Orange District
Occoneechee Council
Boy Scouts of America
 
Eagle Scout Application: Council Policy Changes

1 April 1998, Eagle Project Documentation Completion:

Effective 1 April 1998, the entire Eagle Project, including the written portion, must be completed by the day before the Scout's 18th birthday. The current practice is to have the project completed the day before, with time for the paperwork after the 18th birthday.  In this change, all paperwork must be completed prior to the 18th birthday. In practice, "completed" means "in the hands of the candidate's Scoutmaster."

1 July 1998, Eagle Project Sponsor Completion Letter:

At the Occoneechee Council Advancement Committee meeting on 30 April 1998, a new policy was unanimously adopted affecting the Eagle Service Project report.  A situation arose recently in the council wherein a service project caused the destruction of property that required a serious amount of money to restore. The Eagle Board of Review apparently was unaware of the dissatisfaction of the sponsor for which the project was done and some embarrassment ensued.

A discussion of how the satisfactory completion of a project followed.  In signing the completion line in the workbook the scoutmaster  only certifies that the project was "planned, developed and carried out" by the candidate.  The completed write-up of the project report may not necessarily reveal the quality of the project and before and after pictures are not a requirement.  It was felt that it is the scoutmaster's responsibility to verify the satisfactory completion of a project before signing the Eagle application, however, this apparently is not always the case.

As you know, many times there is a letter from the sponsor for whom the project is done thanking the candidate and the troop for what was accomplished, often praising them for the quality of the task performed.  But neither has such a letter been a requirement up to now.

Whether such a requirement would add to the requirements for a service project (something we cannot do)  was discussed.  It was decided that it did not because the representative from the institution had to approve the plan, and on p.15 of the  Advancement Policies and Guidelines BSA instructs the Eagle boards of review to ask the questions of who would benefit from the project and who could be contacted to verify the value of the project.  This letter, which many candidates obtain anyway, will do two things:  carry out the board of review's responsibility to determine the value of the project and give the sponsor an opportunity to praise the young man for his efforts and those of his peers.

Therefore, it was unanimously decided that effective 1 July 1998 Occoneechee Council policy will require a letter from the sponsor for which the project was done, simply acknowledging the satisfactory completion of the candidate's Eagle project.  Any other comments, of course, would be strictly up to the originator.