Planning an Eagle Project
Applying to the Scout Council for Approval

Fred, a Priest-age scout, loves genealogy. He lives in New England, an area where local histories are important, and he has decided to conduct a genealogy class for his town; he hopes his town Historical Society will be his sponsor.  He and his Scoutmaster, Brother Peterson, have been planning his project.  He has a list of tasks to be accomplished. He has estimated the number of people who will be needed to help with the project, and he has estimated the amount of time that will be required for the completion of the project.

Brother Peterson told Fred that they now had enough information about his project to allow Fred to apply to his Scout Council for approval of his project. He must have this approval before he can go "public" with his project.

"Well, Fred, here is the form you use to request approval of your project." Notice that it focuses on the leadership aspects of your project. The Council wants your project to be successful, of course, so your sponsor will be happy, but the Council wants this to be a rewarding leadership experience for you. Thus, the Council wants you to explain what your project is, why you chose it, what organization will (hopefully) be your sponsor, how many people will be helping you, how much time will be donated by the people, what costs you expect to incur and how you will raise the money, and what special arrangements will have to be made. Since you will write mini-essay answers to the questions, why don't you take the form home and fill it out. You can bring it back next Sunday." "Ok, Brother Peterson, I'll do that. Can I call you if I have questions?" "Sure!".

As they left the ward building, Fred asked, "How long does it take for approval?"  The Scoutmaster replied, "Usually a couple of weeks.  We'll need that much time to prepare for your presentation to the Historical Society. Once you have them signed on, then you can begin performing the remaining tasks on your list. Keep in mind that you can work on many of the tasks in parallel rather than doing them one at a time."