From: wayne@eng.umd.edu (Wayne C. McCullough)
Newsgroups: rec.scouting
Subject: Re: Seeking advice on Eagle Court of Honor
Date: 8 Oct 92 17:56:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: eng.1992Oct08.175631.12399
Distribution: usa
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park

In article <1992Oct01.223720.19526@news.mentorg.com> peteg@std.mentorg.com (Peter Galambos SST-C2139) writes:
>(Sorry if this is a repeat.  It didn't seem to go out the first time.)
>
>My son has passed his Eagle Board and we're starting to think about
>the Court of Honor and have a lot of questions.  I'm hoping some
>of you who have been through this can offer some advice:
>
>1) I've seen references to 'Woods Wisdom: Troop Program Features' in
>   regard to planning Courts of Honor.  Is this worth looking at?
>2) Is it advisable to send out RSVP type invitations or are informal
>   invitations OK?
>3) How long of a ceremony should be planned?  What seems to be the best
>   time (Saturday, Sunday, afternoon, evening)?
>4) What type of food/refreshments should be provided?
>5) Any advice on advance publicity?
>6) Any advice on format of the ceremony (what to include, what to
>   avoid, sequencing)?
>7) Any other interesting experiences/comments/ideas?

In my troop (T601, columbia, MD), the cerimony is essentially up to the
Scout.  There is a fairly standard format in my troop, involving a few
speeches and cerimony, but the scout usually sets the tone, deciding 
who speaks.  In contrast to some other posts, here is what I have noticed
differant:

1)  The cerimony is never held in conjunction with a troop COH.  This is
because the COH is long enough without adding on another hour to recognize
the individual.  If you have a COH just before the eagle cermony in a big
troop, people are quite bored with speeches by the time for the cerimony.

You may get smaller attendance for a strait E COH, but I think that the
cerimony goes better if the people who are there want to be there.

2)  In my distant memory, most eagle court of honors consisted of lots of
solem speeches, and a few cerimonies, and one speech stuck in the middle
done by a Asst. scoutmaster, telling of some of the humerous expoits of 
the boy.  However, about 5 years ago, the emphsas of the cerimony tended
to be more and more entertainment, and less serious speeches.  Hardly
a speeker will mount the podium without telling of one of the scouts 
exploits, and using this as an example to show how this scout is worthy
of eagle, or in some cases, how he at one time wasn't, but has since
grown into it.

I personaly like this trend.  The cerimony should be a celibration of the
scout, his achievements, and an inspiration for all.  The cerimony should
not be a funeral; the eagle should enjoy it, as well as the audiance.

3) Coffee, drinks and cake is always served, but at most COH I have attended,
something else is also served after the cerimony.  For mine, I had an ice
cream reception.  Others will get a bread and meat platter, etc.  This
gives people an excuse to hang around for a while, giving everyone a chance
to congradulate the new eagle.  Again, the mood is festive.

Some other things I have seen include getting a large cloth eagle banner,
and having everyone sign it.  This is mostly done with scouts who are getting
the badge as they are leaving.  Also, some of the older scouts will hold
private parties afterwords.

I personaly would leave it up to the scout, and let him decide what he wants
to do.  It's his cerimony, let him make it reflect himself.

W
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