Court of Honor

Congratulations! 

If you have gotten to this page, you have reached the point where you have earned your Eagle rank and it’s time to start planning your Eagle Court of Honor (or you are just curious and looking ahead, which is fine).

First, understand a Scout’s Eagle Court of Honor is completely optional and the format is entirely up to the Scout and his family. It can be in your backyard, your church, a local park or a community center. You can just have family included, or you can invite the troop. You can invite the local mayor and even extend invitations to our congressional representatives. It is entirely up to you how this is run.  Than includes not even holding one if that is your choice, but recognize that this is a very big accomplishment and you (and your family) have earned the right to celebrate.

That said, there are a few guidelines to follow:

When can you start planning? The Scout’s application must be reviewed by the National BSA to be approved as an Eagle Scout. Please note that he is not officially an Eagle until the official letter, Eagle medal and certificate arrive from the National BSA—typically 4-6 weeks after the Board of Review. Thus, it is generally considered good form to wait to send out invitations to a Court of Honor until his award is confirmed. In practice however, many families start planning before that, especially if grandparents are arriving from out of town, etc. Reservations for a space are also a good idea to arrange in advance.

What awards should be presented at the CoH? Again, to a certain extent, this is up to you. Some awards are provided for you the National BSA office. Others awards are up to the Scout and his family to purchase.

• National BSA will send you the Eagle certificate and the Eagle medal award. The Eagle medal is presented at the Eagle Court of Honor.
• The Eagle patch (for the uniform) and the Eagle neckerchief is can be purchased at the Scout shop. This patch is usually NOT presented at the Scout’s Eagle CoH. It is often part of a general troop Court of Honor, so your Scout can have it sewn on his uniform before his actual Eagle CoH, or he can just sew it on if a troop CoH is conveniently timed.
• The slide is a personal choice. You can use the regular BSA slide (in which case there is nothing to purchase) or you can choose from a couple Eagle slide options, the cost of which is the responsibility of the Scout.
• Beyond that, there is a plethora of Eagle merchandise you can decide to purchase at the Scout shop. There are mentor pins available to thank those who have helped your through the process, and these can be part of your ceremony. Traditionally, ceremonies with our troop includes two parent pins, but you can also purchase mentor pins for any individual (family, friend, troop member) who has played a significant role in your success. 
• Eagle Palms can also be presented at the CoH, if they have been earned by that time.  Check BSA guidelines for how palms are earned, presented and worn.

Cake: Serving any food at all at your CoH is completely up to you. However, if you choose to serve cake and wish to have the cake decorated with an image of either the Eagle symbol or the Eagle medal (or both), you must receive official licensing permission from the Council office first.

Contact the Licensing Coordinator for BSA, Rosemarie McGowan (Licensing.NDC@scouting.org) to request a letter of permission to use those images. She will need to know address of the bakery where you will be having the cake made. Suggestion: The Pine Lake QFC has made many cakes for our Troop’s ceremonies and is familiar with the licensing process. They are a reliable option for cakes and can do any size up to a full sheet cake. Their address is:

Pine Lake QFC
2902 228th Ave SE
Sammamish, WA 98075

Rosemarie is usually pretty fast about responding. She will send you a letter of permission AND the two official images of the Eagle patch and Eagle medal that can be used for your cake.  Take both the letter and a copy of the image you want to use to the bakery when you order your cake.

Format and Script: Again, this is up to you. But if you need a place to start, here is a copy of the general format used for many of our Troop’s Eagle Courts of Honor. NOTE: This is the script we used for our son’s Eagle Court of Honor. You will need to change names accordingly AND you can add/change/delete anything you want. This is your court of honor.

Sample Script for Eagle Court of Honor

Materials and Flags: The Troop has all sorts of materials that can be used to enhance your ceremony and you are welcome to use them, along with the troop flags. Usually these things are stored in the Troop storage room at Mary Queen of Peace, but if there was recently a Court of Honor, they may be “visiting” someone’s house. Contact the Scoutmaster to coordinate a time to pick up these items, wherever they might be. You will need a key to access the storage room at MQP and will need to access it during normal church hours. Plan ahead. The flags are used for troop meetings, and so won’t be available until the week before your ceremony, but other items can be picked up several weeks in advance.