I think the suggestion for Eagle Scout is because that is an award more well known and college admission officers don’t have to guess at the amount of work that goes into the award. Since the ‘bowl’ group is much smaller and less well known, the amount of work going into it would have to be explained.
This is the problem. The consultant doesn’t have any ideas because there aren’t a lot of research opportunities in the humanities for high school kids. I’m afraid most of the ‘opportunities’ are going to be scut work and not heavy duty research. This is true if he works at city hall or on a political campaign or for a professor. He can’t start at the top.