The Merit Badge University [BLOGGER PREVIEW]
posted by The Merit Badge University | 4:29 PM
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The Merit Badge University
Mission: To assist Boy Scouts to locate Merit Badge Opportunities outside their own troop. To set up and manage your own merit badge events, you may use our FREE MERIT BADGE ONLINE REGISTRATION SYSTEM. To announce your Merit Badge Clinics, email your information form or website link.
- The Merit Badge University [BLOGGER PREVIEW]
- How to Set Up and Manage a Boy Scout Merit Badge E...
- Merit Badge Clinic Quality
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Monday, March 06, 2006
How to Set Up and Manage a Boy Scout Merit Badge Event
By Rodrigo Cano, BSA Foothills District, Atlanta Area Council
Setting up and managing a Boy Scout Merit Badge Event is a fun and rewarding experience. For many boys it is a valuable advancement opportunity. For adults, it is an opportunity to serve and sharpen advance planning skills. The following guidelines may assist you in your quest to providing a successful Merit Badge Event.
1.) Submit your merit badge event idea to your troop committee, District or Council.
2.) Obtain your unit’s Scoutmaster Support. Depending on local circumstances, you may run your program as a troop, district or council event. Since money may be involved, (registration fees) it may be best to obtain a fundraising permit from your local council.
3.) Secure your real estate next. Find as many classrooms as possible. Schools colleges, universities, and church classrooms are ideal places; you may find other suitable locations.
4.) Long term planning is vital to a successful Merit Badge Program. Set event registration deadlines well before the actual event date. Registered Boy Scouts need be prepared too.
5.) DO NOT accept WALK-INS. Your program is a serious and FUN merit badge event where the quality of the merit badge class is paramount!
6.) ONLY Recruit merit badge counselors who are experts in the specific merit badge field.
7.) Make sure all instructors are Council Registered Merit Badge Counselors and are fully trained in the ways of Scouting.
8.) Recruit additional support personnel to assist during the event day.
9.) Share your merit badge program with other troops. Other units will invite your Scouts too! Troops have limited resources and the ability to share them is one of the many benefits that make Scouting great!
10.) Promote your event:
a.) Develop an email list or find efficient ways to promote your merit badge event outside your troop, district or council.
b.) Email to us your merit badge program or website link at rcano@bellsouth.net to promote it to a larger audience via http://www.meritbadge.info/.
c.) Use our FREE online registration to run your merit badge event
11.) Register, Check-In and Check-Out all Boy Scouts by troop only. This cuts down on hard labor.
12.) Review all logistics and keep your event safe.
13.) Set up an event first aid station for larger groups.
14.) Run your event and give emphasis to the FUN and the quality of the merit badge program.
15.) Return properly filled in blue cards to Scouts on the day of the event.
16.) Solicit feedback from all event attendees.
17.) Keep your finances in perfect order. Report back to your troop, district or council on a timely manner.
18.) When ready to retire, find and train your next EVENT MANAGER.
Setting up and managing a Boy Scout Merit Badge Event is a fun and rewarding experience. For many boys it is a valuable advancement opportunity. For adults, it is an opportunity to serve and sharpen advance planning skills. The following guidelines may assist you in your quest to providing a successful Merit Badge Event.
1.) Submit your merit badge event idea to your troop committee, District or Council.
2.) Obtain your unit’s Scoutmaster Support. Depending on local circumstances, you may run your program as a troop, district or council event. Since money may be involved, (registration fees) it may be best to obtain a fundraising permit from your local council.
3.) Secure your real estate next. Find as many classrooms as possible. Schools colleges, universities, and church classrooms are ideal places; you may find other suitable locations.
4.) Long term planning is vital to a successful Merit Badge Program. Set event registration deadlines well before the actual event date. Registered Boy Scouts need be prepared too.
5.) DO NOT accept WALK-INS. Your program is a serious and FUN merit badge event where the quality of the merit badge class is paramount!
6.) ONLY Recruit merit badge counselors who are experts in the specific merit badge field.
7.) Make sure all instructors are Council Registered Merit Badge Counselors and are fully trained in the ways of Scouting.
8.) Recruit additional support personnel to assist during the event day.
9.) Share your merit badge program with other troops. Other units will invite your Scouts too! Troops have limited resources and the ability to share them is one of the many benefits that make Scouting great!
10.) Promote your event:
a.) Develop an email list or find efficient ways to promote your merit badge event outside your troop, district or council.
b.) Email to us your merit badge program or website link at rcano@bellsouth.net to promote it to a larger audience via http://www.meritbadge.info/.
c.) Use our FREE online registration to run your merit badge event
11.) Register, Check-In and Check-Out all Boy Scouts by troop only. This cuts down on hard labor.
12.) Review all logistics and keep your event safe.
13.) Set up an event first aid station for larger groups.
14.) Run your event and give emphasis to the FUN and the quality of the merit badge program.
15.) Return properly filled in blue cards to Scouts on the day of the event.
16.) Solicit feedback from all event attendees.
17.) Keep your finances in perfect order. Report back to your troop, district or council on a timely manner.
18.) When ready to retire, find and train your next EVENT MANAGER.
posted by The Merit Badge University | 11:57 PM
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Merit Badge Clinic Quality
By Cary Bradly and Rodrigo Cano, B.S.A. Foothills District, Atlanta Area Council
All leaders are concerned about the quality of the experience their Scouts will have when they attend a merit badge clinic. The good news is that the sponsors of the clinics are also Scouters, and share this concern. Here are the factors we think contribute to a quality merit badge clinic:
Qualifications of Counselors: Qualified counselors are essential to Scout success. Persons serving as merit badge counselors must be registered with their BSA local Council. Counselors must be men and women of good character, age 18 or older, and recognized as having the skills and education in the subjects for which they are to serve as merit badge counselors. They should have the ability to work with Scout-age boys.
Training Merit Badge Counselors: All merit badge counselors must be trained in the aims of Scouting and in advancement procedures.
Group Instruction of Merit Badges: Class size limit, or the ratio of Scouts to counselors, is fundamental to Scout success. BSA Advancement Policies and Procedures include the following: "To the fullest extent possible, the merit badge counseling relationship is a counselor-Scout arrangement in which the boy is not only judged on his performance of the requirements, but receives maximum benefit from the knowledge, skill, character, and personal interest of his counselor. Group instruction and orientation are encouraged where special facilities and expert personnel make this most practical, or when Scouts are dependent on only a few counselors for assistance. However, this group experience should be followed by attention to each individual candidate's projects and his ability to fulfill all requirements."
The Merit Badge Counselor’s job: The Merit Badge Counselor must assure that each Scout meets all the requirements for the merit badge. To earn a merit badge, the Scout must complete the requirements of the merit badge exactly as stated. The counselor is not authorized to make any deletions or additions to requirements, assuring that the advancement standards are fair and uniform for all Scouts.
Merit Badges are important learning experiences for Scouts: The counselor introduces the Scout to subjects that may lead to a career choice or to a lifetime hobby.
Buddy System: BSA policy requires that at least two scouts are present in any meeting with a Merit Badge Counselor.
The most effective clinics are fun: Scouts should be ready to learn on a FUN and interactive environment.
Preparation is essential: Requirements that cannot practically be completed during the clinic should be required to be done as prerequisites. Counselors should announce all prerequisite work prior to registration. Scouts are encouraged to complete the prerequisites before attending the merit badge clinic. Limited registration time permits Scouts to do prerequisite work and to read the merit badge book before class. Walk-ins should be discouraged unless there is evidence of completed prerequisite work.
Partially completed Merit Badges: If some merit badge requirements are not completed during the clinic, the counselor should provide clear documentation of what requirements were successfully completed, and which ones remain to be completed. The counselor should keep a record of this in case the scout loses the information.
Availability of counselor after the clinic: Counselors should provide contact information, and offer a means of communication for follow-up, both by scouts and by adults who may later work with the scout in connection with the merit badge offered.
All leaders are concerned about the quality of the experience their Scouts will have when they attend a merit badge clinic. The good news is that the sponsors of the clinics are also Scouters, and share this concern. Here are the factors we think contribute to a quality merit badge clinic:
Qualifications of Counselors: Qualified counselors are essential to Scout success. Persons serving as merit badge counselors must be registered with their BSA local Council. Counselors must be men and women of good character, age 18 or older, and recognized as having the skills and education in the subjects for which they are to serve as merit badge counselors. They should have the ability to work with Scout-age boys.
Training Merit Badge Counselors: All merit badge counselors must be trained in the aims of Scouting and in advancement procedures.
Group Instruction of Merit Badges: Class size limit, or the ratio of Scouts to counselors, is fundamental to Scout success. BSA Advancement Policies and Procedures include the following: "To the fullest extent possible, the merit badge counseling relationship is a counselor-Scout arrangement in which the boy is not only judged on his performance of the requirements, but receives maximum benefit from the knowledge, skill, character, and personal interest of his counselor. Group instruction and orientation are encouraged where special facilities and expert personnel make this most practical, or when Scouts are dependent on only a few counselors for assistance. However, this group experience should be followed by attention to each individual candidate's projects and his ability to fulfill all requirements."
The Merit Badge Counselor’s job: The Merit Badge Counselor must assure that each Scout meets all the requirements for the merit badge. To earn a merit badge, the Scout must complete the requirements of the merit badge exactly as stated. The counselor is not authorized to make any deletions or additions to requirements, assuring that the advancement standards are fair and uniform for all Scouts.
Merit Badges are important learning experiences for Scouts: The counselor introduces the Scout to subjects that may lead to a career choice or to a lifetime hobby.
Buddy System: BSA policy requires that at least two scouts are present in any meeting with a Merit Badge Counselor.
The most effective clinics are fun: Scouts should be ready to learn on a FUN and interactive environment.
Preparation is essential: Requirements that cannot practically be completed during the clinic should be required to be done as prerequisites. Counselors should announce all prerequisite work prior to registration. Scouts are encouraged to complete the prerequisites before attending the merit badge clinic. Limited registration time permits Scouts to do prerequisite work and to read the merit badge book before class. Walk-ins should be discouraged unless there is evidence of completed prerequisite work.
Partially completed Merit Badges: If some merit badge requirements are not completed during the clinic, the counselor should provide clear documentation of what requirements were successfully completed, and which ones remain to be completed. The counselor should keep a record of this in case the scout loses the information.
Availability of counselor after the clinic: Counselors should provide contact information, and offer a means of communication for follow-up, both by scouts and by adults who may later work with the scout in connection with the merit badge offered.
posted by The Merit Badge University | 11:49 PM
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