I recently had to settle a bet.
One person was adamant that it was impossible for a scout to become an Eagle Scout before the scout turns 13. The other was just as adamant that it was possible.
First, the facts. It is, technically, possible to earn Eagle at 12. To join Scouts BSA, you must be 11 years old, or 10 years old and earned the Arrow of Light Award, or 10 years old in fifth grade and register after March 1. [New requirements effective April 18, 2022]
Reaching First Class comes with no time limit requirements. But once there, the scout must be active four months as a First Class Scout to earn Star, six months as a Star Scout to earn Life and six months as a Life Scout to earn Eagle. Add those numbers together and you get 16 months, or the minimum length of time from joining ScoutsBSA to earning Scouting’s highest rank.
Let’s say we have a 10-year-old who earns the Arrow of Light and joins Scouts BSA. It’s quite possible he or she could complete all the requirements for Eagle Scout before becoming a teenager.
So, it’s possible. I like this quote from the Troop Leader Guidebook Vol 2: “…there’s a ninth, unstated method of Scouting: TIME. The magic of Scouting doesn’t happen in a moment. A weekend campout or a week at summer camp is not enough to transform a youth into an adult. But when the weeks turn into months, and the months turn into years, incredible transformations happen.” There is a good reason that the average age of youth reaching Eagle in 2016 was 17.35 years old. (That’s 17 years, 127.75 days.) Older Eagles are more mature and more appreciative of the journey.
Is it a good idea to encourage our scouts to become young Eagles? To that I would say, probably not if Mom and Dad are pushing the scout. However, if the scout is motivated, engaged, and has the desire, we cannot hold him or her back. To do otherwise is not in the spirit of Scouting, and might quash the scouts motivation to become an Eagle at any age.
