A Scoutmaster's Blog

The merit badge program of the Boy Scouts of America is a wonderful way to introduce boys to new hobbies, sports, crafts, and even possible careers. The awards require a Boy Scout to meet new people in the community who are the merit badge counselors. The counselor, who is knowledgeable in the badge subject matter and approved by the local Scout Council, works with the Scout to complete the badge requirements. When the counselor is satisfied that the Scout has completed the requirements he or she sings the merit badge application, commonly referred to as the blue card. The Boy Scout gives the card to his scoutmaster or troop advancement person who records it with the Scout Office.

As I stated earlier, the local council approves all merit badge counselors. Each counselor must fill out a B.S.A. application and a merit badge counselor form. He or she must also complete the online Youth Protection Training course. It is the council’s responsibility to keep an updated list of counselors.

The council may set restrictions on counselors. For example, twenty years ago , my council had a rule that a person could be a counselor for only six merit badges, and that a Boy Scout could only earn two badges with any counselor. Ten years ago, a person could be a counselor for as many badges as he thought he qualifies for, if the council agreed, and a Scout could go to a counselor for any of those merit badges.

At a recent roundtable the subject of merit badge counselors came up and I was surprised by the latest change. Our district will only allow a person to be a counselor for five merit badges. The reason for this guideline was to get the Boy Scout to meet and work with a larger variety of people within his community. While I understand the reasoning behind this, I am not sure I totally agree with it since I am involved with a Boy Scout troop located in a city of only 33oo people. How far should we expect a Scout to travel to earn a merit badge?

I was a counselor for six merit badges. Then I was able to increase that number to eight. Now, it looks like I will have to drop three of them to get down to five. I plan to drop Backpacking and Wilderness Survival, two merit badges that I have never had a Scout come to me to earn. I think I will also drop Cinematography. The ones I plan to keep are Camping, Citizenship in the Community, Collections, Hiking, and Scouting Heritage. I was once thinking about being a Chess merit badge counselor, but I guess that is no longer an option unless I drop something else.

Does your council or district have guidelines for merit badge counselors? What are they? Post a reply to this article and share them with us. I am curious to see what others are doing.

It has become a tradition of Boy Scout Troop 68. Usually, in February or March, the Scouts pack their gear and head to Camp Stearns for a winter outing. The camp is located in central Minnesota, about an hour from town. It is owned by the Northern Star Council of the Twin Cities. The troop rents a lodge to sleep in but the boys spend plenty of time outside having fun in the winter snow.

This video of the Melrose Scout Productions podcast features a slideshow of the pictures taken at last year’s Camp Stearns outing. The Scouts had a great time at camp. They worked on advancement Saturday morning. After lunch they put on their snowshoes and played 18 holes of disc golf. In the evening they went to the awesome sledding hill. The boys wrapped up the day by watching a movie before hitting the sleeping bags.

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Nascar may be one of the most popular sports in the country but it may not be on a Cub Scout’s radar during the next couple of months as Packs across the nation prepare for one of the biggest annual Cub Scout events: The Pinewood Derby! Hundreds of thousands of Pinewood Derby cars are about to be distributed across the 50 states. Young boys and their fathers (or mothers or older siblings) will take that block of wood and attempt to create an awesome work of art that is also speedy enough to race down the track and earn its owner the victory trophy.

I attended Cub Scout Pack’s derby last year along with three of the Boy Scouts who had younger brothers in the pack. It was the first time I had been able to attend a derby in several years. The races were usually held the same night as our troop’s patrol leader council meeting. I brought my camera and became the evening’s unofficial photographer, taking dozens of pictures of the boys and their cars.

It took the fathers awhile to set up the track and get the lanes to run smoothly because it had been a couple of years since the last Pinewood Derby. The pack membership had dwindled down to just a couple of Cub Scouts, but last year there were eight of them. And they were ready to race!

The adults kept the atmosphere light. The emphasis was to keep the races fun and exciting. Even though it was a double elimination tournament, the competitive aspect of the evening was downplayed. Each of the eight Cub Scouts received a trophy, though the top place trophies were a little larger.

The Cub Scouts had a great time. They continued racing their cars after the formal races had been completed. Even the Boy Scouts got to race their cars against each other. Toward the end of the evening the Cub Scouts were racing the Boy Scouts to see who had the better cars.

The Pack has added a few more members this past year so the next derby promises to be a little bigger and a little more exciting. I plan to attend the event again and be the unofficial photographer. It should be a great night in February.

By the way, here is a fun thing I did with some of the pictures taken at last years Pinewood Derby. I used them to create Derby Cards of each of the racers. The boys thought they were pretty cool. Check them out at Pinewood Derby Cards (100 DoS: Day 6) .

I guess you may now call me Scouter Steve, instead of Scoutmaster Steve. As the new year began I stepped down from the position I held for over thirty years. I am now a committee member. The troop treasurer, to be exact. It is a job with which I feel comfortable accepting. It is a job that I am familiar with even though I have never balanced the troop’s checkbook. After all, if you a scoutmaster for three decades you have a pretty good idea of the income and expenses of operating a Boy Scout troop.

Tonight was the first troop meeting of the year. The first troop meeting for the new scoutmaster. I did not attend the meeting. I thought it best to stay away, to let the scoutmaster sit in what was my usual spot (or maybe he chose a new spot), to let the Boy Scouts know that, yes, I did retire. And to let everyone start the year without me being there. The Boy Scouts know what to do. Eymard, my assistant scoutmaster for the last 24 years, was there to help Scoutmaster Mark if he needed any.

Was it easy staying at home? Yes and no. I wanted to go to see how things would work out, but I knew that if I went to the meeting it would affect how things would turn out. Does that make sense? I stayed at home and watch an episode of the tenth season of Smallville on dvd. (Yes, I am still a bit of a nerd. I did not give that up with the first of the year.)

It is now 8:30. The troop meeting has been over for thirty minutes. I did not receive a phone call asking for assistance. No one stopped by after the meeting to complain about anything, or to tell me that things fell apart. In other words, I think the meeting must have gone well. The local Scouting world did not come to an end. The troop got along without me. Life goes on.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to make a phone call to find out how things really went tonight!

Happy Scouting everyone!