Eagle Ceremony Order of Events

[tennisnut]

I am putting together an Eagle Court of Honor, and was wondering if there is any "official" order that needs to be followed, particularly with respect to the Eagle charge and response? I had planned to put the Eagle charge and other eagle presentations (awards, pins etc.) together, and then at the end of all of that have the eagle response. I was told by the SM that the response should follow immediately after the charge. I'm not sure I see this as a requirement - isn't much of the ceremony up for individual design?

[qwazse]

No "official" order. Some folks are generally used to things flowing in a certain way. I think the response was designed to be completed before the awards. Hopefully others can speak to that.

 

As with most things, individual design often involves a little bit of compromise. I've observed that the good Masters of Ceremonies will barely stick to the script, so you want to make an effort not to pull them too far from their comfort zone.

[frankpalazzi]

Correct...there is no "official" order. I like to make each ceremony unique for every boy, keeping in some basic threads of course (Eagle Charge, Eagle Promise, etc.). Google some Eagle ceremonies, pick out parts that you like and combine them! Then, customize some of it for THAT particular Eagle Scout! Above all, KISMIF! (Keep it simple, make it FUN!)

[BDPT00]

Don't be bound by any rules regarding what "has to" be done.

Bottom line ... the award could be dropped in the mail, and there could be no ceremony. A Scout is no less an Eagle whether there's a ceremony or not, so do what you wish. The "rules" are whatever those around you are used to.

BDPT00

[AvidSM]

I agree that there is no official format or order to a ECOH ceremony. What is important is that it meets the scout's expectations. What are his memories from other ECOH's that he attended and what parts of the ceremony are important to him? Does he want's his turn to light the 12 candles while reciting the Scout Law or at giving pins to his parents?

 

It's all up to the candidate as to what takes place. It should feel like a ECOH to him and his family. I attended a ECOH a few weeks ago and the family said they got the copies of previous ECOH scripts and made up their own based on what they liked from each of them.

[allangr1024]

In our troop I give the scouts and families the option of doing their own program or having the troop leaders do it. Since it is all about honoring the Eagle scout, I can go either way.

 

There is not a set series of elements required in the Eagle ceremony. Anything tasteful is ok as long as the medal gets pinned to the boys uniform at the end of it.

 

I can recommend the book "The Eagle Court of Honor Book" by Mark Ray. He has examples of lots of different ceremonies you could use. Mark seems to have a sensible approach to the whole thing. I have used two of his entries, slightly adapted for our troop.

[SeattlePioneer]

Are you including a Friends of Scouting solicitation?

 

 

 

[This was the bright idea of a DE reported in an earlier thread which didn't garner universal support! But I like to keep bringing it up....]

[tennisnut]

Thanks for the input. We will be doing what I originally planned - taking parts of various ceremonies and combining them into our own. I like the order we have planned out and if there is no set order (which I suspected there wasn't) we will go with what feels right.

 

And no, we will not be doing a FOS piece. Our troop gives to FOS from our dues, and also collects a substantial donation during our regular CoH - we keep the Eagle ceremonies just about the Eagle Scout.

[hadulzo]

Since I have been in scouting for over 30 years and saw almost every configuration of ceremonies i asked my son and the other scout who was getting Eagle at the same time if I could go "outside the box" planning their ceremony.

 

They both went to Philmont so I made up a slideshow. That did not end up being part of the ceremony, just a display at a table.

Ceremony as i recall it

there was some tradional elements, flag cermony was by the book, also felt the eagle promise and the Eagle charge were important.

 

I wanted the stage to be a bit different. I brought my dad's coffin flag to use as a backround. Since it was Christmas time there happen to be some trees with lights on the stage. So that turned out pretty cool.

 

The other eagle dad and my self did an outdoor cooking show skit. This is an adaption of an old cub scout skit as I recall. We were cooking up some eagles. Recipe included tenderfoot, sceond class, 1st class, badges, 21 merit badges, patience, money, a few other things, more money.... This was very well recieved.

 

Then we did the John Wayne Scout law. I got a recording of it. After that we introduced the candidates like they used to introduce the Bulls playing "Sirrius" by Alan Parsons Project The lights were turned off by this and we used big flash lights as spot lights.

 

The boys chose not to speechify, however I brought in a ringer for the Eagle charge. He was a camp director but in his real job he is a teacher in communication and a very animated speaker.

 

We closed the ceremony with Fly like and Eagle by Steve Miller.

[BartHumphries]

Eagle Court of Honor ceremonies are like church worship ceremonies. There's all sorts of different clothes and words and orders and meanings associated with different groups "standard" ceremony. Here are some ready-made ones if you'd like some more help:

http://www.eaglescout.org/finale/coh/coh.html

 

Otherwise, just kick back with the Committee and come up with something you all like.