How to Start

You have earned the Life Scout rank and are ready to begin your Eagle Scout leadership service project. This workbook will help you plan and record your progress and complete and submit a final report.

The Requirement

As 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. (The project should benefit an organization other than the BSA.) The project idea must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your unit leader (Scoutmaster, Varsity Scout Coach, Venturing crew Advisor), unit committee, and by the council or district advancement committee before you start. You must use this Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook, No. 18-927D, in meeting this requirement.

Originality

Does the leadership service project for Eagle have to be original, perhaps something you dream up that has never been done before? The answer: No, but it certainly could be. You may pick a project that has been done before, but you must accept responsibility for planning, directing, and following through to its successful completion.

Limitations

Routine labor (a job or service normally rendered) should not be considered. Work involving council property or other BSA activity is not permitted. The project also may not be performed for a business or an individual, be of a commercial nature, or be a fund-raiser. (Fund-raising is permitted only for securing materials or supplies needed to carry out your project.)

Size

How big a project is required? There are no specific requirements, as long as the project is helpful to a religious institution, school, or community. The amount of time spent by you in planning your project and the actual working time spent in carrying out the project should be as much as is necessary for you to demonstrate your leadership of others.

Examples

A look at some projects other Scouts have done for their Eagle Scout Award illustrates that your project can be to construct something or can be to render a service. Scouts have

• Made trays to fasten to wheelchairs for veterans with disabilities at a Veterans Administration hospital.
• Collected used books and distributed them to people in the community who wanted and needed, but could not afford, books.
• Built a sturdy footbridge across a brook to make a safe shortcut for children between their homes and school.
• Collected and repaired used toys and gave them to a home for children with disabilities.
• Organized and operated a bicycle safety campaign. This involved a written safety test, equipment safety check, and a skills contest in a bike rodeo.
• Surveyed the remains of an old Spanish mission and prepared an accurate map relating it to the present church.
• Built a "tot lot" in a big city neighborhood and set up a schedule for Boy Scouts to help run it.
• Set up a community study center for children who needed a place to do schoolwork.
• Trained fellow students as audiovisual aides for their school. Arranged for more than 200 hours of audiovisual work.
• Prepared plans for a footbridge on a trail in a national forest. Worked with rangers to learn the skills necessary to build the structure, gathered materials and tools, and then directed a Scout work group to do the construction.

Approvals

Before You Start

Your project plan must be approved by your unit leader, unit committee, and council or district advancement committee before the project is started. The following questions must be answered before giving this approval:

• Who will benefit from the project?
• How will they benefit?
• What official from the group benefiting from the project will be contacted for guidance in planning the project?
• How many people will be recruited to help carry out the project?

After Completion

Although your project was approved by your unit leader, unit committee, and council or district advancement committee before it was begun, the Eagle Scout board of review must approve the manner in which it was carried out. The following must be answered:

• In what ways did you demonstrate leadership of others?
• Give examples of how you directed the project rather than doing the work yourself.
• In what way did the religious institution, school, or community group benefit from the project?
• Did the project follow the plan?
• If changes to the plan were made, explain why the changes were necessary.