<p>Ok, I have a questions regarding ECs. I am a good student and a 3 sport athlete (lax, football, wrestling), but i lack strength in the club area (lacrosse is considered a club sport so would that count?). Would you reccomend joining other clubs? I am interested in a few but would be impossible to fit them into my schedule while still doing community service, sports and schoolwork. I was also considering quitting football after 2 years (no varsity) and getting a job as well as joining some of those clubs. Would WP think more of my character if i did varsity football or a few clubs? Just want reassurance since it seems like everyone else does a million things. thanks</p>
<p>Not impossible to fit them all in. People do that all the time. maybe try to join a club that has one meeting a week. I personally would quite football because I don't like it and think its pretty boring. Thats just me :-/</p>
<p>i wouldn't quit football. It is a major varsity sport that requires alot of commitment, time, and physical/mental effort. West Point knows that.</p>
<p>I'm a three sport athlete aswell (football, wrestling, and baseball) with a few letters, but I am also active in my troop and a member of the concert big band (bari sax.) It is definitely possible to do otherthings besides sports but it takes a lot of time management.</p>
<p>"It is definitely possible to do otherthings besides sports but it takes a lot of time management."</p>
<p>I completly agree with Tampico, you can do other things besides sports as long as you understand what you can and cannot do. Also, find out what your most commited to and work around that. I play football, baseball,(multiple letters in both) along with being a yearbook editor and holding a part time job. It's a lot of work, but with the right planning, it can be done. Do as much as you can without overloading yourself, and try to have some fun in high school.</p>
<p>If I were you, I'd aim for leadership positions in sports, while simply aiming to be a regular member for other ECs. West Point wants to see commitment and leadership in your ECs. Quitting football wouldn't look too good.</p>
<p>Try the Venturing Program in BSA. It has elected officers, high adventure programs, beaucoup community service, numerous achievements. Venturing is for 17 to 21yo's, coed, and some units only meet on the average 2 to 3 times a month.</p>
<p>Rep- Could I do that if I have never done scouting before? If so, should I just contact my local troop (brother is in it) or do I have to do it some other way?</p>
<p>No, any young man or lady can join. The Venturing is a separate entity from a Boy Scout troop. It's more related to the Sea Scouts units. Call your brothers Scoutmaster and he'll be glad to give you the phone number of your local Scout District Exec.. The District Executive will go out of his way to find you a unit to your liking.
Some the awards earned in Venturing are as honorable as the top Boy Scout ranks (Venturing Awards: Ranger,Silver,Gold,Bronze) . Also checkout the Venturing main web site, National has a lot of info online.</p>
<p>I never got into Venturing but you have to be 14 to join, if you made first class in the boy scouts, you can continue working on your eagle until you turn 18. And no, the venturing awards don't have quite as much weight, but if you missed the Eagle its definitely something to get you brownie points. Eagle is reknown everywhere. Gold Award in the Girl Scouts is considered similar in desirability. But, what I did notice is that WP wanted to know if you had been a Life Scout or an SPL, obviously they care that you were in scouts even if you didn't make eagle. (For good reason, I know many individuals who were much worthy of recognition who didn't make eagle because of a technicality...and others }}14 yo nerds who haven't hit puberty yet{{ who get the award and don't have the moral fiber God gave a swine, so I think being a boy scout itself means a lot whether you reached Eagle or not.) I personally never feel like I live up to the award, but thats just me I guess... I know so many excellent men that have been recognized that I can hardly compare myself to their levels of moral fortitude and strength. Truth be told, the Eagle Scout Award is just a piece of paper and I am sure West Point realizes this. Thats why they take a whole person approach. What matters is the man that has been honored and why this man has been honored.</p>
<p>Ragman, Eagle scout isn't just another piece of paper to those that truely live and believe the values and morals taught through the BSA. Yes some parents push their kids through early but there are those that were motivated and dedicated enough to earn the award at an earlier age than those that tried to beat the 18 y/o buzzer. As an Eagle scout, try not to demean the efforts of the small percentage of excited, active youth of america.</p>
<p>No kidding. Eagle Scout is a big deal. Only 2-4% of boys who join actually earn the rank. And it's not just a piece of paper. I spent every year, from kindergarten to Senior year in Boy Scouts. I joined Sea Scouts when I turned 14 and loved every minute in that. I'm still a registered Sea Scout, even though I'm in college in NROTC.</p>
<p>I truly believe that Boy Scouts got me where I am and made me the person I am today. The opportunities and potential for leadership and character development are unsurpassed in any youth program, IMHO. I got Eagle when I was 16, and unlike many of my peers, I stuck with the program afterwards.</p>
<p>As for the Venturing Awards, it depends on who you ask as to whether or not they're more prestegious. If you have Eagle and enlist, you leave boot as an E-2. However, if you have Quartermaster (Sea Scouts equivilant) you leave Navy or CG boot as an E-3. Where a couple thousand earn Eagle each year, less than 20 earn Quartermaster annually.</p>
<p>yeah and you get your E-2 if you like memorize the soldiers creed and whatnot. not really that big a deal.</p>
<p>Getting the actual Eagle Award is not (in my opinion) as big of a deal as the things you experience working toward it. The award is simply that, an award. However, it is a sign of all the work and learning an Eagle Scout went through. That being said, I am really glad I beat the 18 y/o buzzer!...3 Days, WAY TOO CLOSE! </p>
<p>So, all you scouts looking at a SA, finish the job and make Eagle!</p>
<p>Ragmanlaw,
Our BSA Troop is just a small unit in the middle of PA, maybe an average of 14 boys for the last 35 years. But of the small amount of those scouts who made eagle, we have a group of them now who I'm most certain thinks of the award as more then just a piece of paper. Such as two twin brothers (Lt. Colonels) who just returned from Iraq, one of the former Eagles is a Captain of his own ship in the US Navy (his father was the Scoutmaster for 30 years), one Colonel who is a professor at the Army War College in Carlisle PA (who is also a Scoutmaster there). Our Scout Hall is named after a Army Captain killed during the Vietnam War who was also a Eagle. One of the boys who earned his eagle more recently at the age of 14, is now finishing up ROTC at Dickinson College ( I last talked to his dad and I think he's going airborne). A former Asst. Scoutmaster's ( He's now the commander of the 69th Engineer Grp.)boy who made eagle in our troop is now in the Corp of Cadets in Texas A&M. And my 6' 3" 225lb 17 yo nerd who just finished Eagle (who can squat 450, bench press 265 in a lifting sequence, runs 40 in 4.9 and played both offense and defense in Varsity Football in his junior year) who is interested in a service academy. I believe they would all disagree that the Eagle award was more then just a piece of paper. And I would be more than happy to hook you up with them and let you express your views about Boy Scouts just be cause maybe you had a bad experience with it. You say that you may not live up to the award then why are you in West Point. I thought that they teach Honor, Duty and Country? Well that basically is what is summed up in the scout law.</p>
<p>You have misunderstood me. I had an excellent experiance in the Boy Scouts. I am very proud to be an Eagle Scout. Raimus put the concept much more artfully for me, I suppose. I just have seen too many people get it who didn't deserve it or other individuals not get it who did deserve it. Its true, its the trail to Eagle, not the rank that counts to me. Its just a difference of opinion, but I could have never recieved the actual award and felt no less proud as it is truly paperwork. When you meet an Eagle Scout, you often know it when you speak with him, without him ever saying it. Ever since I was little I was able to get the feeling that someone was a genuinely good person. Remarkably, often enough this person turned out to be an Eagle Scout. But being an Eagle Scout does not make you a good person. Good people are just often Eagle Scouts. Just like West Point more so than creating successful leaders takes motivated individuals and allows them to successful. Certainly theres a unique process, but the name of the school isn't what makes someone successful in life, but rather the type of people who choose to attend such institutions. This is especially true at West Point because the Cadets truly make the school and thus rather than West Point defining the Corps of Cadets as a certain way, the Corps of Cadets makes West Point what it is. Agree or disagree it doesn't matter. I really didn't intend to dishonor the accomplishment.</p>
<p>-Interesting point about the Quartermaster, I had never heard that before.
-And as far as morality, I am never satisfied with my moral state though I try to be. Most of my family and friends consider me to be very upright, but I often fall prey to pride, selfishness, and what not. These are battles we all fight as Christians. I definitely earned the award, I just sometimes don't know if I am following the Scout Oath and Law in my daily life as I have been brought up to. We are all guilty of this in some respect, and if we don't realize that we are lying to ourselves.
-No offense with the 14 yo kid thing...I knew someone who earned (and deserved, but then again who am I to judge, honestly) it at that age, but its always been policy in my troop to wait until your 17. Literally, my dad tried to get it when he was 16 in the same troop and he quit because they refused to let him go up for his bored until his 17th birthday. Of course, this, to me, proved he was not ready to be an Eagle, thus the policy was somewhat warrented...maybe. </p>
<p>-I don't know disregard all that I've said concerning this issue. I am in an interesting place in my moral development right now as I am having some problems understanding Gods position in my life and my place as well. (too much time on my hands! I am thinking too much!)</p>
<p>"...one of the former Eagles is a Captain..."</p>
<p>Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle.</p>
<p>:)</p>