The requirements for becoming an Eagle Scout are:
- Be Active in your unit for a period of 6 months as a Life Scout
- Live by the Scout Oath and Law in your daily life
- Earn the required 21 merit badges
- Serve actively for 6 months in one of the BSA approved Positions of Responsibility
- Complete your Eagle Scout Service Leadership Project: Also known as ‘The Eagle Project’
- Participate in a Scoutmaster conference
- Successfully complete your Eagle Scout Board of Review
There is NO REQUIRED ORDER for completing these requirements; except as follows:
- Your Board of Review must be last
- You may not start any work on your Eagle Project until the day after your Life Scout Board of Review
- You must receive District approval of your Eagle Scout Service Project Proposal prior to starting on your Eagle Scout Service Project Plan
- The District approval of your Eagle Scout Service Project Proposal must be the last of the 4 approval signatures on the proposal
- All of these requirements, except for your Eagle Scout Board of Review, must be completed prior to your 18th birthday.
Eagle Project Workbook
The Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook is available to download here.
This is an BSA provided PDF. They work best when you download them on a computer and open them in Adobe Acrobat. They don’t tend to work well when you open them in a browser window or on a phone or by just clicking on them.
The use of the workbook is required, however, this does not mean that every line or even every form must be completed. In most cases, Scouts should fully complete the proposal and project report, and be strongly encouraged to complete the project plan. However, at times it may not be feasible or just not necessary for establishing that the requirement was met.
The workbook should not, however, become a basis for rejecting candidates based on “technicalities” that have nothing to do with requirement intent.
– Guide to Advancement 9.0.2.8
The Eagle Scout Workbook is an editable Adobe PDF file. You may either type in or print out and handwrite your work. The choice is yours, however, if your work is handwritten it must be legible, not perfect, but readable.
The book can seem huge and confusing, however, it is actually broken up into four easy sections:
- Introduction and information
- Eagle Scout Service Project Proposal
- Eagle Scout Service Project Plan
- Eagle Scout Service Project Report
You should read through the entire packet so that you understand it, especially the information section at the beginning. Next, you need to be primarily concerned with the Eagle Scout Service Project Proposal section. You will need to fill this out and get several signatures on it before you start work on your project. If you’re not doing fundraising, then this is all you need to get started. If you are doing fundraising, make sure to read the fundraising section below.
One of the signatures you will need on your Project Proposal will be from a District Project Coach. Your Scoutmaster or troop Life to Eagle Advisor may give you that person’s contact information or you can find a list by troop by clicking here.
When you meet with the adults that are helping you, Do Your Best to Be Prepared as much as you can. You’ve probably heard those things somewhere before!
The 3rd section, the Eagle Scout Service Project Plan, is filled out after you have the proposed project idea approved and is the detailed plan for your project. A project coach can assist you with this.
The 4th section, the Eagle Scout Service Project Report, is completed after your project if complete and asks about what you have learned through the process of completing the project.
Fundraising
You DO NOT need an Eagle Scout Service Project Fundraising Application fundraising if . . .
If you are planning to raise a total of $1,000 from yourself (Scout), your parents, your relatives, your unit or its chartered organization, parents or members of your unit, or the beneficiary of your project.
You DO need an Eagle Scout Service Project Fundraising Application fundraising if . . .
If you are planning to raise funds from sources other than those listed above, and you are planning for these outside funds to total more than $1,000
Click here to download and read the council’s Eagle Fundraising Policy.
The Eagle Scout Service Project Fundraising Application is found as the last page of the Project Plan section in your workbook. It will also require the signature of your Beneficiary, Unit Leader, Unit Committee Chair and District Project Approval Representative. The District Project Approval Representative signature must be last. The other three can be in any order. If this is part of your plan, then plan to bring this form with the needed signatures when you meet with your District Project Approval Representative to get your Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook Proposal signed off.
Eagle Application Process
Eagle Scout Application
Scouts should use the Eagle Application which is available as a Report when logged in to Scoutbook. This can be generated by a scout with Scoutbook access or an adult leader can generate this application and provide it to the Scout. This Scoutbook-generated application is prepared with much of the data filled in already using the data on BSAs servers and greatly helps to prevent errors. Filling out a form is not an Eagle rank requirement. It’s simply an administrative task necessary to report having completed the requirements.
Scouts can still use the blank editable PDF versions of the Eagle application available below, however, please realize that the Scout, Scoutmaster, and Committee Chair are all signing the application indicating that the information is true and correct. Please take the time to make sure that it is actually correct.
Eagle Scout Rank application 2022, No. 512-728 June 2022 revision is the current and only version accepted at council.
Save the file and open it with Adobe, don’t try to open in a browser. BSA PDF files tend not to work properly form a browser.
Reference Letters
If you think you’re even close to turning in your Eagle Application, then you should begin working on your references.
The Eagle Scout Rank Application requires you to list 6 confidential references from the following people (5 if you are not employed). You will need to provide the name, mailing address, phone number, and email for these references. They must be made up of the following people:
1 parent
1 teacher\educator
1 religious (If not affiliated with an organized religion, then the parent or guardian provides this reference.)
1 employer (This line may be left blank if you are not employed)
2 friends either in or out of scouting
In addition to listing them on your application, you must ask your references to complete the Confidential Appraisal of Candidate letter. The letters should only be seen by the person writing the reference and should be mailed from them directly to the Saddleback District Eagle Advancement Committee
Download and print copies of this Confidential Appraisal of Candidate letter and provide them to your references along with a stamped envelope that you have already addressed to:
Attn: Deborah Martin
C/O Martin Accountancy
100 Spectrum Center Drive, Suite 1220
Irvine, CA 92618
It’s a best practice to also provide your reference with an envelope that is already addressed to the address above and already has s stamp on it. This will make it easier and faster for them to help you by sending it in.
Statement of Ambitions and Life Purpose
We don’t provide a template because it’s your statement. How someone else wrote their statement is specific to them. Here are some thoughts to help guide you.
Begin your personal statement by describing what your ambitions are for the future and what you believe your purpose in life is. If you already know what you want your life to be about, this may be easy. For others, it may seem like a difficult task. Get advice from friends, family, and teachers but when it comes time to write it down, it should be your ideas. Find a quiet place and give it some serious thought. Try writing a rough copy just for yourself, jotting down what comes to mind, and exploring what you want and don’t want your life to be about. Use the ideas you discover in the rough copy to create a good copy for submission. It’s also a great place to include information on awards and honors you may have earned and leadership positions you may have been in. These can be from inside or outside of scouting.
The Boy Scouts of America doesn’t say how long a personal statement should be or how it should be written. It’s important the statement is in your own words and it reflects an honest effort. If you don’t think something is important, you don’t have to include it. Spelling and grammar are important, so approach a personal statement as you would a school paper. Use spell check if you are writing it on a computer. If you want to write it by hand, make sure it’s neat and legible. Read it over a couple of times to make sure it’s your best work.
Application Process, AKA: Book-Check
Book-check is held at the district Roundtable on the 2nd Thursday each month. At book-check you will need to bring the following items:
- Your Eagle Scout Application. We are now only accepting the June 2022 version. Check the year date on the bottom right corner of page 2.
- Your completed Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook
- Your Life Ambition Statement
- Your Scouts BSA Handbook
- A printout of your BSA advancement records from either Scoutbook or InternetAdvancement 2.0.
Your unit adult leadership can print your advancement records for you.
The following items are not required but can be of use if we find any date errors that need sorting out.
Blue-Cards and Advancement Presentation Cards (if you have them).
A printout of your Troop records (TroopMaster, Scoutbook, Etc… Work with your Troop’s Advancement Chair to get this)
If you have questions about book-check or have special needs for scheduling, please contact Mrs. Jenny Munro at macntynme@gmail.com
Eagle Scout Board of Review Scheduling
Once an Eagle Scout candidate has submitted their application and it has been validated by the Orange County Council, their Board of Review will be scheduled. This council-level application review can take up to a few weeks to complete. The candidate will then be notified via email to the address they submitted on their Eagle Application and at book check.
Saddleback District Eagle Scout Board of Reviews are scheduled on a Thursday evening at 7:00 pm or 8:30 pm. Rare special scheduling circumstances can be accommodated. Please encourage your unit’s adults to support our Districts Eagle Scout Program by volunteering to sit as a Board Member on other unit’s Eagle Scout Boards of Review. We need a blanket of support to keep our Eagle Scout Program flourishing.
Troop Practices
Many Troops have practices that require Scouts to complete additional forms, build extensive binders, or track additional records beyond that recorded in their Boy Scout Handbook. These practices develop over many years and are all well-meaning and in place for good-intentioned purposes. However, they may be requiring more than they should from the Scout. Troops should be guided by the following instruction from BSA National Advancement Committee:
Advancement committees at every level should make every effort to minimize and simplify the processing of Eagle applications. Take a critical look at each step in your process and ask, “Is this really necessary? Does this step truly provide a significant value for the effort involved?”
The only requirements for earning the rank of Eagle Scout are the 6 requirements plus the Board of Review as listed on the Eagle Scout rank page of their Boy Scout Handbook. Any extra steps are adding to the requirements.
Eagle Scout Court of Honor
The BSA Guide to Advancement says “The Eagle Scout medal or patch must not be sold or otherwise provided to any unit or to the Scout, nor should the court of honor be scheduled until after the certificate is received at the council service center from the national Advancement Team.” But you will want to schedule and plan an Eagle Court of Honor. There is not any specific or required ceremony. A lot of ceremonies are collected in this document.
With questions about anything on this page, you should contact your Scoutmaster or Troop Advancement Chairperson. You can also email our District Advancement Chair at kleinds@gmail.com