How to choose an Eagle project

When it comes right down to it, your project doesn't have to be fancy or have any personal meaning. It doesn't have to draw on any particular talents. All that is important is that you decide on a project that fits the guidelines, and make it happen. 

There are thousands of opportunities for service. If you have a hard time coming up with a project, here are some of the things I ask scouts to help them decide. 

1. Have you or someone close to you ever been helped by someone else? Have you ever been sick, or scared, or in trouble, and someone or organization came to your aid? How did they help you - perhaps you could make a project helping an organization help others the same way you were helped. For instance, a scout who had several operations as a child was given a small cloth doll that he colored, and then took with him to all his surgeries. The doll helped him as a child to be brave. For an Eagle project, the scout decided to make similar dolls and donate them to the same hospital to help other children. Is there an organization you could work with to help you say, "thank you?"

2. Do you have any special talents? Use your talent as part of your project. A scout who played the piano and violin organized a concert fund raiser. Another scout played the trombone in the school band and a dance band. He organized a fund raising concert featuring all of the bands. The money was then used to fund their projects. A scout who was a talented web developer organized his troop to create content for a community organization web page. Is there something you could do to utilize your talents as part of your project?   

3. What do you like to do? A scout who liked to do lots in the outdoors contacted the forest service with a project he thought would be worthwhile in an area of the mountains he enjoyed. A scout who liked to read did a project to collect and purchase books the library in a detention facility. A scout who liked to ride bikes collected, fixed, and donated bikes to refugees in the community, then organized a bike rodeo to teach basic bike safety. What do you like to do? Perhaps you can turn what you like to do into an eagle leadership project. 

Project Guidelines

Choosing an eagle project doesn't have to be a difficult task. There are lots of opportunities all around you to give meaningful service. There are some rules, however, on the types of service projects that qualify as an Eagle Leadership Service Project. 

The basic rules for eagle projects are stated in The Boy Scout Handbook: While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to your religious institution, school, or your community. Let's examine each of those requirements. 

Life Scout - You should not start to project or your project proposal until you have obtained the Life rank advancement. 

Plan - You are to plan your project. Plan means you will create a blueprint or a script that volunteers will later follow. Your plan should be complete enough that someone else should be able to follow the blueprint if you happened to be ill the morning of the project.  

Develop - Through your project you need to show that you can identify a need and come up with a solution. It might be that you choose a project from a list. - many organizations have lists of available projects - but you should try to find some way to make the project yours, and figure out how to accomplish the task.

Give Leadership - The purpose of this project for you, the life scout, is to show leadership. You should not do all of the work yourself. Leadership involves in the development of a good plan, conveying that message to others and recruiting them to help you accomplish the labor required. It involves ensuring helpers are trained what to do, and are given clear instructions. Leadership involves motivating everything to complete the task at hand. Showing leadership involves making sure proper safety precautions are taken to make sure your helpers remain safe. 

Helpful to your religious institution, school, or your community - Absent from this list are individuals, businesses, and BSA. Building a wheelchair ramp for an individual in your neighborhood is a great service project, but it wouldn't qualify as an eagle project because it benefits only an individual. Building the same wheelchair ramp at a senior citizen's center would be a great eagle project.  You project should benefit a non-profit organization. 


Other restrictions specified in the workbook include: 

• Routine Labor - If your project is normally done by someone's job, it is probably routine. If the organization has already allocated funds to do the project, it is probably routine. If the same project will need to be done next year, it is probably routine. Projects that involve clean-up or trail maintenance are usually routine. Painting is typically considered routine. Routine projects can be made non-routine with great fund raisers, or by combining it with non-routine project elements. 
• Fund Raisers - Most projects require a fund raiser, but raising money cannot be the end result of your project. You should do something more with the money than just donate it to an organization. 
• Group Projects - The project is an individual matter; therefore, two Eagle Scout candidates may not receive credit for working on the same project. 
• Other restrictions are listed on page 2 of the workbook. 

External Links

USScouts - An overview of the requirements and limitations of the project and writeup.