If you are a new Merit badge
Counselor, or are interested in becoming one, check out the Introduction to
Merit Badge Counseling located at: http://www.usscouts.org/boyscouts/MBCounseling.html
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Follow this link for the current requirements for all of the current merit badge subjects.
You can learn about sports, crafts,
science, trades, business and future careers as you earn these merit badges.
There are more than 100 merit badges (119 as of 1/1/99). Any Boy Scout may earn
any merit badge at any time. You don’t need to have had rank advancement to be
eligible.
Pick A Subject. Talk to your Scoutmaster or an
Assistant Scoutmaster for your area about your interests. Read the requirements
of the merit badges you think might interest you. Pick one to earn. Your
Scoutmaster will give you the name of a person from a list of counselors. These
counselors have special knowledge in their merit badge subjects and are
interested in helping you.
If your parent has signed up as a merit badge councilor,
they might be able to council you on a badge.
The troop informal policy is to limit the number of badges anyone can
teach to only a few badges per Scout (usually less than 5). There is no national rule against doing more,
but one reason for the merit badges is to expose you to different ideas and
subjects as well as meeting different adults with different ideas and
expertise. This is integral to the
merit badge system. Our troop is blessed with a lot of adults willing to teach
merit badges to the Scouts. By the way,
this is one of the major differences between merit badges in Boy Scouts and
activity badges in Webelos.
Scout Buddy System. You must have another person with
you at each meeting with the merit badge counselor. This person can be another
Scout, your parents or guardian, a brother or sister, a relative or a
friend. At the discretion of the merit
badge counselor, more than one Scout can work on a badge with that counselor at
one time. There is no limit to the
number of Scouts who can work on a badge at one time.
Call The Counselor. Get a signed merit badge
application from your Scoutmaster. Get in touch with the merit badge counselor
and tell him or her that you want to earn the merit badge. The counselor may
ask you to come and see them so they can explain what they expect and start
helping you meet the requirements.
When you know what is expected,
start to learn and do the things required. Ask your counselor to help you learn
the things you need to know or do. You should read the merit badge pamphlet on
the subject. The troop librarian has the troop copies of the merit badge
pamphlets (we don't have pamphlets for all the badges, but we do for the most
popular). An interested Scout should
check out a particular book from him.
He does not bring the library to every meeting, so it is best to call
him. If he doesn't have a copy of the
pamphlet, you can usually find it at the Tempe library, the Phoenix library or
you can purchase a copy from the Scout Shop.
Show Your Stuff. When you are ready, call the
counselor again to make an appointment to meet the requirements. When you go
take along the things you have made to meet the requirements. If they are too
big to move, take pictures or have an adult tell in writing what you have done.
The counselor will ask you to do each requirement to make sure that you know
your stuff and have done or can do the things required.
Get The Badge. When the counselor is satisfied
that you have met each requirement, he or she will sign your application. Give
the signed application to your Scoutmaster so that your merit badge emblem can
be secured for you.
Requirements. You are expected to meet the
requirements as they are stated --- no more and no less. You are expected to do
exactly what is stated in the requirements. If it says "show or
demonstrate," that is what you must do. Just telling about it isn’t
enough. The same thing holds true for such words as "make,"
"list," "in the field," and "collect,"
"identify," and "label."
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Note:
There is NO DEADLINE for earning Merit Badges, except the Scout's 18th
Birthday. Once a Scout has started
working on a Merit Badge (i.e. obtained a signed "Blue Card"
Application for Merit Badge from his Scoutmaster, had an initial discussion
with a merit badge Counselor, and started working on the requirements), he may
continue using those requirements until he completes the badge or turns
18.
THERE IS NO ONE YEAR LIMIT ON
SO-CALLED "PARTIALS".
In contrast to the rule for rank
advancements, which imposes a specific deadline for using the old requirements,
The rule for Merit Badges is as follows:
If the requirements change while a
Scout is working on the badge, he may continue to use the OLD requirements
until he completes the work, or he may use the new requirements if he
wishes. It is HIS choice, and his
alone.
If a Merit Badge is discontinued,
Scouts working on the badge when it is removed from the Boy Scout Requirements
booklet may continue to work toward completing the badge, and get credit for
earning the badge, until they turn 18.
However, it may not be possible to obtain an actual merit badge patch,
once the local council's supply is exhausted.
If a discontinued Merit Badge is
replaced with one or more other Merit Badges covering the same or similar
topics (such as Rifle and Shotgun Shooting MB which was replaced by Rifle
Shooting MB and Shotgun Shooting MB), a Scout that has earned the discontinued
badge may also earn the new badge or badges.
If the badge is simply renamed (such as
Firemanship MB which was changed to Fire Safety MB), Scouts may NOT earn
the badge again. If the badge number in
BSA's numbering system is the same before and after the change, it is a
renaming. If a new number is assigned, it is a replacement.