How many Eagle Scouts :)

[RoboDesigners]

Thread revival!

Last night (6-20-2013), I passed my Eagle Scout Board of Review. I mention this because I think that my Eagle Scout Project is one of interest to the robotics community: I organized and led a VEX Robotics workshop to prepare late-starting area teams for an upcoming tournament. (Blog post here.)

We had several teams show up (community, school, and even a scout troop-sponsored team), and our workshop directly resulted in four new teams registering for an upcoming tournament. A contact of mine who attended the tournament (I had a direct conflict) told me that the teams who went to the workshop really benefited and enjoyed it.

Also, my project was the first in the Blue Ridge Mountains Council involving robotics. This caught the attention of the council office, as BSA has an ongoing STEM initiative; my Eagle Project was featured in the current council "Stakeholder Report" (a letter that goes out to all the major donors to the local council), as well as on the front page (below the fold) of a local newspaper.

I'm sharing this because I want to encourage any scout who is considering something robotics-related as an Eagle Scout Project. My experience has been that, although there may be some people who push back against a "nontraditional" project (like leading a workshop instead of building a picnic area), the BSA is becoming more interested in STEM-related activities in general and, in particular, really likes to see STEM-related Eagle Projects.

//Andrew