Mama Bear....have good news

[zuzy 23]

Hi all, I know I have been absent for awhile and you probably would like to know what is happening with my son.  Since my last post, he has joined a new troop, one which meets on Mondays, has like 60 scouts instead of 15, and he fits right in.  There are other sports guys in the troop, they have existing Eagles, a couple who are just 13 and 14, so no excuse why he won't be able to get Eagle at 15.  New SM asked him if he could get to know him for  couple of months and then he would be happy to give SMC and sign his application.

 

The first two meetings while son was interviewing troop, SM elbowed my hubby and said "why is he here?, why did his other troop not support his Eagle?!"  "He is already jumping in and instructing my young scouts on what to do!"  He fits right in, when is he going to join? LOL.  Hubby said it was son's decison to make.  So two weeks later, son turned in his application to join and he actually goes to meetings after a full day of school, 3 hours of football practice, whip home for 15 minutes and has a smile on his face going and coming home from the meetings.  SM said he will give him a SMC sometime in October before basketball starts up.  SM would like to see son in action at a clinic they hold for WeBelos in October.

 

Son did not want to go disputed EBOR route.  He wants nothing to do with his old troop and certainly did not want their name on the Eagle certificate.  So, he is back in the saddle again and is happy.  This troop does a lot of fun things and he wants to go to Boundary waters with them one of these years. He does half 2.5 years left, so he can have lots of fun too.

 

Thanks for all of your support and advice.  All is well all is well

[fred johnson 936]

Glad to hear.  Plus glad to hear about the Boundary waters.  The advancement is nice and his to earn.  But it's the adventures, activities and fellowship that shapes character and develops life long memories.  

 

Good luck!

[perdidochas 658]

Good to hear.  Sounds like he found the right troop. 

[NJCubScouter 1389]

Sounds good.  I suppose that if I were cursed with thinking like a lawyer 24 hours a day (oh wait, I am) I couldn't help but notice that the new SM is probably "adding to the requirements" a little, but he's doing it in an understandable and constructive way, so if your son is ok with it, that's fine.

[jr56 92]

Good news, glad to hear it.

[Oldscout448 697]

May his remaining scouting years be full and happy ones. And remember the scouting trail doesn't end at Eagle.

 

Oldscout, (eagle class of '76)

[BamBam 3]

I'm glad that your son found a troop that he's happy with. May his next 2.5 years be happy in scouting!

[Hedgehog 334]

Sounds good.  I suppose that if I were cursed with thinking like a lawyer 24 hours a day (oh wait, I am) I couldn't help but notice that the new SM is probably "adding to the requirements" a little, but he's doing it in an understandable and constructive way, so if your son is ok with it, that's fine.

 

 

I saw that he "asked" the son if he could get to know him for a couple of months before haiving a Scoutmaster's conference.  Asking isn't requiring.  And unless the old SM will sign off on Scout Spirit (yeah, not likely), three months is a reasonable time to get to know a scout.  

 

Also, being blessed to think like a laywer 24x7, you could interpret the word "your" troop in the six month active requirement and six month POR requirement to mean the troop from which the scout is seeking to become an Eagle.  If they meant the requirement otherwise it would be "a" troop. 

Edited September 16, 2016 by Hedgehog

[qwazse 4342]

... Also, being blessed to think like a laywer 24x7, you could interpret the word "your" troop in the six month active requirement and six month POR requirement to mean the troop from which the scout is seeking to become an Eagle.  If they meant the requirement otherwise it would be "a" troop. 

@@Hedgehog, you're reading into the text! Both troops are his. (He has the membership cards to prove it, no doubt.) So time served in either counts.

 

Truth is rank advancement was never designed to function under these contentious circumstances. It was never designed to be such a paperwork burden either.

 

For example, there is something about the current Eagle Project Workbook, which if you look at the structure from novice perspective is a good teaching tool for project management. But, in the hands of micromanaging adults, it becomes an invitation for overreach. As a result boy learns more about bureaucratic delay than about how to mobilize a community to accomplish some good in the world.

 

Zuzyson's SM has the best of all possible worlds. Everyone else has obsessed over the paperwork. All he has to do is observe his new scout and see if his character matches that of an Eagle ... not hard to do if you start with a positive attitude.

[Hedgehog 334]

@@Hedgehog, you're reading into the text! Both troops are his. (He has the membership cards to prove it, no doubt.) So time served in either counts.

 

I agree.   I was intentionally being overly "lawyerly" with my reading for @@NJCubScouter 's amusement.  

 

The Eagle Project Workbook is a nightmare.  It needs to be streamlined and simplifed to reflect "Lean" project management goals of removing unnecessary steps.  It also fails to recognize that the best leadership doesn't fit into a linear form.  The best leaders that I know find bureaucratic processes cumbersome and circumvent them to accompish their goal.  That would be a great spin-off thread -- how to fix the Eagle Project Workbook.

 

My frustration with BSA advancement and other guidance (e.g. G2SS, Rank Advancement, MB Requirements) is the ability to interpret it any way you want to justify what you are doing.  It seems to me that there should be the simple guidelines but also a more detailed reference guide that explains everything in detail.  Again, another good spinoff -- why I should be the BSA's "Writer-in-Chief."

 

Ultimately, this thread is about how @@zuzy's son has turned a nightmare scenaro into a happy ending.  Congratulations to him.