Troop 160 Lexington

LOWER RANKS

Advancement in the lower ranks (Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class) mostly involves activities that can be done in the course of Troop activities. The requirements can be found in the Scout Handbook, or on websites such as this one by the US Scouting Service Project. Unlike similar activities in Cub Scouts, the requirements are not signed off by parents, but by the Troop’s registered leaders (Scoutmaster, Assistant Scoutmaster, etc).

The National BSA has recently put up a web page with some videos to help train Scouts in the lower ranks. Here’s the page.

HIGHER RANKS AND THE TROOP 160 MERIT BADGE LIBRARY

For the higher ranks (Star, Life, Eagle) the principal components of advancement are merit badges. Once again, the overall requirements for each rank can be found in the Scout Handbook or on various websites. Merit badges often require some effort outside of regular Troop activities. The Troop commonly offers some merit badge courses during the year, and many merit badges are offered at summer camp.

If a Scout wants to do a merit badge that isn’t available in one of these ways, he’s encouraged to talk to the Scoutmaster or an Assistant Scoutmaster. There are registered merit badge counselors associated with Troop 160 for many merit badges. There are also registered merit badge counselors associated with the Boston Minuteman Council for many others.

For each merit badge there’s a merit badge pamphlet that lists the requirements and explains the material. A lot of merit badge information, including requirements, can be found at the Merit Badge Research Center. Pamphlets can be obtained at the Scout Stores.

A lot of merit badge pamphlets are also maintained in the Troop 160 Library, located in our Scout Room. Here’s an inventory of our merit badge pamphlets. You’ll find that even if our pamphlets are slightly out of date, most of the material is still relevant. Just compare the requirements in the pamphlets with the current requirements at Merit Badge Research Center.

You can sign out pamphlets by following these steps:

1) Go to the quartermaster’s closet. (Not the one next to the wall.)
2) Find the sign out sheet on the bulletin board.
3) Fill out the information in the appropriate columns on the sheet completely.
4) Take the pamphlet from the bookshelf.
5) Return the pamphlet after you have completed the merit badge.

If anyone is interested in donating used merit badge pamphlets, please contact the Troop Librarian.

EAGLE TRAIL

The trail to Eagle is fairly difficult, but many Scouts from Troop 160 have completed it. Here is a list of Eagle Scouts from Troop 160. As of this writing (March 2008), Troop 160 has had over 90 Eagle Scouts.

The principal requirements to become an Eagle Scout are to finish at least 21 merit badges, including 12 Eagle required badges, and to perform a substantial Eagle service leadership project. Here is a presentation about the process of going from Life Scout to Eagle. You can discuss the process with the Scoutmaster or any Assistant Scoutmaster.

Troop 160 has a fairly well-defined process for helping Scouts develop and carry out their Eagle leadership projects. Here is the memo that describes the process — getting an Eagle Guide, choosing a project, writing a proposal, getting it approved, and so on. Here is a page that has some information on previous Troop 160 Eagle projects, including examples of successful proposals.

Eagle-related forms and information from Boston Minuteman Council

In the past year or so, the Boston Minuteman Council has added a lot of information about advancement, and especially about the Eagle Trail process, to their website.

Information about the Council’s Advancement Committee can be found here (or, go to the Council website, click on “Parent and Leaders”, then select “Advancement” in the top navigation bar). This page has information on how to find people you’ll need to contact. Troop 160 is in the Flintlock District of the Boston Minuteman Council.

On the Council Advancement page is a link to information for Eagle candidates. There are several links on this page. For convenience, they are reproduced here:

1. BSA National’s Eagle Scout information page has been moved to the National Eagle Scout Association: http://www.nesa.org/trail/ . At this site you can find a number of useful items, including the Project Workbook and the Eagle Scout Rank Application. For convenience, we have reproduced 2008 version of the Eagle Scout Rank Application as a fillable PDF. Click here for more information on fillable PDFs.
2. The Boston Minuteman Council’s Eagle Trail Guidebook. This is a very useful resource, laying out how the Council thinks about projects and what it expects from the Scouts. The Guidebook also includes a Board of Review Request sheet. For convenience, we have reproduced the October 2005 revision here. This is the latest version as of this writing. You can check the Council site, as described above, for a more recent version — if we’re out of date, please let us know (mail to: webmaster -at- troop160 -dot- com).
3. The BMC’s Eagle Board of Review Request Sheet. Once again, this can be found at the Council site as described above, but we have reproduced it here. A copy of this form is also included in the BMC Eagle Trail Guidebook. Let us know if our copy gets out of date.

Some information on recent Troop 160 Eagle projects can be found here. Additional useful information on the Eagle Scout process can be found at Eaglescout.org: http://eaglescout.org/.