<p>Big victory. That’s one that will stay with him. Congratulations.</p>
<p>Congrats on the Eagle!! You should be so proud. I believe, from hearing it at all the Eagle ceremonies I was happy to attend, that 4% of scouts make it to Eagle. My s. earned his at 15!!! I am glad he finished it so early, before, as they say, the “fumes” take over— car fumes and perfumes. 
I had a mixed emotional experience a few weeks ago. I had to go up to NY for a ceremony that is held at the cemetery a year after my mother’s death. I fiinally had the courage to go through her wallet, and in the change compartment was the Eagle pin my s. gave her at his ceremony. It is making me cry as I type this.
Kathiep-
Did you son do Philmont?? My s. thought that was the best experience of his whole scouting career!</p>
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<p>I know what you mean, Blizzard. In my sons highschool blessedly Boy Scouts had a kind of reverse cool connotation. The fact that most of the Eagles went on to top, top US colleges really helped the overall aura attached to the rank. My son is astonished to find so many fellow Eagles at Williams. There is no question that its a plus with that Adcom.</p>
<p>My son always enjoyed mentoring the younger scouts and continued what he learned by leading firstyear backpacking trips at college and choosing to be a junior advisor in the dorm next year. The skills and values run deep and surface in unexpected places. We were in a hotel during the New York black out a few years ago. Who do you think had a flashlight and corkscrew (Swiss army knife) in his backpack?</p>
<p>thanks to everyone who said happy birthday to me. it was a blast.
because of boy scouts i was/am able to do things that other boys wouldnt be able to do. For example: climbing mount whitney, sleeping under the stars at freezing temperatures, cooking my own food, white water rafting, shooting ak-47s, raising money for the poor, etc… even though people think boy scouts can be different from other boys and maybe a little weird…i am pretty sure i am not weird…i surf, i do good in school, i play sports, i play the guitar, i check out girls, i am religious, i have friends, i play poker, and i have a life!!!</p>
<p>Jym- Yes, son went to Philmont - twice! First time was as a fourteen year old. He was the shortest and youngest but managed to keep up just fine. It was the Dad’s that were huffing and puffing. Second time was when he was sixteen. He was the oldest and the tallest.</p>
<p>We have a young Boy Scout troop. It was resurrected from an old charter when my son first crossed over after webelos so he was a member of the new founding troop. Apparently, the original troop was chartered in the 60’s but somehow died out. The current scoutmaster didn’t like the other two troops our cubs (and his son) would normally go into in the area and was able to re-charter our troop. My son is only the third Eagle and all have been right at their 18th birthday. It kind of makes sense to have older scouts get their eagle because if they do it at 15 or even 16, they are much more likely to leave the troop and then there won’t be the older scouts to help out with the younger ones. Jym, was it common in your son’s troop to advance that quickly? We have 2 other boys that should get their Eagle within the year and both are 17.</p>
<p>Grad06 - Funny thing about BS here is that my son didn’t even know which boys at school were Boy Scouts because they all keep it kind of quietand there are three different troops. Unless you see the announcement in the paper or see them in uniform at a ceremony you just don’t know. We found out a month ago that a guy my son drives to school every single day is a Life Scout contemplating Eagle and my son didn’t even know he was in Boy Scouts! His mother told me one day when we were talking.</p>
<p>kathiep -</p>
<p>Congrats to your son (and to you and your husband). The thing that makes being an Eagle impressive is the 9 or so years of scouting that led up to it and the committment over a long period of time. A lot of whether a scout sticks to it or not comes from peers, parents, and the SM and ASM’s. At crossover (Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts), we visited several troops and picked the right fit: not the paramilitaries and not the chaotic ones, but one where the mood was right, there were TONS of activities, and there were a lot of parents involved. Something must have been right - the troop grew to almost 100 boys (almost too big) and was one of the most active in the Council.</p>
<p>Anyway, back to specifics: One thing we did for the Eagle Court of Honor was to send out personal invitations to lots of people. I know many parents rely on having some close family members and a verbal invitation at the troop meetings, but our son had almost 200 guests for the ceremony. There were current and former teachers, family friends, his non-scout friends. It was a great party.</p>
<p>Another thing we did that I thought made the ceremony special: most of his good friends are musicians, so we had a small group (about 6) play just before and after the ceremony (kind of like - but not - a processional and recessional).</p>
<p>And a gift for him? We got one of the nice iPods, and engraved the (Bd of Review) date on it.</p>
<p>Kathiep-
Wow- Twice at Philmont! My s. wanted to do it a second time but ended up with other time commitments in the summer. He’s talked about working on the cavalcade (he loves horses) but this summer is working as a counselor at a camp in the mtns, where he is also helping out at the stables. As for his Eagle, no it isn’t common to advance as quickly as he did. He was the first in his pack to make Eagle, and as such, served as an escort in several other eagle ceremonies. The troop is very well organized with lots and lots of treks, hikes, overnights campouts (dump camping and backpacking). They are very good at getting patent involvement and getting training for badges (thats not the right term, but you know what I mean). My h. has handled the computer merit badge for several years., and when he offers a program, several kids always sign up. It helps that the troop is so well organized- it makes it easier for a lot of the boys to progress to Eagle. But, it is still a lot of work, as you know. I would say most of the boys in the troop that earned their Eagle did so in their Sr yr of HS. My s. is one of those very “driven” kids, and did his very early. He also loves camping and hiking. If you PM me I’ll send you a link to an award he won for his work. For his Eagle project he built a computer lab in a homeless shelter- had to meet with and get permission from the Shelter’s Board of Directors, had to meet with architects and engineers to design the space, the bookshelf and the study carrells he built, got computers, monitors and printers donated which he cleaned up, repaired and installed, and coordintated the efforts of 34 volunteers to complete the project.</p>
<p>Yes, scouting was considered “nerdy” (they referred to it as BSA, for Boy Scouts of America, rather than to say they were in scouting), but it was a great group of guys. The trek that my h and s. were on at Philmont was called the “mountain climbers delight” :eek: My s was the smallest, with the shortest legs. On the trek was a guy who was a state track (cross country) champion. Hard to keep up with him!</p>
<p>The great news is that not only are the scouts really well rounded with great character, but as a side benefit, there are a lot of scholarships/awards for Eagle scouts. My s. won a state and a national award. Not a ton of money (about $1500 for awards directly for his scouting work) but these led indirectly to two other scholarships/awards (another $1600). All in all, he was awarded 7 different scholarships/awards. It was pretty incredible. He didn’t earn the Eagle or do the community service for the awards-- they were just a nice side benefit! He also earns more $ at his summer job because he has the camping/hiking experience and is CPR certified.</p>
<p>Yes, scouting has gotten a lot of bad press. I don’t agree with all of scouting’s policies, that’s for sure, but the experience was great for my older s. My younger s. would have no part of it. Very different kids. While it is a bit embarassing to be in scouts, once you are an eagle scout, its cool. He’s had several neat opportunities because he is an eagle scout. Interestingly, he and his college roommate are bothe Jewish Eagle scouts. Thats not too common, though there were a lot more Jewish Eagle scouts than I thought.</p>
<p>And Momrath-
great story about the NY blackout. Good thing that happened before 9/11 all the safety rules changed about having a corkscrew and swiss army knife in your backpack!</p>
<p>What an incredible project, jym. Re: those scholarships/awards, DH is a department head at a Big Ten university. He knows who the eagle scouts are in his department, and he certainly keeps it mind when he is hiring lab assistants, TAs and such. (BTW, DH is the one in our house whose been to Philmont twice, once with each S.)</p>
<p>1moremom-
Your h. is a BRAVE soul!! Two Philmont treks! My h lost 15# on his one trek and he didn’t have it to lose! There is still a pemikan bar in our cabinet from 4 yrs ago-- and I must admit it is no harder today than the day it went in the pantry! I do not believe those suckers are edible. Compressed dried unidentifiable food byproduct. Yum. And good for your h. to scope out the eagle scouts for lab/TA jobs. Smart man. knows he’ll get reliable, responsible, motivated kids.</p>
<p>There was a bear attack when my h and s were out, but at a different campsite. they did see several bears, and got lots of closeup photos (a little too close for my comfort level). </p>
<p>Thanks for the kind words about his eagle project. It really was neat. He also taught the residents of the shelter computer skills every week so that they could go out and get jobs. He did this for 6 yrs, and then trained up his younger bro to take over keeping the computer lab up and running and to teach wordprocessing skills to the residents. They were featured on a 5’ news segment on the local NBC affiliate last year. They were also honored at the dedication of the shelter’s new facility, but the volunteer coordinator at the Shelter “forgot” to tell us they were being honored at the ecumenical service, and as we were running late, we missed the service and only made the reception. They were supposed to be given their award by Newt Gingrich and we were a no SHOW!! :eek: what’s worse, they were runing late and we could have made it after all! (we didn’t want to walk in late, in the middle of the ceremony).
So, note to all-- if you are going to give someone an award, please tell them so they know to show up!!</p>
<p>Also-- typo in above post-- the scout troop gets lots of parent involvement (not patent involvement). It really helps.</p>