We all want to do our best to recognize the achievements of the Eagle Scouts in our Troop. For this purpose, letters can be sent out to individuals that take the time to respond with congratulatory letters to the Scout for their achievement.
We would like to offer the following tips that have been found helpful in getting the recognition for the youth.
- Be sure to allow plenty of time for these letters to come back. Some take a while to respond. Mail the requests out at least 3 months before the Court of Honor to be sure and get the majority of the letters back in time to present them.
- Write EAGLE SCOUT somewhere on the envelope. Preferably in the left-hand bottom area allowing room for the post office to put the bar code under the address. This will speed up the process of it getting to the proper channels for the letter to be sent out.
- Use mailing labels and a mail-merge program to print them. There can be a lot of addresses on your list, and it is easier to print them out instead of hand addressing all of them.
- There are various forms that can be found ‘on-line’. Pick one and adjust to your liking. Be sure to include information about the Scout’s eagle project, the troop number, council name and of course the Scout’s full name. Also, the leadership position in the unit of the person that is requesting the letters of recognition for the Scout.
- Place the letters in a safe place when they start arriving. They will trickle in at first and then some days you will be bombarded with them. It is easier to sort them out later than to try to as you are getting them in the mail.
- When it is close to the day of the Court of Honor, purchase a binder and page protectors instead of a photo album. Photo album pages are generally smaller in size than a page protector, so you have to do some creative folding to get the letters that generally come in 8 1/2 by 11 size to fit. Use acid-free page protectors generally available from any office supply or scrap-booking supply store.
- Sort the letters according to type. This makes for a nice transition to read through, and the Scout can re-arrange them if he chooses to do so later.
- When presenting the letters at the Court of Honor, do not read all of each and every letter. Instead, select passages of a few that stand out. Find ones that mean something not only to you, but also to the Scout according to the things that mean things to him.
**** Remember**** these are only tips. They are what has worked from past experience. If you find something here that you don’t think will work for your situation, then feel free to improvise!
Don’t forget to send letters to local dignitaries, to our chartering organization (Kiwanis) and to those who benefited from your Eagle Project. The following list summarizes the types of individuals that have provided congratulatory letters in the past. Other names (with addresses) can be found at the U.S. Scouting Service Project web site.
- Office of the President of the United States
- Office of the Vice President of the United States
- Alabama’s governor
- Hartselle’s Mayor
- Alabama’s senators and our local congressional representative
- Local Alabama State senator and representative
- Prior Presidents of the United States
- Hartselle school superintendent
- Hartselle high school principal or other teacher’s or leaders from the scout’s school
- Hartselle’s police and fire chiefs
- BSA Program Manager of the National Park Service
- Pastor’s or other church leaders for a scout’s local church
- Other prominent national people such as astronauts, actors, business leaders, etc.
- Other people that are of importance in the Scout’s life