<p>My experience with Eagle scouts does not give me much appreciation for their “major project”.
I work in a church and each year we get several boys coming in to ask if they can do their Eagle project at the church grounds. (our church is not affiliated with any of the local troops.)
One project (agreed to only after boy’s mother called repeatedly asking for a project for him because he just had to have an Eagle project) was painting two offices. After several days the boy and his friend finished painting and left, literally. We had to clean up the paint cans and drop cloths after them. Then the mom came in and asked to be reimbursed for the cost of the paint! I said I thought finding funding was part of the project, and mom replied they were told they were not to do any fundraising.
Last summer another one came in. This time we specifically said what we wanted, basically upgrading the landscaping on the church grounds. Benches that needed restaining and repair, planters that needed plants, shrubs that needed replacing or pruning, and we mentioned a sign for the entrance would be nice too. The kid ordered us a sign from the local sign shop , installed it in a 3X3 patch that he weeded and was done. (after asking us how much we would be willing to spend on the sign we told him to come up with ideas to pay for it. He collected bottles and cans from our church to pay for it)</p>
<p>I don’t hate Eagle Scouts but seeing the dozens of local announcements in the paper for Eagle Scout Awards and given our experience it does not seem to be a very exclusive (or difficult to attain) EC.</p>