Life to Eagle Training Session 3: Eagle Scout Rank Application Paperwork

Transcription

1 Life to Eagle Training Session 3: Eagle Scout Rank Application Paperwork 1. Who should help the Eagle candidate with his paperwork? The unit advancement coordinator foremost, or unit committee chairman, secondarily, have the responsibility to help him. That responsibility should not be delegated to the Scoutmaster or Young Men president or parents. They are not trained and up-to-date on the policies and procedures. The advancement chairman should stay current in the policies and procedures of the Eagle Scout Rank Application. It is very important to be on the district advancement committee s list to receive updates. 2. What are the Policies and procedures? National BSA policies and procedures are listed in the Guide to Advancement and on the Eagle Scout Rank Application. Council policies and procedures change from time to time. You will be notified of those changes by council or district or at the district Life to Eagle training. The current policies and procedures in brief are listed below. 3. Deadlines- For regular application procedure, the application MUST be submitted by the scout s 18 th birthday to the district representative authorized to accept the application- Stake/Community Unit Eagle coach or LDS Stake Young Men presidency member. Make sure all your unit scout leaders know this! For special needs scout who needs more time to complete Eagle Scout rank after age 18, the form to request Extension of Time to Complete Eagle Scout Rank MUST be submitted to the council by the scout s 18 th birthday, but should be submitted much earlier in case the request is denied! See form in back of Guide to Advancement. The scout must have a doctor s note documenting his disability. If the scout is leaving on a mission at age 18, or going away to college or military service or other endeavor, the application needs to be submitted with enough time to hold a board of review before he leaves! The board of review cannot be held in the MTC! It takes 4-6 weeks to process the application and the Court of Honor cannot be held until the application is approved and the scout is notified. The board of review MUST be held within 3 months after his 18 th birthday. If the scout misses that deadline, the council is allowed to grant a board of review up to six months after 18 th birthday, BUT the scout must have a very compelling reason that he missed the three-month deadline. If the scout misses the 6-month council deadline, BSA National can grant a board of review up to one year after 18 th birthday, BUT the scout MUST have had an EXTREMELY compelling reason. See forms in back of Guide to Advancement. Do not count on being granted an extension; very few are!

2 4. Eagle Scout Rank Application Form Must be the CURRENT form. Best way to access it is to Google Eagle Scout Rank Application. It is a fillable pdf. We prefer the fillable pdf so that the writing is legible. The application form is also available at the scout office and can be filled in by hand- black or blue ballpoint ink only! The form MUST be one, two-sided sheet of paper- not stapled or glued or taped together. The full color form is preferable, but if your printer is running out of color, please print in black and white so the form is legible. The current form is 2014 and lists the Cooking MB. Fill out the form completely, including correct addresses! Boy Scout/Varsity/Venture join dates NOT the scout s birthday! LEAVE BLANK. Official join dates are determined by when the membership application was submitted to the scout office, or the unit recharter was approved. STAKE EAGLE COACHES: Debby Robert, the council Eagle secretary, can give you that information. The best way to request that is by . Her address is derobert@bsamail.org. She will need the scout s full name, DOB, unit #, and charter organization name ( LDS stake and ward name if LDS).The council needs you to check the join dates to make sure the scout was in fact registered and able to earn ranks. Rank Dates must meet the time requirements. Internet Advancement is not a smart program. It will let you submit dates for ranks that do not have enough time in between. (Minimum time: 4 months to Star, 6 months to Life, 6 months to Eagle) Please check the rank dates for correctness. If not correct, a correction needs to be made by submitting a change report to Debby Robert. Only the unit advancement coordinator can request these changes. An official advancement record MUST be submitted with the application. The official advancement record is only obtained through your unit s BSA Internet Advancement (IA) account or from the council office. If the scout is a Venturer, his early rank dates won t be listed on the IA record. STAKE EAGLE COACHES: Just ask for those when you ask Debby for join dates. Requirement 2: References -All references (except Employer IF he doesn t have one) must be listed. All their contact information including correct addresses need to be listed. -The scout needs to ask those references to write him a letter of recommendation. Those letters MUST be mailed or hand-delivered directly to the Stake Eagle Coach. They must not go to the unit unless it is a community unit. The scout should NEVER handle those letters even in sealed envelopes. He should provide the reference with a stamped, addressed envelope. -Only one parent letter is required. Council policy- If the father is also the scout s bishop, the mother should write the parent letter.

3 -Religious letter must come from the scout s religious leader, whoever that is.(bsa Policy) LDS Policy- For LDS Scouts, it MUST be his current bishop. -Educational letter- can come from a CURRENT or last semester school teacher, coach, club advisor, or even a Seminary teacher. This must be someone who sees him at least twice a week for an hour or class period each time. The letter cannot come from his Sunday School teacher, YM president, quorum advisor or scout leader. (Council policy) If the scout is homeschooled, his homeschool teacher can write the letter, even if it is a parent. The other parent should then write the Parent Letter. -Employer letter- If the scout is currently employed, he MUST list this reference and ask his immediate supervisor or the owner to write a letter of recommend. -Two Other References- These two references can be any adult who is very familiar with the scout. They preferably should be unrelated adults. They could be his YM president, quorum advisor, scout leader, neighbor, or another teacher/coach/club advisor, or other person. Requirement 3: Merit badges -The merit badge dates must be from the official advancement record. -The unused merit badges listed as Eagle-required should be crossed out. (Example- Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving) -If there is a possibility that the scout will earn Eagle Palms, the elective merit badges listed on the Eagle application should be the oldest merit badges first. Then keep a copy of the Eagle application so you will know what unused elective merit badges can be used for Palms. Keep a copy of each Eagle Palm Application so you know which badges have been used. (Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the Cooking merit badge is now required for Eagle Scout rank. If a scout started working on the badge before 1/1/14, he may finish the badge under the OLD requirements. If he starts the badge in 2014 or later, he MUST meet the NEW badge requirements.) Requirement 4: Leadership Position- It is NOT his LDS quorum leadership position! - The leadership position MUST be one of the positions listed on the Eagle Scout Rank Application. (Example: Not Teachers Quorum President or Bugler.) - The position (or positions) must have been served in for at least six months following the Life Scout board of review date. If he served in one position for at least six months, only list that one position. If he served in several positions for less than six months each, list two positions that add up to six months time. - The leadership position must come from the correct unit he was registered in at the time of his six months of service (Troop/Team/Crew). - The start date for the first (or only) listed position must be his Life Scout board of review date regardless of when he started serving in the position. Requirement 5: Eagle Project.

4 - The project name listed on the application should simply be WHAT the project was. (Example- Bookshelves for school library, not Austin s Awesome Eagle Project! - Don t forget to list the total service hours. Requirement 6: Unit Leader Conference. What is that? -See the Guide to Advancement. The scout should meet with his current unit leader (Scoutmaster, Varsity Coach, or Venturing Crew Advisor). This is a good time to check the dates of his leadership position(s). The purpose is to discuss what he has accomplished in Scouting, what his goals and plans are for future Scouting and his life, to receive praise and counsel, and to get help planning what to write in his Statement of Goals and Ambitions (see next section). This is great prep for the Eagle board of review! -THEN the scout writes a statement of his goals and ambitions, and includes a list of his scouting and other leadership positions held and any awards of any kind he earned during his scouting years (besides ranks and merit badges. Examples- LDS Duty to God Award, Varsity Letter, school Honor Roll, National Honor Society, state tennis championship 2nd place, etc.) This is basically a practice resume and can follow that format. Signatures. -The Eagle candidate signs. -Then the unit leader can sign the Eagle Scout Rank Application. -THEN the committee chair can sign. ( Local Council Certification - That is done AFTER the Eagle board of review is held. The area Eagle coordinator will take packet to council for this step. Other signatures- those are done at the Eagle board of review.) 5. NOW WHAT? The Eagle paperwork is submitted to the district-authorized rep, usually a member of the stake YM presidency/stake Eagle Coach. Ask your stake Young Men president who that person is. The packet includes: 1. Eagle Scout Rank Application. (Check for all needed signatures) 2. Official BSA advancement record. 3. Scout s Statement of Goals and Awards 4. Eagle Project Workbook (check for all signatures) -including photos, volunteer time logs, and receipts for purchases made with $ donations. 5. The scout asks his references to write letters of recommendation and those are sent directly to the district authorized rep. Board of Review. -The paperwork is given by the rep to the area Eagle coordinator who schedules

5 the scout for an Eagle board of review and notifies the scout, parents, & leaders. -The notification is ed. That is why correct addresses on the application are important. -The will give the scout information to help him prepare for the review. Eagle Court of Honor. -It normally takes 4-6 weeks to process the application after the board of review was held. The council must approve it and send it to National BSA. National then returns the approved application to the council. -The council then mails the scout a yellow postcard to inform him that he is now officially an Eagle Scout and that his certificate packet can now be picked up at the council office. -The scout should give the postcard to whoever will purchase his Eagle Scout Award kit from the Scout Shop. This should be the ward scout committee chairman or advancement coordinator. The unit (or ward or stake) should pay for the award kit. The certificate packet has a claim ticket on it that is taken to the Scout Shop so the award kit can be purchased. -The scout should have an Eagle Court of Honor! No Eagle Scout should miss out on being formally recognized and congratulated for this great accomplishment! -The unit/ward scout committee normally should be in charge of planning the Eagle Court of Honor. The troop, team, and crew should take an active role. -There is no official format for an Eagle Court of Honor, but there are many ideas on the Internet. A good resource is the National Eagle Scout Association website: - There is also no official Eagle Oath or Eagle Charge, but there are some good ones on the NESA website, and the council has one they recommend at this link: 1/9/14 Dana Reay Advancement Chairman Orem District Utah National Parks Council Boy Scouts of America danareay@gmail.com Check for updates at the Orem District website Eagle Scout badge link: