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So my son is working on his Eagle project.  He reached out to his two prior troops for volunteers last weekend to both Scoutmasters. Found out that neither one bothered to send the information to their troops. So my son has to hope that people from community groups he reached out to will show up.  Neither of them bothered to even reply to his email request.  It pisses me off to see people not bother to be helpful.  fingers crossed he gets some people to help tomorrow.

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2 hours ago, mashmaster said:

It pisses me off to see people not bother to be helpful. 

Don't get upset.  Learn from it.  I know you don't want to hear me say it, but if your son can't recruit a few friends to help him with his eagle project, then he is not ready.  He hasn't developed the necessary people skills.

I don't know why he asked the scoutmasters to contact scouts to work on the project.  The scoutmasters aren't supposed to recruit volunteers.  Your son is.

Most of all, don't blame it on other people.  They don't owe it to your son.  They don't have to help your son if they don't want to.  If you are seeing a pattern (that people don't seem to be willing to help your son), find out why and fix it.  Then your son will have learned a valuable lesson, and can be a true eagle scout.

 

Edited by David CO
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Well he got 2 people to show up. The scoutmasters requested him to send them the signup sheets he made and he was proactive in reaching out to them.  That is why he reached out to the Scoutmasters.   He is no longer in that unit so he doesn't have access to email them.  So it is frustrating if they tell him to send them the information to send out and they don't.  I place that BLAME on the scoutmasters for setting a parameter and not following through on it.  He is doing the recruiting per the conditions that he is.

So when you say why is he reaching out to the Scoutmasters that is why.  

The people he has gotten to show up, he has been reaching out to the local mountain bike community with great success.

I am pretty sure he is learning how to be a "True" Eagle scout.

9 hours ago, David CO said:

I don't know why he asked the scoutmasters to contact scouts to work on the project.  The scoutmasters aren't supposed to recruit volunteers.  Your son is.

Most of all, don't blame it on other people.  They don't owe it to your son.  They don't have to help your son if they don't want to.  If you are seeing a pattern (that people don't seem to be willing to help your son), find out why and fix it.  Then your son will have learned a valuable lesson, and can be a true eagle scout.

 

 

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9 hours ago, David CO said:

Don't get upset.  Learn from it.  I know you don't want to hear me say it, but if your son can't recruit a few friends to help him with his eagle project, then he is not ready.  He hasn't developed the necessary people skills.

I don't know why he asked the scoutmasters to contact scouts to work on the project.  The scoutmasters aren't supposed to recruit volunteers.  Your son is.

Most of all, don't blame it on other people.  They don't owe it to your son.  They don't have to help your son if they don't want to.  If you are seeing a pattern (that people don't seem to be willing to help your son), find out why and fix it.  Then your son will have learned a valuable lesson, and can be a true eagle scout.

 

My son is working on eagle project ideas and considering inviting other local troops when he's ready.  If he decides to do so, I'd imagine his first step would be to contact those SMs after getting their contact info.  Those SMs could notify their scouts of a local eagle scout service opportunity and the scouts choose to show up or not.  I dont see anything unreasonable about this.  I'm sure my son would also be willing to do a brief presentation at another troop's meeting to recruit volunteers if the SM and PLC agreed but this seems less appropriate to me.  

I hope the project was a success for Mashmaster's son.

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2 minutes ago, thrifty said:

I hope the project was a success for Mashmaster's son.

It is progressing. He has an ambitious project of building a mountain bike trail with jumps, ramps, and other fancy mountain bike obstacles.  They are done with the trail, now it is the obstacle construction stuff.

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That sounds like a great and ambitious project and one that many scouts in the area would benefit from. I know many scouts who travel some distance to find good mountain biking trails. It makes sense to reach out to other troops to help, especially if it was on request. If the SMs didn't follow through on what they suggested, then it's their Eagle feathers that are drooping.

Someone on another post was talking about down votes and their use on the board. I think we all need to remember that it is OK to air personal/parental frustrations and opinions on this forum among friends. Better to get something off your chest here and then be able to turn a calm face to your son and your local scout connections. We are losing places to do that. Good luck to your son!

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2 hours ago, mashmaster said:

It is progressing. He has an ambitious project of building a mountain bike trail with jumps, ramps, and other fancy mountain bike obstacles.  They are done with the trail, now it is the obstacle construction stuff.

I've changed my opinion.  Your son is learning how to put up obstacles for scouts.  This sounds like the ideal training for future council/district executives. 

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16 minutes ago, walk in the woods said:

As defined by you I suppose.  Did the troops think it was amicable?  Beyond that, did his shipmates show up?

On his first work day he had many members from his old troops so I think I can safely say it was ammicable.  Not sure why you would doubt that?  

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1 hour ago, David CO said:

I've changed my opinion.  Your son is learning how to put up obstacles for scouts.  This sounds like the ideal training for future council/district executives. 

This message confuses me.  Is it a joke?

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@mashmaster, I always tell scouts that email is not effective. If the scout wants others to show up he should talk to them. Phone will work but going up and asking them, personally, is the way to do it. Since it's such a cool project, he could also tell them there will be pizza and a chance to use the trail afterwards.

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Yes, annoying, but real life.  Little has changed in the way the world works.  The only difference in the way in which people respond to asking for help, is the myriad ways they can ignore or "forget".  Today, we have supposedly better communications, but we all know few people pay attention to email anymore, and even texts are easily missed or put on the later burner.  This can simply be a learning experience for your son, and maybe a reminder for yourself.  Follow, follow, and then check.  Do not expect one reach out to do the trick.  If it is important, do it personally and then follow up as well.  

Good luck, but jump off from here and grow.

 

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