early Eagle project planning

[Trevorum 24]

At our last meeting, a Scout asked me some general questions about planning his Eagle project. I was a bit surprised because he is just recently Star! While commending him on his enthusiasm, I cautioned him that he can not start working on the project until after he becomes Life.

 

Now I am wondering if I may have squelched him.

 

So, what (if anything) CAN a Scout do before he becomes Life? He can certainly think about a project and come up with ideas. I imagine he could also talk to people and get some feedback on those ideas. Can he meet with the benefiting group's representative to propose and "reserve" his idea? Without putting anything into action, how much planning would be allowed?

 

The workbook says, "You must be a Life Scout before you begin an Eagle Scout leadership service project."

 

Admittedly, I don't think this is a common situation, but it is in one of those grey areas. What constitutes "beginning"?

[Oak Tree 15]

In the end, this is going to be a judgement call. But that's why they pay us the big bucks.

 

I'd probably read the rules to the boy and let him decide, since a Scout is trustworthy. All of your examples would be ok in my opinion. As long as the boy can say "I thought about and decided what I was going to do, but I didn't actually begin doing it until I got Life" then he should be ok.

 

Oak Tree

[KoreaScouter 13]

I think every Scout who makes it to Star thinks about earning Eagle, since it's not as distant a goal as it was when he was working on his joining requirements. Part of that is thinking about possible projects, especially when they're putting in hours on their buddies' Eagle projects. I don't see anything wrong with it. On the contrary, show me two Scouts, one who's thinking about it as a Star, and one who isn't, I'll bet on attending an Eagle COH for the first one someday...

 

KS

[evmori 11]

If a Star Scout wants to start researching ideas for his Eagle project let him! Why squelch his enthusiasm? We can get all technical & literal about what "working on" means but what's the point. If a Star Scout has the initiative to start thinking about or researching what he wants to do for his Eagle project we should let him.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[LPC_Thumper 10]

I would echo what you have heard, but as I do that I think I can add a bit...

 

I'm the Eagle Advancement chair for my district. I don't ask the Scouts "Now tell me, when did you start working on this project?" He KNOWS when he should do that, and to ask that question is to lecture to him (imo). I've had scouts call me to ask if this project would be a good idea or not because thier adult leaders were stumped, and then it takes YEARS to hear from them again... Sometimes they have the same project sometimes they don't. I wouldn't worry about them looking, I'd worry about them making a rock solid plan and putting it in place before they make Life.

[Trevorum 24]

OK, thanks guys!