Eagle Scout referneces

[QuekolisChief]

On the eagle scout application it asks for 6 references, now my council, MinsiTrails, requires that I get 3 letters as reference, should those letters be from 3 of the 6 references on the application?

 

Now for the religous reference, I dont regularly go to chuch but I do believe in god, go to chuch on the holidays and always attend the services at camp... Do you think I would have a problem with the Eagle Scout Board?

 

Thanks

[desertrat77]

Q, not sure on the ref letters--recommend clarifying with your SM or mentor, and they with the council, so you aren't chasing more letters than you need, or providing less.

 

Regarding church attendance: I don't see any issue with the Eagle board. Your belief is the key.

 

Best wishes on your trail to Eagle.

[Gary_Miller]

On the last page of the Eagle Scout Project workbook there are listed, "The 12 steps from life to Eagle", step number 6 speaks about the references.

 

QuekolisChie; "On the eagle scout application it asks for 6 references, now my council, MinsiTrails, requires that I get 3 letters as reference, should those letters be from 3 of the 6 references on the application?"

 

Yes, that is the purpose of the references.

 

QuekolisChief; "Now for the religous reference, I dont regularly go to chuch but I do believe in god, go to chuch on the holidays and always attend the services at camp... Do you think I would have a problem with the Eagle Scout Board?"

 

List your parent as your religious reference.

From the workbook: "The Scout shall have listed six references(five if no employer, and parent if no organized religious association)."(This message has been edited by Gary_Miller)

[moosetracker]

Since your council is asking for more then what National request of references, you could always contact the head of your Eagle board for clarification (the same guy you need to contact to setup the appointment to meet with the eagle board.) But I would take it as letters from the same references as on the application, six references is difficult enough for a young man, to not have these letters from the same source would be asking you to get individual 9 references. That would seem a little brutal.

 

Religious reference could be your parents, or a person that you have discussed religion with and who knows your views on the subject.

 

Just make sure you think about what your views are on the subject, and can answer the question How does reverent apply to you? It is an Eagle board question suggested by National to ask. Our Eagle board does ask it, and some boys get tripped up by it. We have one now, who attended a Catholic HS, has his religious reference as his Theology Teacher. But, hit the board during the cross-roads in his life that he is questioning what he was brought up to believe and what he really does believe, and really mangled the question. We are now all crossing our fingers for him.

 

[NJCubScouter]

Generally, the reference letters are from persons listed as references on the application. This is not required, but it does make things simpler.

 

Have you already submitted the application? Who (not by name, but generally) is listed as the religious reference?

 

My suggestion would be that if you list a parent as the religious reference, you get a letter from that parent which explains why it is that a parent is the religious reference. That is exactly what my son did. My wife wrote the "parent" letter and I wrote the "religion" letter, and we also decided it was best to still get two (not one) letter from references outside the family (I guess it was one teacher and one extracurricular activity mentor). So even though only three letters were actually required, under these circumstances we decided it was best to have four. And my son passed the BOR.

[QuekolisChief]

May I ask what you put down for the letter?

 

How does someone go about answering the question, "how does reverent apply to you" What are they asking for? Can someone give an example of an answer?

 

 

[ScoutNut]

List your 6 (or 5 if not employed) references on your Eagle application. Pick 3 of those references (per your council-not a parent or member of your Troop), and send them a copy of your council's Eagle Award Candidate Recommendation form.

 

According to your council's Eagle Guidelines, they are not looking for specific recommendations on religion, education, leadership, etc. What they want are "frank opinions of fellow citizens regarding his character and ability".

 

Basically they want 3 people who know you personally, who are willing to tell how you live by the principles of the Scout Oath and Law in your daily life.

 

As to how people here, on this board, would answer the question - "how does reverent apply to you" - that is really irrelevant. The question is how do YOU feel it applies to YOU. Everyone will have a different answer to that question. It sounds like you have time to think about what YOUR answer will be to that kind of question, should it come up at your EBOR.

 

If you have any questions on your council's Eagle procedures, I suggest you talk to your SM, or your Eagle Adviser.

 

Good Luck and Congratulations!

 

[OldGreyEagle]

hey

 

I am just back from Camp Minsi, and am on the Minsi Trails Council Advancement Committee. What District are you from, you know, Anthracite, Forks, North Valley, South Mountain, Pocono or Trexler?

 

If you do not have a church, you have your parents sign in the spot for the religious reference and have your parents write a letter testifying to your belief in a higher power, thats how I understand it need be done

 

If I were to do your EBOR I may ask how are you reverent in your daily life, or what does reverence mean to you. There are not "correct" answers, the answer will be different according to the person. I am looking for a sincere answer, the best I can tell

[moosetracker]

Correct with what everyone else states.. It must be your answer.. the Dictionary is a worthless definition to the definition in the boyscout handbook. which is "A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others."

 

How are you faithful in your religious duties..?? No this does not mean you have to attend church.. But what are your beliefs and why do you think you live by them..? Respect the beliefs of others is self explanitory..

 

This means taking some quiet time to get in touch with your inner self.. It was difficult for him to organize his own thoughts on the subject.. But he was given time..

 

My husband, (who is district Advancement chair).. trys to get Scoutmasters to sit in on boards so he can get an idea to what is ask and prep their scouts before hand. With this last issue, they will be doing handout for troops at the round table on possible questions so they can prep their scouts..

 

You may want to think of asking your scoutmaster or other boys who you know who have made eagle to see if they will not do a dry run with you, so you know what to expect.. My husband offers this to all the boys in our troop as the Troop Advancement Coordinator who sits on the board, and trys to get others Scoutmasters to do the same. They don't want to trip you up with the questions.. They are truely all on your side and want to see each boy succeed. But a boy who thinks on his feet may do fine going in cold, someone who has to think about things may be caught off guard.

[moosetracker]

PS a dry run will not give you all the answers, the questions change, and who ever you ask may only remember a few.. But it will give you an idea of the type of questions are asked.

[QuekolisChief]

OldGreyEagle, I am from Anthracite.

 

Thanks for the advice!

[OldGreyEagle]

PM me if you have any more questions,

[Gary_Miller]

Prep the scouts for the BOR? why would you do such a thing? What a waste of time. Questions are never the same. There are not set Questions. And there are no right or wrong answers, just honest thought out responses. Not much different from previous BORs just more things to discuss.

 

[moosetracker]

Maybe to you it is.. But our board does all that it can to put the scout at ease.

 

They recommend that at the higher ranks (Star & Life) you ask someone from the District to sit on the board of review.. In order for the boy to get use to strange people at their review, and for the District to give some questions that may be formated more towards what the District Board will ask.

 

Coming to the District Board for pre-approval of the Eagle project, is too fold 1) to make sure the project will meet the requirements, and suggest changes if need be. 2) to get the scout use to coming in front of the board.

 

The Dry run is just another tool to relax the scout about the "unexpected"..

 

We had one Eagle Scout who didn't get to his EBOR until after he went away to college. This was an awsome scout, who is currently attending college for forestry and High Adventure training. But was always a little shy. My husband didn't get to meet with him until the day of the EBOR when he returned from school for the occasion.

 

He started out with a question meant to relax him, and asked how scouting had influenced him personally.. Blank stare, could not think, this questions totally threw him.. Why?? For some reason even though we didn't run our normal Troop boards this way, he prepared for the EBOR by going through the entire book and making sure he knew all the requirements from the book, knots, first aide whatever. He was so prepared for these type of question he couldn't respond to general questions at all. He got the time to fall apart in our living room then regroup his thoughts with us, rather then fall apart at the board.

 

Some troops no matter what you tell them still run their Troop Boards as a test with a pass/fail.. These scouts would study for an EBOR as if preparing for a test, just like my example scout did.

 

Whatever you do to relax a scout about what to expect, is really not a waste of time.

 

And yeah the reverent one they can get wrong.. Maybe that is the only one. But say something like "I don't believe in God" and you are in trouble unless you can back it up with what you do believe in that is some form of other type of religious belief, or belief in a superior being (It can be aliens who guided the building of the Egyptian pyramids, who will return someday)..

 

For other questions maybe no wrong answer, but, ask a question that a scout just can't think of the answer, and hits that deadly silence from there it is a slippery slope. Most times this happens because the scout over worried the process, and walked in pratically hyperventallating.. They see this as a pass/fail on something they have been working on most their lifes from first grade to 12th grade.. All the dry run does is ease them over the fear of what to expect. What type of questions will be asked.

 

If you can get them to relax before going to the EBOR, and can get them to anticipate what type of questions will be asked, and that most of them will not have a wrong answer, the boy will walk into the board with confidence and walk out of the Board happy with how things went.

 

In my opinion, not a waste of time.

[ScoutNut]

A better use of your time would be to train those Troop Committees who run long re-test BOR's on how a BOR SHOULD be run.

 

A BOR, ANY BOR, should not terrify a Scout so that he needs numerous "practice" sessions before he can screw up the courage to face a "real" BOR.

 

An Eagle candidate has already been thru 5 BOR's, an EBOR should hold no big surprises for him. Some of the committee members from his Troop will most likely be on his EBOR, so there will be familiar faces who know him, and whom he knows.

 

If an Eagle candidate freezes on a question(s) at his EBOR, so what? Do you fail him out of hand for nervousness? If so, then your District BOR members need some serious retraining also.