Eagle Project
Some people say that an eagle project is all about building something, but in my eyes an eagle project is about leadership. In an eagle project the soon to be Eagle Scout is leading a team of people to accomplish something charitable, in my case I built a storage shed for Kihei Charter School free of charge. Saying that I built it is a little disingenuous, as my job was to delegate work out so that the project gets done safely and at a reasonable pace.
There were quite a few 21st century skills that I used on this assignment, but I used Interpersonal Skills by far the most. Before I even started working on the project itself I had to go in front of the Eagle Board and explain what my project was, how I was going to accomplish it, and what community value it has. After that I had to coordinate and communicate with a team of people to make sure the project gets done in the way that Mr. Zarro and I envisioned. The one thing that I'm very proud of in this project is the quality of work that was done. I know that I didn't build the entire shed myself, but I am still very proud of the job that my friends and I did for this school. Over the course of this project I saw a huge improvement in my interpersonal skills. When I started this project I wasn't exactly comfortable with leading a group of people on a project, but by the end of the whole process I found that I was speaking with much more confidence. The most difficult part about completing this task was simply finding time to complete it. After I got a job and high school started up again it felt like there was just no time to do any scouting work. If I could start over and try this project again I would definitely set aside some time at least once a week to get meaningful work done on the eagle project. I would also prepare more before I started actually building the shed so I could have a more concrete plan put together. I think this particular project can only relate to the past eagle projects that I took part in as a younger scout. Back then I assumed the role of one of the basic workers that was responsible for moving materials and maybe some sanding. Before working on my own eagle project I didn't know what it what it was like being the person in charge. Although I don't plan on becoming a carpenter later in life I still think the skills I learned during this project are going to be extremely helpful. Thanks to this project the skills I learned are probably going to save me the trouble of calling someone else for home repairs. But the most important thing that I can use in the future would have to be what I learned about communicating effectively with other people. Leadership and communication is essential in just about every group project, as well as career related endeavours later in life. |