Time to Eagle

[WeeWillie]

I am a former Boy Scout late 64-71 and am currently a Scoutmaster. I've noticed a lot of very young Eagle Scouts. My observations include 2 out of council summer camps, so it doesn't appear to be a local observation. I live in a military community with a lot of over-achieving parents. I've been looking, without a lot of luck, for statistics on when Scouts earn Eagle. I have decided to conduct my own poll.

If you are a Youth, how old were you when you earned Eagle?

If you are a Scouter, how old were Scouts in your unit when they earned Eagle. Please restrict observations for the last 5 years.

If you are an older Eagle, how old were you when you earned Eagle. What year?

By the way, I finished as a Star Scout. 1st Class signalling was my downfall. It took a year. The big joke in my troop after my stunning, sucess signalling, was that the Army commissioned me as a 2LT Signal Corps Officer.

[MisterChris]

My byline says when I got Eagle. I was 15.

Scouts in my troop for the last 5 years made Eagle at age:
17,16,16,15,16,17.9,17.999,17.999,17.999,17.999

[deweylure]

The last group of Eagle Scouts we had were 15-16 yrs old . Four boys made it.

Dewey

[JRTroop270]

my troop has had one eagle in its 2 years and he was 14.

[ICanCanoeCanU]

Scouts in my troop are between late 15 and 18. Most are 17 1/2.

But... we have troops in the area where the boys are just turning 14.

[JazerNorth]

Last 5 at 17.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

JazerNorth

[Mrw]

15-16 for pur last ones, 15-17.9 for the cuurent group.

We did have one at 14 7-8 years ago.

[616kayak]

I’m 16 and I’m not eagle but I work on it from time to time and I have a plan to keep myself from having to rush.

Scouts in my troop over the last 5 years have been pretty much 17 to almost 18. we’ve had one who was 15.

In my opinion, age doesn’t really matter. It’s the quality of the knowledge.

If an eagle makes eagle at 13 and cant risqué some one who is drowning, perform CPR, or do anything essential to the rank what kind of an eagle are they?

If a scout earns his eagle at 17.999 and retains enough information to actually use it later in life then he is truly an eagle scout compared to the scout who day dreamed through summer camp classes and turned in theses MB packets to the MBC.

This is my opinion only. Don’t take it harshly it isn’t meant to offend any one. I simply feel that knowledge is power and the trail to eagle can be wasted if rushed.

[Mrw]

My sons earned theirs at 15 and 16 and have a total of 5 palms between them.

They would recommend earning Eagle early enough to have a couple palms to show for all the merit badges they ended up with.

Earning the extra badges was easy compared to getting the projects and personal management badges done!

[gwd-scouter]

younger son, Eagle at 14 1/2

scouts in our Troop: 6 Eagles

14.5, 15, 15, 15, 2 days before 18, 1 week before 18

[Scouting179]

The reason there are younger Eagles these days than in our era are:
a) kids can now join at 10 1/2 (before it was 11)
b) the lower ranks had minimum times in the old days
c) you could not, for example, work on First Class until you were done with Second Class

The bottom line is you can't hold a Scout up merely for being young. It is also not always because of the parents, sometimes the Scout is self-motivated.

Scout as young as 12y6m have made Eagle. I personally know two that did it at 12y9m and 12y11m and they did fine.

I made it when I had just turned 16.

[EagleBoy62204]

in the last 5 years, we had 13 boys turn eagle. We merged with another troop in 2000, and since then our original group, we have had 2 more boys (two in 2000) get eagle. so from now to 2000 we had 15 turn eagle. Most of them were 17 we had one two years ago get it at 16.9999 but we have had our boys including myself get it within weeks before 18.

Come to think about it i got my board of review when i was 18, but had my paper work in well before my 18th birthday. my BOR was only delayed because i was ending school the week they wanted the BOR, and i said no because i had 4 finals the day of the BOR and i wanted to focus on finishing those up. That and an injury caused from me being hit by a car...

That was two weeks before my 18th birthday, the following week, the guy who wanted to do my BOR went on vacation and i was in the hospital for a broken ankle, and then the next week we schedualed it.

[Billiken]

I earned mine at 16 yrs 8 months.
My next youngest brother completed his at 15 yrs, 9 months.
My youngest brother completed his at 16 yrs, 3 months.
(At that time 24 MBs were necessary to make Eagle.)

A couple of years ago, at a council function, it was noted that the national average age for a boy earning his Eagle rank was 17yrs 9 months.

Our troop will end up with 4 this year:

17.9999999 (paperwork completed/submitted 3 days before 18th b-day)
17.9999999 (paperwork/project on track to be completed. Turns 18 in Sep.)
17.50 (completed finished)
15.50 (waiting for paperwork)

[Chief J]

Our Troop is only a couple of years old. In our short history we have had 2 Scouts make Eagle. They were both 17.5 - 17.75 when they earned the rank.

We currently have 5 Life Scouts all of whom are 14.

Chief J

[scoutaholic]

As I said in a post on a different thread

The joining requirement says they only have to be 10 (if they have earned the Arrrow of Light, which you can earn 6 months after turning 10 or completing the 4th grade. If they skip a grade in school, they could join Boy Scouts on their 10th Birthday. Otherwise, the AOL requirement still allows them to join at 10.5).
After joining, the only time requirements are: 6 Months for Eagle, 6 Months for Life, 4 Months for Star, and the 30 Days for Tenderfoot requirement 10.
By those calculations, a boy could finish his Eagle 17 months after joining Boy Scouts, so could be 11 and 5 months.
It would be difficult to get all 10 activities/camps required for 1st class all within one month. This would likely slow them down a little, but I can think of ways it could be done pretty quickly. (What if the boy joins more than one troop, or a big troop that has a lot of activities).
I'm not saying that a scout SHOULD earn Eagle that soon or that fast, but it is POSSIBLE. My opinion is that a scout should earn Eagle by 14. This gives them 3-4 years after joining, but still gets them done before girls/cars/school activities/etc/etc distract them from doing it.

Now back to reality. I have been SM for 7 years, and our Eagles have been 15,14,15,17+,17+,17+,13, & 13. We have 4 others finishing up projects now they are 17,17,15,15.

I have a standing bribe in my troop. Any boy who finishes his Eagle before his 14th birthday gets a special prize/gift from me. It took 5 years for the first boy to do it. His younger brother will be receiving the 2nd one next month.

I finished my Eagle MBs when I was 13 or 14, didn't do the project 'til I was 16. I turned in the papers just before my 18th birthday in 1987.

[Mrw]

Our SM tells the boys he will put on an apron and sew their Eagle patch onto their uniform for them.

I made sure to get an especially frilly floral one and took lots of pictures for my son to remember this.

[Lynda J]

Kevin turned 13 in April. He lacks one Eagle Badge and completing his project. He will probably complete his Eagle by the time he is 14.
It isn't something that I have pushed. He is focused. I would really prefer that he were about 15-16 when he earned Eagle. But it is his plan.

[maricopasem]

I would really prefer that he were about 15-16 when he earned Eagle.

Why? Would he appreciate it more having dragged it out an extra year or two than he will having established the goal and accomplishing it at a young age? That doesn't make sense to me. I hope my sons will learn the important lessons available in the Scouting program as young as possible.

[Lynda J]

No. It isn't that I don't think he is ready for it. He is. But it simply means he is growing up faster that I would like. I would be just as proud of any of my Scout that make Eagle at 17.999 as I would be of the ones that make it earlier.

He has staffed at Outdoor Skills Training. Will be helping teach at Pow Wow this year. Is in his second year of Den Chief. Loves is and was awarded the Den Chief Award. So he is a very focused Scout.
One thing is that he does not want to be SPL yet. Likes the jobs he has had but says he wants to wait a year to be SPL.

His choice.

[WeeWillie]

Thank you for your responses.

The information you have provided will come in handy for Scoutmaster Conferences. I try to have a parent or guardian present during my conferences. One of my conference topics is goal setting. Eagle Scout is a frequent topic. The data and comments you have given me will come in handy.

My son earned his at 14.5.