Eagle Project Approvals / Reviews

[Eagle69 46]

Thankfully in our district it's a fairly low key process. Once the project is approved at the Troop level the boy is given the phone number of the District Eagle Adviser and told to contact him. Once contact is made he is told who to contact to review his project. The reviewer will look over it and give the boy feedback as to any questions, improvements, or approval usually within a couple of days after receiving it. Approval if not done on first draft is usually in a week or so if everybody responds promptly. After project completion when the boy is ready for his board the SM contacts the District Eagle guy and they work out a time that is good for all parties. We have no set rules about number of hours, etc.

[eisely 13]

For as long as we have lived where we currently live, there has been a single individual at the district level who reviewed and approved projects. I have succeeded him as the designated sole approval authority for about four months now.

 

I have seen over detailed proposals, and two that I did not sign initially because of problems with the scout's paper work. In the recent past, before I assumed this role, some helpful adult came up with an eagle project checklist. The checklist is well thought out and can be helpful to some scouts. However, one of the projects I initially rejected was a scout who came in with just the check list and no workbook. To me this was a clear example of well intended paperwork overkill leading to confusion - making things worse instead of better. I counseled the lad about what he had to do, and he was back in a week with what he needed. The project itself was perfectly acceptable.

 

The other scout had a unique project, but had difficulties documenting it. I spent time with him going over the stack of loose papers that he had and counseled him too. He was very appreciative, and was back within three days with a well documented project. Reviewed and approved second time around.

 

I for one am not looking for detailed counts of nails that will be used. I want to see enough detail that I can look through it and understand what the project is about and that the scout has thought about his project in sufficient detail to be able to execute the project. If the scout has done his homework before he meets with me the whole process takes about 15 minutes.

[Twocubdad 665]

"I counseled the lad...."

 

"I spent time with him...."

 

What are these strange things of which you speak?

 

Projects here are left at the entrance to the cave, pulled in by a boney hand, then spit back out some time later. No mere Scout dare approach the beast.

[Frank17 10]

Based on the responses, I would say our District seems to be in the middle of the curve when it comes to level of effort / detail presented in the Eagle workbooks. I personally am comfortable with where we are; most of my issues come from some of the reviewers themselves. On some reviews in the past years, reviewers declined approval and required revisions for:

1. Poor grammer in the general description section

2. Use of power tools by scouts (clarly an urban myth, with propoer supervision / training/ safety)

3. And from my Troop, challenging a scout whose project was to hold a book drive and setup a long-term book sale area for the community center what they would do if someone donated a bible. The reviewer seemed to feel the bible should never be sold and had to have special handling / storage, as it was special. Fortunately, caught that one on the night of the review and dealt with it early.

 

My approach to the reviews is to pass as many as possible, provided there is at least minimal planning evident. If they still have some issues, I generally approve with edits required, which avoids a return visit & delay for the scout. I would love it if we could do more email approvals after the initial in-person review; hopefully we will move more in that direction for edits.

[John-in-KC 311]

In the District I serve,

 

Eagle Leadership Service Project Reviews are available every month except July at District Roundtable. A Scout is either given District clearance to begin the project, or he is given specific elements to work on, and deferred from approval. The Advancement Committee member gives him contact info, and the Scout can close the loop anytime the two can get together.

 

As far as completion, the question asked of the Scout is "If you were injured tomorrow so badly you could not do anything more on this project, could another Scout in your Troop take your book and be able to lead Scouts to execute the project?"

 

A few projects have been outright disapproved, generally, they do not meet BSA's minimum for ELSPs.