Eagle Scout projects blessing lives

Boy Scout Michael Brock, 14, is just a few merit badges and one daunting service project removed from the Eagle award. A teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood from Henderson, Nev., Michael and his parents and Scout leaders are brainstorming to identify an ideal Eagle project that will help him grow as a leader, do some good in his community and, yes, qualify him for the Eagle.Indeed, developing, planning and executing a worthwhile Eagle Scout leadership service project is a task facing Michael and thousands of other Mormon Scouts every year. It's often the final requirement that a young man completes before he can assume his place in the honored "Eagles Nest" reserved for those men and boys who earned Scouting's highest achievement award.The projects can be as diverse as the Scouts themselves. Some Eagle candidates organize food or blood drives to benefit the sick or needy, while others craft historic markers to honor, say, the Mormon Battalion or a town's pioneer past. Often a project serves the Scout's own community, but other projects reach across oceans, such as a recent coat collection for war-weary children in Afghanistan.If done right, Eagle projects do share a few common qualities: They are at once demanding and exhilarating, blessing the lives of both project organizers and project beneficiaries."Eagle projects are designed to test a boy's leadership skills and to have the largest possible impact in a community," said David Pack, director of the Boy Scouts of America/LDS Relations office.See the rest of the story at ldschurchnews.comThis story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of

Deseret News.