntity to finish. The are still held to the same standard. If he has 2 months left and is not prepared, his project will be rejected just a fast as someone else who is, say only 15 years old. If that happens, he must just through the same hoops (only with more angst on his part) to proceed. It is still in his (the scouts's) hands.

[John-in-KC]

One thing that happens in our District... If a Scout is deferred, he's given the specific items which require work and the phone/email of the Advancement Committee member working with him. All these guys will meet again offsite with the young men they're working with.

[Hal_Crawford]

In our council the ESLP project is not reviewed by the whole committee but by a member of the committee (each unit assigned specific reps) so it is more streamlined.

 

My son's birthday is in early January. Going into the third weekend in October he was short 5 merit badges (all in progress) and had done nothing more than think about a project. I had about given up on his chances of finishing Eagle.

 

We had a camporee at an airfield specializing in antique aircraft and he became inspired. He asked their scout coordinator if there was anything he could do as a project that would help them out. The gentleman suggested a couple of things and they agreed on developing an area as a campsite. Son spent the next three weeks writing the proposal, planning the project and getting all the approvals. He and some of the scouts did some preliminary work on Thanksgiving weekend and the big day was the first Saturday in December. The next couple of weeks consisted of doing the final write up and finishing those badges. Requirements were complete before Christmas and the BOR was held between Christmas and New Year over a week before his birthday. From project idea to completed requirements including finishing the five merit badges, about 8 weeks. If it were just the project it would have been about six weeks.

 

He was lucky, all the stars aligned and there were no unexpected delays or issues. Everyone was helpful and available when he needed them. Merit badge counselors were tough but available. The weather was great on the work day. So many things that could have gone wrong but didn't. I doubt it set any records but it was pretty amazing to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

[gwd-scouter]

Three weeks from concept to completion for an Eagle project? Sounds impossible to me. I can only speak for the guys in our Troop, but the shortest time from concept to completion was six weeks. That was years ago and I wasn't directly involved in it, but I do remember the adult leaders and his parents really scrambled and worked hard to get the boy through.

 

A more realistic time frame in our Troop has been 2-3 months. Patrick is meeting this evening with our town's Railroad Museum Director to get completion of project signature. That will make it five months from when Patrick first met with the Director to look at possibilities for projects. Probably could have finished sooner, but about a week after he got his initial approval from the Director and OK from our District Advancement Chair, several members of the museum's Board of Directors wanted to talk to Patrick as well, and then wanted him to change his project to one they thought was in more urgent need.

 

In Patrick's case, I am very glad he wasn't only weeks away from turning 18.

[CA_Scouter]

Had a scout last year who had the project planned but was dragging his feet on starting the physical work. Did a car wash for funding in late October, started the physical work on the project first week in Dec and finished last week of Dec. Turned in his Eagle app on Friday, turned 18 on Sunday.

 

I received several gray hairs on this one!

 

Note to LisaBob... nothing gets a guy's hair on the back of his neck to stand on end than a woman raising her eyebrows. My wife's are registered with the Sheriff's dept. ;-)