Troops only current Eagle scout

[jac0033]

My son just passed his EBOR on 6/4/08. I'm excited for him. He just turned 15 and is looking forward to being in the troop for almost 3 years as an Eagle scout. He is going to be on staff at NYLT this summer and can not wait for that.

My question to all is what have you found with Eagle scouts in your troops, do they stop showing up or become less involved? Right now my son is on a boyscout high and I want that to continue. We do not have any other Eagle scouts currently in the troop. Any thoughts on how can keep him "active" and use him to motivate other scout who "say" they want to finish their Eagle.

Thanks for any thoughts!

[Quailman]

If he has any interest in conservation, encourage him to earn a Hornaday Award.

[Mrw]

My experience is that the ones who earned Eagle because they wanted it stay active and liekt ohelp out younger kids. The ones who earned Eagle to please mom and dad seem to dissappear pretty quickly.

Congratulate your son for me!

[Chief J]

My son is also the 15 years old and the only Eagle Scout in our Troop. (The other Scouts who have made Eagle were all 17.9 years old and left after making eagle. However, my son is very active in the Troop and with the OA. His role in the Troop is to work with the new scout patrols, and work on planning and executing their trail to First Class.

As an incentive to the other Life Scouts, our SM staff "awards" him with little perqs such as:

1) Later lights out than the other youth members of the Troop
2) He is placed in a position of supervision during the weekends and not placed on the duty roster
etc.

I also agree, if the Scouts earn their eagle because they want it, they will generally stay.

chief J

[pipestone1991]

Statistics showEagle that many Eagles (even if they leave the program) come back to be leaders later on in life. It is a great accomplishment. Hav eyour son earn palms and stay active as a leader now that he was joined us as a EagleScout.

[9009scoutmaster]

Congrats to your son.
In the long run it will be up to your son whether he remains active. Usually the youth that are in scouts because they enjoy the program tend to stay in scout after Eagle.

[mt_goodrich]

First of all, Congrats to your son.

I would hope that he will continue to "give back" to Scouting. I hope he realizes that he is an example that the other boys can look up to. Also, he is a valuable resource to the troop.

I like the suggestion of extra perks....he has earned them.

[jac0033]

Hey Thanks to all for the congtrats, I will pass them on to my son. I really like the thoughts that everyone shared, they do make sense.
I thought along those lines, it nice to others have the same thoughts.

Thanks again!

[aflmom]

Congratulations to your son! My son is also 15 and just recently got his eagle. Interestingly, before his eagle he couldn't wait to be done with scouts. He was so frustrated with the whole process. Now, after getting his eagle, he's much more proactive and his attitude toward scouting has changed.

In addition, he's taking more of a leadership role being the only eagle scout in the troop. Last week when the troop meeting wasn't getting started on time, he pointed it out to the new troop leader. He also helped keep the meeting on task. Our son has a tendency to step up to the plate more when he has the 'title.' By his own admission he knows he has it backwards and should step up before the title to show he has the necessary leadership qualities.

I guess that's one advantage of younger eagles--they typically have more time with the troop.

[Hubert]

Congrats to your son! I just got my Eagle Scout and am the first in many years. We have another scout preparing for his BoR, so currently, I am the only one! lol.

Its a very high honor to do this, and is looked highly upon by employers!

[milominderbinder2]

First, Congratulations!

Second, your son has completed the first sixth of the program. He still has 100 other opportunities to explore.

He won't have time to earn all six Silver Palms but he could still earn four.

Also, as others suggest, consider Venturing, Sea Scouts, Summer Camp staff, OA, NYLT staff, Philmont, Sea Base, Canoe Base, and so many other opportunities.

Too many Eagle Courts of Honor show Eagle as the end of the road. Eagle is the beginning.

- Craig

[smtroop168]

My son is the only Eagle and he enjoys helping the younger guys as a role model.