College Discussion - View Single Post

Lafalum84 · 05-07-2008, 06:56 PM

This thread inspired me to go find DS's Eagle book in his room. I remember when I saw that he had to write a Life Ambition Statement, I secretly wondered how big of a shovel he was gonna need! I mean, this is a 17 year old kid - how does he know what his Life Ambition is?

His "My Life Ambitions" page is one page long. It starts with 4 paragraphs he wrote about his life ambitions: First paragraph "short term" goals, including "to finish high school and go on to a four-year college...." In the 2nd paragraph he listed some colleges he was considering attending, what he thought he'd major in, and that he planned to work hard and learn as much as he could. 3rd paragraph he discussed types of careers that interested him, as well as hobbies he hoped to pursue as an adult, and that he would like to get married and raise children. 4th paragraph stated that his life's purpose was to "always use the gifts God has given to me to be as good a person as I can be and to help others as much as I can..." and expressed a desire to make the world a better place in his own way.

After that he listed his honors and leadership positions outside of Scouts in a bullet-point format. He didn't have many, as he is a quiet kid. He listed Honor Roll, National Honor Society, 1st chair trumpet, Youth Basketball referee, and helping out at an annual church fair.

DH and I had to sit on an Eagle Board of review for another scout from another troop the night that DS had his review. Frankly, this kid really didn't deserve to get Eagle. It was obvious his dad had done most of the work on the project, and in the parent letter all the dad wrote was how proud he would be to have his son join his older son and himself as an Eagle Scout - not one word about what the son had done to earn the honor. But the kid was inducted anyway. Our Scoutmaster has a reputation for being one of the most difficult in the area, and he wouldn't send anyone to a Board of Review unless he was sure they would pass. He said in all his 20 years in Scouts, he'd only had one kid be turned down, and that was because the kid had a really bad attitude and back-talked the review board. Other troops clearly did not have as high of standards as our troop, but all the kids passed their board. If your son has Aspergers, I would think the boards will be impressed that he has overcome extra challenges to meet his Eagle requirements.

Good luck!

05-07-2008, 06:56 PM	#5
Lafalum84 Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: USA Threads: 49 Posts: 744	This thread inspired me to go find DS's Eagle book in his room. I remember when I saw that he had to write a Life Ambition Statement, I secretly wondered how big of a shovel he was gonna need! I mean, this is a 17 year old kid - how does he know what his Life Ambition is? His "My Life Ambitions" page is one page long. It starts with 4 paragraphs he wrote about his life ambitions: First paragraph "short term" goals, including "to finish high school and go on to a four-year college...." In the 2nd paragraph he listed some colleges he was considering attending, what he thought he'd major in, and that he planned to work hard and learn as much as he could. 3rd paragraph he discussed types of careers that interested him, as well as hobbies he hoped to pursue as an adult, and that he would like to get married and raise children. 4th paragraph stated that his life's purpose was to "always use the gifts God has given to me to be as good a person as I can be and to help others as much as I can..." and expressed a desire to make the world a better place in his own way. After that he listed his honors and leadership positions outside of Scouts in a bullet-point format. He didn't have many, as he is a quiet kid. He listed Honor Roll, National Honor Society, 1st chair trumpet, Youth Basketball referee, and helping out at an annual church fair. DH and I had to sit on an Eagle Board of review for another scout from another troop the night that DS had his review. Frankly, this kid really didn't deserve to get Eagle. It was obvious his dad had done most of the work on the project, and in the parent letter all the dad wrote was how proud he would be to have his son join his older son and himself as an Eagle Scout - not one word about what the son had done to earn the honor. But the kid was inducted anyway. Our Scoutmaster has a reputation for being one of the most difficult in the area, and he wouldn't send anyone to a Board of Review unless he was sure they would pass. He said in all his 20 years in Scouts, he'd only had one kid be turned down, and that was because the kid had a really bad attitude and back-talked the review board. Other troops clearly did not have as high of standards as our troop, but all the kids passed their board. If your son has Aspergers, I would think the boards will be impressed that he has overcome extra challenges to meet his Eagle requirements. Good luck! Last edited by Lafalum84 : 05-07-2008 at 07:01 PM.