Application & References
Application
After a Scout’s Project is complete, the Scout should begin working on the Eagle Scout Rank Application. Here is a video on the Application process.
The requirements on the Application include the date of the Life Scout board of review and a list of all merit badges with dates earned by the Scout. To help complete that information, the Scout should ask the Troop’s Advancement Chair for a copy of the Scout’s advancement report. This will ensure that the information on the Application matches Council’s information when the Application is submitted by the Scout to Council for verification.
On the back page of the Application, right above the signature line for the Scout/applicant, there is some bold-faced language that includes an added requirement for the Scout to prepare and attach a statement of the Scout’s ambitions and life purpose. Please read that language carefully. The statement of ambitions and life purpose can be a few paragraphs on a page. Here is a document with some suggestions for Scouts as they prepare their statement.
References
Part of the Application includes a list of references. A reference from a parent is required. The other references are optional as, for example, not every Scout will have an employer. After a Scout identifies and asks people to serve as references, the Scout should send each reference an Eagle reference letter form, which Council created to assist people in writing reference letters. The Scout should include with the Eagle reference letter form a stamped envelope addressed to the Scoutmaster with something like “Eagle Reference for [Scout’s name]”. All reference letters must be delivered to Council unopened. Reference letters are reviewed by the panel for the Eagle Board of Review and then destroyed.
A Scout does not need to wait for reference letters to be received before submitting the Eagle Scout Rank Application to Council for verification. To obtain a verification, a Scout must send a copy of the completed and signed Application to Council at the Grand Rapids Service Center. The best way to do this is to personally hand a copy of the Application to a Council staff member and wait for them to review the Application and print out and sign the verification. In addition to leaving the Grand Rapids Service Center with the verification, the Scout should ask for a copy of the verification to be emailed.