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I just held my first merit badge class yesterday. I'm an ASM for an established troop of about 30 scouts. We have about a half dozen leaders who have been through woodbadge and 8 active scouts who have been through NYLT. We are boy run and led about 95% of the time. About a month or so I told the SPL that I wanted to offer some merit badge opportunities on Saturdays. He thought it was a good idea so he "recognized" me at the weekly meeting to make an announcement. I explained that I would be offering the cooking merit badge in 2 sessions, this Saturday and again about a month later. I announced it at two meetings and had the SPL announce it for me and pass around a sign up sheet last week. I intentionally resisted the urge and did not call anyone on or off the list to remind them or send emails. Although only 5 scouts showed up (out of 10 that signed up) I overcame that disappointment with the realization that the ones who came really wanted to be there. There were two older and three newer scouts. I was pleasantly surprised the SPL was one of them. Also pleasantly surprised the SM showed up and helped by tending to the charcoal and giving some great stories about dutch oven cooking. We had a great time! I was able to cover Req.'s 1,2 and 8 (mostly safety, nutrition, and careers). We had a break so the boys could play some kickball before we transitioned into cooking. Then we prepared dutch oven chicken pot pie and apple cobbler. The boys were very hands on in the cooking process. I used EDGE method and after me, then each boy cut a chicken breast, diced a potato, etc. With the dutch ovens cooking away, we covered another topic. We enjoyed a great lunch that we cooked together, learned some cooking skills, and learned a few things about each other. The scouts are making plans to complete the other requirements (menu planning and cooking) at the next camping trip, in part because they want to earn the badge but more importantly because they want to eat better food than they've had in the past. I've seen a lot of talk in these forums about adults "taking over" and that's why I don't think this works as well during an evening troop meeting. I've also heard some criticism about Merit Badge classes on weekends. It seems that the criticism is toward more 'forced' or mandatory activities. If Aviation MB hadn't been offered in this way to me 42 years ago then I would have never had the experience of flying a plane across central Florida as a 13 year old! That was something I'll never forget. So I guess I'm looking for feedback if this is a good thing or not. Some of our scouts can't afford summer camp. The theme of my woodbadge ticket is advancement so I'd like to make these opportunities available should the boys wish to take advantage.

A friend of mine has a nephew who's Eagle COH is in about a week. She asked me what gift would be appropriate for this 16 year old new Eagle. Any suggestions???

Thanks for your replies. My son is also working hard on the merit badges. He received 12 at the COH last month in his prior troop. He has started 8 more for the next three months or so and is registered for two summer camps this year which should give him the opportunity to earn 11 more. I'm sure now that we won't have a problem with his Eagle badges counting down the road...I just wanted to be sure we understood the policy correctly. He is very happy to be in the new troop. They nearly broke his spirit at the old one.

Hello fellow scouters: My son recently transferred to a new troop. One of the reasons was the troop was extremely slow in rank advancement for scouts who weren't in the "original" patrol who crossed over to create the troop about three years ago. He was finally presented first class by his new SM last week. It's a long story so I'll skip it and move on to my question. As my son was unable to advance in rank he focused on MB's. He has only three left to complete that are required for Eagle. There was some inference by an ASM that he needs to complete specific number of Eagle MB's while he is 1st class, star, and life. This was only casual conversation. I see some requirements state "While a first class scout,...", etc. However, I can't tell be reading the MB section if that is necessary. As this could result in my son having to do these MB's a second time I would appreciate any suggestions including any reference to official BSA literature that might leave no doubt as to the policy. Thanks, DK