Step 3 – The Final Report

Okay the project is done, I’m outta here, right?

Hurrrrrraaaaay! You have completed your project and your report. Now we have one more step. You have to pull all the documentation together for presentation to the Council for approval. You will be combining everything into one big notebook. Here is what will be in the notebook

  • Title Page
  • Eagle Rank Application
  • Statement of Life Purpose
  • Leadership Resume
  • Individual History Report
  • Individual Progress Report
  • Blue Card Copies
  • Full Eagle Workbook
  • Proposal (this is the one you already wrote!)
  • Final Report (see below)

Wowie! Zowie! What is all this stuff?

Title Page – make a nice title page for your notebook. Put a picture of you standing next to your project (in uniform) on the front. Put the date and your name (and phone number) on the title page.

Eagle Rank Application – Get this at the Scout Office. You need to carefully fill this in with the exact information on each merit badge and rank held. This is all plugged into a big computer in Dallas and it checks to see if you have completed all the requirements. Be sure you get all the dates correctly entered. Pay particular attention to the leadership dates on the second page. Your leadership positions must add up to at least six months since you attained the rank of Life Scout. Even if you started in a leadership position before you became Life, you still have to show service for six months from the date of becoming Life. Almost every Scout in Troop 37 easily meets this requirement, but sometimes they plug the wrong data in.

On the application you will be asked to list five references. These can be teachers or family friends. Also you can use people from a job you are working at. Be sure to check with your references to make sure they are willing to say nice things about you and so that they won’t be surprised by a call from the Council. Some families do not participate in a formal religious organization. If this is the case for you just put your parents’ name in the religious reference blank.

Your eagle rank application must be signed by YOU, the Scoutmaster and the Unit Chair (currently Ms. Rambo).

Statement of Life Purpose – The council wants to know what you are going to do with your life. In particular they want to know how Scouting has helped you and how you might help scouting in the future. You should write the Life Purpose in the form of a letter addressed to “Boy Scouts of America – Eagle Scout Board of Review – Pacific Skyline Council”.

In your letter describe what you are going to do over the next five to 10 years. For example, are you going to college? What will you study? What kind of career do you plan on? What will you do to help others and to help Scouting? Will you be coming back to help out at Troop 37? You can also talk about your experiences at School and Church/Temple if applicable.

Leadership Resume – This is a summary of your leadership experience, in Scouting and outside. Start by listing the positions you have held in the troop and the dates (SPL, ASPL, Patrol Leader, Instructor etc.). List any trips or campouts you have led. If you have attended special training (like JLTC) put that down. If you are Order of the Arrow put that in too.

Next, list any leadership you have that is outside of Scouting. Some examples are clubs, sports, band, leadership in your Church or Temple. Maybe you participate in some community organizations, like league soccer. Put those in too.

If you have any special awards, like honor roll, Scout of the Year, Science or Athletics put them here.

Finally, if you have held any jobs (volunteer or otherwise) list them at the end. This is leadership too.

Individual History and Progress Report – I will print this out from the troop records. It shows all the merit badges you have earned and when you attained each rank. You just stick it in the book.

Blue Card Copies – Remember how we told you to save all those blue cards? Well, now it is time to get them out of the vault and put copies of them here. Copy the front and back of each card and rank advancement badge card. Make sure you have good, clear copies because the Council will check them over, especially the Eagle required cards.

Full Eagle Workbook – Make sure you have a complete copy of the Eagle Workbook. If you have not done so yet, fill out every blank. You can refer to your report and proposal by page number where required. The council wants to see every page of the report. You must sign the last page. Then take the final report and proposal to your project sponsor. Have him or her sign it.

Report and Proposal – Finally attach the proposal and the final report. Done!

Uh Oh! Final Report, what’s that?

Now that you are done, you need to tell us what you did. Don’t touch your proposal, the final report is going to be a separate report. In the final report you are going to do three things. First, you are going to tell us how your project turned out, complete with photographs. Next, you are going to compare your results with what you projected in your proposal. Finally, you need to write down what you learned, especially about leadership. The sections of this report will relate to the questions in the Eagle Workbook.

So, how about an outline?

Ok! Here we go:

Title Page

Table of Contents

Introduction

Time Spent On the Project

Evaluation

  • Changes to Project
  • Comparison of Actual Cost to Projected Cost
  • Comparison of Actual Effort to Projected Effort
  • Comparison of Actual Time to Projected Time

Photographs of completed project

Log of Daily Activities

What I Learned

  • Leadership
  • Recommendations for others
  • Personal Remarks

Let’s go over this one section at a time.

Introduction – Briefly summarize what your project was, where it was located and when you completed it. Reference the maps in your Proposal so that the Eagle Board can take a look at your project if they want to. If your project is not publicly accessible, give them a contact phone number so that they can make an appointment with your sponsor to see the project. Don’t spend any more than one paragraph on the introduction, after all you have that big fat proposal that gives all the details already.

Time Spent on Project – you need to summarize the time that you and your helpers spent on the project. You should do this by listing the people who helped on each day and how long they worked on that day. Add it all up for each day and then have one final table that shows the total time worked by day and a grand total. When you do this don’t count the time you worked, just that that was worked by your team.

Now make another table that summarizes the time that you worked on the project. Do it by date and activity and include everything you did including the writing of the proposal and getting it approved. You need to come up with three numbers. One is the time you spent planning the project, the second is the time you spent carrying it out, and finally the sum of these two which is your total time on the project.

Evaluation – Start out by describing generally any changes you made to the project as you were executing it. For example, did you need to add another work day, or did you change the design to solve a problem.

Next compare the projected materials with the actual materials you used. Then summarize the actual cost and compare that to your projected cost. The easiest way is to just set up a side by side table. Then compare the total effort (“Scout Hours”) with your projected effort from the proposal. Finally, compare the length of time from start to finish with your estimated time. Write a very short explanation for any differences (plus or minus) between what you predicted and the actual time, cost and effort it took.

Photographs - select some nice photos of your workdays and put them in the back of your report. You should label each one. Probably about 6 to 8 photos will be sufficient to show the reviewers what you did. Label the photos so that the reader knows what he or she is looking at. Also take some photos of your project with you standing next to it in your scout uniform. This will make a nice cover for your report.

Log of Daily Activities – During your project you were keeping a log of your work days. Take that out and write up a short summary of each day, what you did on that day, what when right and what went wrong. You can do this in narrative form.

What I Learned – To wrap up your report write a section on what you learned from doing the project. The main area is leadership. Describe what you learned about leadership, what worked and what did not. If there were particular problems that you had to overcome write them up here.

Next write up any recommendations that you have for other Scouts that might undertake a similar project. If you can think of something that worked especially well put it here. If there was a problem that you overcame write it down. Maybe there was something that would make it easier next time.

To finish up your report write a few short sentences about your project, who benefited from it and how you felt about completing (probably relieved!). It never hurts to add a sentence or two thanking your project advisor and anyone else who made an important contribution.

After all that I am really tired. What do I do next?

You have it all together. Schedule a Scoutmaster conference. Remember, you can’t do this until you have completed every requirement for the Eagle Rank – merit badges, troop leadership, and Eagle project. Once you are sure that this is all done meet with the Scoutmaster (Gordon Abraham). After your Scoutmaster conference he will sign the report and application. (Don’t set this up until you have the sponsor’s signature on your workbook, signifying that you have completed the project to their satisfaction).

Now make a copy of the application and report (black and white is fine). This is your back up copy. Keep it in a safe place at home. Take your beautiful original report up to the Council office in Palo Alto and drop it off at the desk. Remember, this must be done before the day of your 18th birthday!!

So I just sit back and wait?

Not quite. Sooner or later the Council will call you to set up the Eagle Board of Review. But, before that happens you should have a Troop 37 practice board. Select three adults that know you and schedule a practice board. You can reserve a room at HillviewCenter through the Parks and Recreation Department. Schedule me in too, because I will be there to give the reviewers some guidance. A practice board takes about an hour or so.

Come to your board in full uniform with your sash. Bring the copy of your report because you will be referring to it. At the board the adult leaders will ask you questions such as you might encounter at the real board. These will be general in nature and are really intended to see how well the Scouting program is doing and what kind of Scouts we are turning out. Relax it will be fun.

What about the Real Thing???

Sooner or later someone from the Council will call you to set up the Big Review. They will give you a choice of dates. Take it all down and tell them you will call them back to confirm the date. Usually, the Scoutmaster or other Troop 37 representative will go with you to the Review. Be sure that one of the dates works of them. Then call the Council representative back and set the date. Full uniform of course (But don’t bring your OA band if you have one, you already have a patch showing OA membership). They will have your report there when you arrive.

Before you go you should review the history of scouting, history of the flag and proper display of the flag in your Scout Handbook. They always ask a question about this.

Good Luck! You will do fine!

And last but not least?

When you are done, give me a call. After the Eagle Board the reviewers will give the original report back to you. I would like to have your black and white copy for my records, so that other Scouts can see what fine work you have done. Give your Mom and Dad a big hug and start planning your Eagle Court of Honor!

1 / Rev 0