Eagle At 13?

[KGS]

I Was At Summer Camp A Few Days Ago And Got My First Class, Same Age As A Kid I Noticed At Flag Raising, I Talked To Him, And Apparently He Is 13..And He Is An Eagle Scout? Other Kids From The Same Troop Were Like, 12 Year Old Life Scout, and etc, i dont know if this is possible? Maybe It Is? I'm Not Sure...

[2boysRscouts]

OUr son is 12, he is star and on track to be life within the six months requirement. He crossed over after getting his arrow of light, when he was 11, has made every rank in the minimum time; has earned 23 merit badges already. I think it is possible that he could have eagle during his 13th year; but his goal is to have it by the end of 8th grade; he is going into 7th grade in the fall.

I think it just depends on how old you are when you cross over and how hard you work. Scouts is our son's favorite thing in the world.

[KGS]

Oh, Well, It Just Seemed That If Most People Join When They're Eleven, 2 years and getting Eagle Is Just Amazing.

[OldGreyBear]

On a strictly rules based approach, a scout could earn Eagle in 17 months. SO, if he joined on his 11th birthday, he could be Eagle when he was 12 years and 5 months old

[scoutaholic]

On a strictly rules based approach, a scout could earn Eagle in 17 months. ...

Also, strictly by the rules, it is possible to join on your tenth birthday (if you have completed 5th grade, or earned Arrow of Light). So, 10 plus 17 months is 11 and 5 months.

Not likely, but possible.

[Scouting179]

The youngest Eagle on record was 12y, 6mos. I personally know two who made it under 13y: at 12y9m and 12y11m. Yes, it depends on what age you are when you join and how active you are.

[maricopasem]

I received my Eagle and my first palm before my 13th birthday. I think I was 12 and 9 months when I received the Eagle badge, but I don't remember exactly -- it was a year or twenty ago.

[616kayak]

Imp 16, not an eagle, and been told I know more about scouting skills than most eagles.

Don’t worry about any early eagles. The key to being a truly great eagle is perfecting your scouting skills. This cannot be done in 3 years. I would regret taking a MB class if I didn’t know the information today. Keep working at a steady pace and keep perfecting your skills. You will be eagle, and when your eagle you will know more than the early eagles do. Then you will really be able to look back at your Eagle COH and be proud of yourself.

This of course is my opinion and preference. You may wish to learn a little of everything.

[maricopasem]

The key to being a truly great eagle is perfecting your scouting skills. This cannot be done in 3 years. I would regret taking a MB class if I didn’t know the information today. Keep working at a steady pace and keep perfecting your skills. You will be eagle, and when your eagle you will know more than the early eagles do. Then you will really be able to look back at your Eagle COH and be proud of yourself.

Are you suggesting that I was not a "truly great Eagle?" Or that I can't really look back and be proud of what I accomplished? The presumptuousness is unreal.

May I be so bold as to ask why you are not an Eagle Scout yet?

[deweylure]

I made my Eagle rank at 15 . At the time you had to earn skill awards,and 24 meritbadges.

To this day I remember the skills learned and as a matter of fact ,I am still perfecting skills.

maricopasem,I am sure you have skills. in defense of616 kayak I do not think he meant anything negative.

The key is to use your skills to improve yourself, and help others with your skill. If a person makes Eagle at 13 good .if a scout does it at 17 good Remember we all have talent and intellect and really can not compete for Eagle rank. some of the skills and MB works comes easy to some and is hard for others.

Dewey

[616kayak]

Are you suggesting that I was not a "truly great Eagle?" Or that I can't really look back and be proud of what I accomplished? The presumptuousness is unreal.

My apologies. What I meant to write was that the average scout couldn’t do it in three years. If you feel you mastered the skills then that is your call to make.

I’m not an eagle because I have spent the majority of my time in the past 2 years training other scouts. When I'm not doing that I’m with JROTC. Now that I am JASM I will have more time to work to advance myself.

From what I have seen many, but not all, troops with lots of early eagles do not go as in depth during training. I feel this causes scouts to loose out on a lot.

Of course one of the great things about scouting is troops can basically format themselves to fit the scout’s preferences. They can know the basics of some skills or choose a few to master.

[mang_kiko]

The key to being a truly great eagle is perfecting your scouting skills. This cannot be done in 3 years. I would regret taking a MB class if I didn’t know the information today. Keep working at a steady pace and keep perfecting your skills. You will be eagle, and when your eagle you will know more than the early eagles do. Then you will really be able to look back at your Eagle COH and be proud of yourself.

As I see it, the key to being a truly great eagle is by showing character as an individual. Skills you learn towards the path of Eagle is a means to an end -- to build character. So knowing the skill is not as important as the path you take to learn it.

[Scouting179]

An Eagle Scout is someone who national has approved an Eagle app. But a "true Eagle" (for lack of a better term) is what is inside said person, it's a matter of belief and spirit.

[evmori]

What's the rush?

[maricopasem]

I don't think there should be any rush through the program. I also think it's inappropriate to attach a stigma to the boy who earns the Eagle Rank quickly, as has been implied in many threads on this site.

I would take a motivated 12- or 13-year-old over a meandering 16-year-old every time.

[WeeWillie]

I started the discussion "Time to Eagle" over my concern over fledgling Eagles. Since this is a more current issue I will continue my comments here.

Two weeks ago I was the trainer for New Leader Essentials and SM/ASM Specific. During NLE I showed the video on the Carver Company Picnic. The purpose of the video is to give a brief overview of child development. With that in mind, I find 13 year old Eagle Scouts hard to comprehend. I also have an Education degree (K-8).

Look at the academic content for Eagle Required Merit Badges such as Cit in the World. Look at the record keeping for Family Life, Personal Management and Personal Fitness. These are high order skills that are just developing in 12-13 year olds.

Remember the portion of the video where the larger, younger boy could not complete the task of leading picnic table clean up, whereas, the smaller, older boy could? Give the younger boy 12-18 months and he probably could. Compare picnic table clean up with the skills expected of a PL/SPL.

I have often heard the comment that Scout Leaders should not be establishing artificial age requirements for Eagle. I would suggest that it is not Scout Leaders but parents who are establishing the artificial age goals based on the minimum time in rank requirement between ranks and other goals such as producing a trophy son. Here are some comments that I have received from parents.

I want my son to be Eagle before he loses interest in Scouting. - Dad / ASM and Eagle Scout explaining why he was doing his son’s work for him.

I want my son make Eagle so he could move on to bigger and better things - Mom / Committee Chair

I don't want my son to be SPL because it will interfere with his advancement. – Mom

I had a Dad ask me when we were going to work on certain advancement requirements so his sons wouldn’t be wasting time at meetings or camping trips they didn’t need to attend. One of his sons was a Patrol Leader.

In conversations with each of the above parents the term make Eagle, get Eagle, be Eagle were frequently used. I never heard EARN Eagle. What does that tell you?

I don’t recall the exact quote, but Baden Powell made a comment once that a Scout badge doesn’t mean a Scout did it once, but that he can do it again. Ever run a camporee or summer camp knot station? How about a Life Scout with Swimming and Lifesaving Merit Badges that failed the Summer Camp Swim Test?

When I became SM the troop was bluntly a merit badge mill. Every 4-6 weeks it was a new merit badge. No real patrols. Scout skills low. SPL/ASPL/PL were honorary positions. But we were rank heavy. The last time I saw our 13 and 14 year old Eagle Scouts were their Courts of Honor.

I am a retired Army Officer. The Army values Eagle Scouts not only for what is in their hearts, but also what they can do, namely tie knots, navigate, take charge…. The reason the Army expects that is over the years Eagle Scouts (Life Scouts, Star Scouts too!) have consistently demonstrated those tangible skills. Those same skills were often lacking at the last camporee knot station. I attribute that to too many Scouts advancing too quickly. They just don’t have the time to hone the basic Scout Skills because they are too busy working on the next merit badge.

I expect some replies about young Eagles in your unit. My response is that I don’t know your Scout, your unit, your SM. I can only respond to what I have seen in my troop, my district, my council and two out of council summer camps.

[Mrw]

I think any one that has defended the 13 year old Eagles is speaking to the exceptionally motivated boys who do have the skills to earn that rank early.

My one son earned his Star rank at 12 yrs, 3 months. He started Scouts with more of a base in the basic camping and organizational skills than many boys do as he had an older brother to learn from. He finished the Eagle at 15 yrs, 3 months. He thought about getting it done in the minimum allowable time frame, but decided that would be an awful lot of work and very little fun.

The other boy we had who started off that fast was doing it on Mom's schedule, not his own. He hit about 13 and didn't advance for years! He finished his Eagle just before turning 18. At that point he earned it for himself, not for her.

We do tell our boys that we want to see them with a variety of leadership positions as they go through the upper ranks. It would be hard for a boy to get Eagle without a position that actually forces him to take control and lead. This is not a written or enforced troop rule, just a clearly stated expectation.

We also tell our parents that while we would like to see all our boys earn Eagle, that not all boys want to. And that there is nothing inherently wrong with that.

I think we are currently running at a rate of about 10% of the boys that join our troop earning Eagle. Mostly between 15-17.99 years. Only one of our 22 Eagles was very young (13?) and he was an exceptional boy who went on to finish college early as well.

[Lynda J]

I am a NLE trainer. I have watched the films. I also see that BSA is still looking at boys from a point of view nearly 20 years old. Kids now areexposed to so much more and grow up so much faster. GOOD OR BAD these are the facts. A 13 year old is many times as socially mature as a 16-17 year old was 15-20 years ago. Kevin earned his Life at 12. At 12 he taught fire building at Outdoor Skills for new leaders. The adults taking the course didn't know he belonged to me. All raved about his skill and his ability to stand up in front of a group of adults control the class.
He will probably have earned his Eagle by the first of the year. I am not pushing him. It is his journey and his responsibility to do what he needs to do.
One on our older boys didn't get his Eagle complete. He got a job, girl friend and a car. Suddenly there wasn't time. THere also wasn't much support at home. I agree give me a motivated 13-14 year old. Once boys get the 2 G's (girls & gas)in their heads it is harder to get them focused.

[Billiken]

I must admit that I'm pushing our 5 newer scouts fairly hard re advancement. (Trying to get them to first class.) None of them made 1st Class in the first 12 months, however, most of them will be 1st class probably at the 18 month mark.

I've told all the boys (soon to be 7th graders) that they should work as hard as possible NOW on MBs since when they get to high school the demands on their time increase dramatically (band, sports, etc.).

Two of our scouts are attending ANOTHER (second) week of summer camp (with another troop).

"Scouting gets the boy to First Class. The boy gets himself to Eagle."

[skriser]

I am new to this board. Just found it.

In my time I have seen a few Eagles at 13. It is an amazing feat to say the least. However with that said, I have to agree with most on a maturity level vs. older mature scouts, albeit that there are some really mature 13 yr olds.

I am the father of 2 disable scouts. They are both developmentally delayed, but are full functioning and good interactors with others. I will speak about the older 1 first.

He started cub scouts and moved through to weblos. He started scouts. he could hardly read and write as a new scout. I was blessed to be able to go to all the scout campouts and weeklong camps for the past 4 years.

At 11, he went on his 50 miler - backpacking - he was only able to do 38 miles - but survuved a week in the mountains having the time of his life. We were camping at 11,500 feet. He was also the smallest person at 65 lbs carrying 24 lbs.

At 12 - we did a 50 mile canoe trip. Had the time of his life.

During this time he worked just as hard and even harder to accomplish merit badges that everyone else was working on. Some of the requirements he had to work with us to "type" so the leaders could see what he was writing.

At age 13 - he almost did not go to scout camp - I could not get the time off work - We were told that someone in the scout troop parents objected to him going without his Dad. Imagine that a complaint about a boy - the acting Scout Master for this camp had no idea about the complaint - he loves my son and enjoys watching him succeed and has worked with disabled scouts for a good part of his time with scouts.

The good news was that i was able to go - he earned 6 merit badges - a goal he set for himself - the rest of his peers averages 2 or 3.

Age 14 - this year we went to scout camp again - his goal 6 merit badges - he met his goal again. had the time of his life - when he was not busy on a MB he was fishing.

The following week was his Eagle Project - last weekend - There was a total of 507.5 hours with the project, including volunteer and personal hours.

Yes we had to help him - but we went at the speed he chose.

That is the KEY - GO AT THE SPPED OF THE SCOUT - LET HIM MAKE THE DECISION!

My son's goal - i want to EARN MY EAGLE AT 14.

All of his MBs are finished. So far he has 31 total.

His dedication speaks for itself. When they are motivated - they can accomplish anything they put there mind too.

My other son is 11 - really hard working. Has had a hard time in life - thank goodness for great teachers that have taken their time it helping him grow.

He was in cub - weblos and now is an 11 year old scout.

He was able to go to his 1st summer camp. He finished up the requirements at camp for 1st class. We had to claim an exception on the BSA Swim Test due to some serious delays he is experiencing. He did complete the 2nd class swim test and was more proud of that than anything else.

Last year he was hit and ran over by a SUV about 2 weeks before he turned 11. Since then, we have worked on the regressions that he had taken and so far he is finally better.

Scout camp was one of the most exciting things he ever done. This was the 1st time he has been away from mom for more than 1 day. He too had the time of his life.

He is excited to see his older brother accomplish all the goals related to Eagle Scout and is making his goals to Earn his Eagle.

I said it earlier - always encourage the scout to succeed - let them drive how fast the want to succeed - when they are ready you will know - sometimes you will need to light a fire under them - but our job is to encourage, enlighten, and promote the values of scouting in their daily lives.

Sam Kriser
Assistant Scout Master
Troop 339
Sam Kriser