Working Toward Eagle Scout 

The following is an outline of the step by step process for planning and completing your Eagle Service Project. For those unsure, the phrase "step by step" means you complete the items in order.  Complete one step before going on to the next. You can also download the process from the Mayflower Council.

1. Decide on what you want to do, or think you want to do and then meet with your Scoutmaster. You don't need any details yet, just let someone know you are starting and that you have an idea about what you want to do.

2. Start tracking your hours now! Make a log, list names and hours. Trust me it, will make your life easier later on. You need to track every hour you spend planning and doing your project and every hour anyone else spends helping you plan or do your project. So your planning, meeting with beneficiaries, presenting to Committee or any permitting boards, time your family spends helping get ready, time your workers spend doing it, any fundraising time you spend, it all gets tracked. And you have to have it broken down by your time, other Scouts, other youth, adult Scout Leaders, and other adults.

3. Before you do anything more, you should download the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook. PLEASE NOTE: once you go to that page you have to download the Workbook and then open it using Acrobat, or Acrobat Reader you can't open it within a browser or with Preview or with any other viewer, it does not work. This screws up a lot of people, don't say you weren't warned. If you use a different form it will get rejected! Once you open it in Acrobat, you can fill it out directly within Acrobat, just save it often. But before you even start filling it out, READ THE FIRST 6 PAGES, YOU WILL GET A TON OF INFORMATION! There are 3 main forms in there you will have to fill out at different times;

   • Eagle Scout Service Project Proposal - describes what you want to do, you submit this for approval before doing anything more. Needs several signatures.

   • Eagle Scout Service Project Plan - helps you plan all the details of the Project, reviewed with your Eagle Coach before you start doing any work.

   • Eagle Scout Service Project Report - your documentation and review of what you did and how you did it, requires sign off signatures to verify work is completed.

4. Chose an Eagle Coach, meet with them and review your project. Work out more details about what you are going to. Use the Eagle Scout Service Project Proposal (pages 7-12 of the Workbook) as a guide to help you plan. Having an Eagle Coach is optional, but it makes sense to have someone who has done this a few times helping out, don't you think?

5. Present your plan to the Troop Committee for approval. You should be using the Project Proposal as a guide. You should have something to show the Committee,: handouts, powerpoint, pictures, drawings, maps, etc. It should include everything for you to explain to the Committee  what you want to do and why you want to do it, where it is, who the beneficiary is, approximately how much it will cost, all the stuff you will need to do it, how long it will take, how many people it will take, when you want to do it, and anything else needed to explain. The Committee may approve you or give you suggestions for changes, but once approved by Troop Committee you can go on to next step.

6. Fill out Eagle Scout Service Project Proposal, COMPLETELY. Here's a link to the Council checklist for How to Prepare your Proposal. Download the checklist, use it. When completed, print out the Proposal and get signatures; yours, your Project Beneficiary, Scoutmaster and Troop Committee Chair.

7. Scan the completed and signed Eagle Scout Service Project Proposal and review with the Troop Advancement Coordinator. 

8. Submit to Mayflower Council for approval. Click here To Submit Eagle Scout Service Project Proposal. This is the only way to submit the form. Please be sure to CC your Eagle Coach, Scoutmaster, Committee Chair and Advancement Coordinator.

9. You will then be contacted by a member of the District Advancement Team to schedule a time to review the proposal with them. If approved they will sign the Proposal. If not approved, they will give you information about what needs to be done to get an approval. If not approved, fix what needs to be fixed and go back to Step 5 above.

10. If approved, scan the signature page and email to EagleProposal@mayflowerbsa.org, once again please be sure to CC your Eagle Coach, Scoutmaster, Committee Chair and Advancement Coordinator.

11. Meet with your Eagle Coach and fill out the Eagle Scout Service Project Plan. This is where you make changes that come up, fine tune your plan and work out all of the details. Scan and email to Troop Advancement Chair and Scoutmaster for review prior to scheduling Project. 

12. Schedule your Project. You may need to work with beneficiary to work out date, plan around Troop events, get any permits needed, etc.

13. Complete the Project. Take pictures. Lots of pictures. Pictures getting ready, pictures of the "before" conditions, pictures of people working, pictures of "after." Make sure the Project is completed to the satisfaction of your beneficiary, Eagle Coach and Scoutmaster.

14. Apply with your Advancement Coordinator for a Troop 1775 Eagle Project Identification Plaque. 3"x5" plaque with 4 small screw holes, best for Projects with a wood area you can screw it to. Talk to Advancement Coordinator for alternatives.

15. Take more pictures!

16.  Fill out the Eagle Scout Service Project Report, print out and get required signatures; your beneficiary and Scoutmaster. This is when you will thank me for telling you to log all those hours and take all those pictures. Do this as soon as your Project is completed, even if you aren't ready to apply for your Eagle because you still have Merit Badges to complete, trust me, do it now before you forget things.

17. You also need to submit all your project data to the Council, which gets uploaded to the BSA database to track all the awesome stuff that Eagle Projects are accomplishing, here's the link to do that.

1. Download Eagle Scout Rank Application. And you should also download the How to Complete Your Eagle Application Checklist from Mayflower Council.

2. Gather all the information you need to fill out the Application. You will need lots of dates, most of which you can get from Scoutbook, but you will need to request your Joining Date from the Mayflower Council. This is the "Date You Became a Boy Scout" on the application and it is a very specific date that may not be what you think it is, so get it directly from them. You will need total hours worked on your Eagle Service Project, if you kept a log like I told you to do in the beginning, this is easy. You can get all your Merit Badge and Position of Responsibility information from Scoutbook too.

3. Request 6 letters of recommendation. You will need letters from your parents, religious leader, a teacher, an employer (if you have one) plus two others. You need to give the people who are writing these a pre-addressed return envelope, these letters should be sent directly to the Troop Advancement Coordinator, they DO NOT go back to you. You should download the Eagle Scout Letter of Recommendation Instructions and give it to the people your are requesting from. Please note, that the previous link has several pages to it, page 1 is the Procedures for YOU, the Scout, to follow. Pages 2 and 3 are the letter you give to the people you are asking for recommendations from. Page 4 is the format for the return envelope, you make envelopes just like this, stamp them and give them to the people you are requesting recommendations from, this is how they send them to me. This is the only acceptable way. They do not go to you, they do not get emailed, they do not get strapped to a carrier pigeon, just give them the envelope. 

4. Fill out the Eagle Scout Rank Application completely and then get all the required signatures; yours, Scoutmaster and Troop Committee Chair.

5. Scan completed and signed application and email to Troop Advancement Coordinator for review. Once reviewed by Troop Advancement, you must submit to the BOTH the Council at eaglescoutapplicationsubmission@mayflowerbsa.org and to the Metacomet District Eagle Coordinator. Click here for a Checklist on How to Submit Your Eagle Application. Once submitted, the Council will review to make sure all the dates are correct and all the Merit Badges are listed correctly. You will get a receipt email, if you don't in a day try again and let your Troop Advancement Coordinator know.

6. You will be contacted by a member of the District Advancement Team to schedule your Eagle Board of Review. You will also be directed to deliver the completed binder (see the next few steps below) to a member of the District Team. Typically the Eagle Boards of Review are held the third Thursday of the month, so you will be instructed that your binder will need to be delivered to them a couple of weeks before then, typically to the District Roundtable which is held on the first Tuesday, so plan accordingly! you still have a few more steps to go before that binder is ready.

7. Write a Statement of Ambition and Life Purpose. It should explain how you have been a leader both within but also outside of the Troop. It should talk about your plans for the future and how you see yourself continuing to be an Eagle once you are no longer a Boy Scout. Doesn't have to be very long, most of the ones I have seen are a page or two long, but it is extremely important that you put some time into it. Write a draft, edit it, just like a school paper. Should be typed, spell checked and signed by you. Here are some links to sample letters (ignore references to letter length, those are specific to other Councils).

   • https://penandthepad.com/write-eagle-scout-personal-statement-5251.html

   • http://www.seqbsa.org/PDFS/Forms/Eagle_Req_7.pdf

   • http://www.utahscouts.org/document/2014-sample-ambition-statement-revised-12-2013/137571

   • http://www.troop505.org/advancement/LifePurposeExamples.pdf

8. Assemble your final Eagle Binder. It will be a 3 ring binder and contain, in the following order:

   • Original, completed and signed Eagle Rank Application

   • Statement of Ambition and Life Purpose

   • Your original Eagle Scout Service Project Proposal

   • Your original Eagle Scout Service Project Plan

   • Your original Eagle Scout Service Project Report 

   • Pictures of your Eagle Scout Service Project

9. Review Eagle Binder with Troop Advancement Coordinator. Since the Binder needs to be delivered by you to the District Team, at the beginning of the month in order to schedule your Eagle Board of Review for the end of the month, you are going to have to plan your time and remember you need to get all these signatures and plan time for reviews ahead of time. Your beneficiary, Scoutmaster, Committee Chair, Advancement Coordinator, etc all won't be available the night before you need to drop of the binder, so PLAN YOUR TIME AND THEIRS! 

10. Complete your Eagle Board of Review. This will be arranged by the Council and/or District. They are usually held once a month at a central location. You are required to be in full uniform for the Eagle Board of Review. This includes a Class A shirt with all the correct patches on it, including your Life Rank. A neckercheif and slide. Your Merit Badge Sash, with all the Merit Badges on it. And "Good Pants." Be prepared to answer questions about your Project, your badges or anything else about your journey toward Eagle.

11. Congratulations, you are now an Eagle Scout. And you will always be an Eagle Scout!