In Troop Merit Badge Counselors

[ctbailey]

"Eagle Week" and "Eagle Trail" and other types of Merit Badge Mills completely, totally, 100% miss the point.

 

The point is not to make it easy to earn the merit badges, the point is to offer the opportunity for boys to earn merit badges. Not every Scout will earn Eagle Rank.

 

Isn't the point to build better citizens for America, and provide leadership training?

 

If we coddle these Scouts to the point where all they need to do is 'show up' to Eagle Week - and you're guaranteed the bulk of your Eagle required MB's - we are creating a false sense of leadership training.

 

I am sure that some "Merit Badge Classes" actually do require the boys to do some on their own. I find the whole concept of mass MB training very suspect, though.

[sbemis1]

In my son's troop only a few high acheivers go to MBC that is not troop related, excepting summer camp of course. This is somewhat discouraged though not forbidden (I believe the quality issue usually is offered). Usually 2 MB selected by youth vote have sessions during troop meeting each week, running until MB is "complete"; any partials required youth to schedule time with the MBC outside normal meeting times. Youth are generally limited to one MB at a time with this approach.

 

We are in a rural area of an urban district/council which makes alternate MBC arrangements very parent dependent for transport, etc. And of course with all the sports, etc emphasis the time can be problematic also. This makes finding a MBC elsewhere a bigger issue than one might expect.

 

I've also not heard of any of "our" MBC being contacted by scouts outside our troop for consult.(This message has been edited by sbemis1)

[allangr1024]

Since I have worked with our troop (and I am now SM) I have seen very few boys get a MB outside of the troop and summer camp.

 

I recently asked a Pro at the scout office for a list of MBC's in the council. The list I got has 126 names on it, of which 63 are listed as not being "Unit Only" MBC's. When I examine these 63, I find only 22 names of people who are in my city. Well, that answers that.

 

Of these 22, I find MBC's for the follow Eagle required MB's: Citizenship in the Community, Emergency Preparedness,Environmental Science, First Aid, Lifesaving. If a boy can travel about 70 miles, he can meet with someone who teaches: Personal Management, Family Life, Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in the World.

 

So, I would wager that most troops have to use in-troop MBC's, summer camp, and MB Fairs to work the Merit Badge program.

 

[markrvp]

As our troop's "merit badge coordinator" it has been my job to try and recruit as many qualified counselors as possible for the badges where we didn't have someone in the district. The SM defers to me to help the boys find a merit badge counselor. Because my son has worked on a lot of merit badges I have been able to meet with these counselors and I have a good idea who to send the boys to and who is difficult to schedule.

 

I encourage all of you to get as involved as you can with the merit badge counselors. Anytime I meet someone with a unique skill set that would be great for a counselor I tell them all about the particular merit badge and try and get them excited about the prospect of scouts learning something about what they do. Once you get them excited and talking about something they have a passion for, then it's much easier to get them to sign up to be a counselor.

 

There is an 85-year-old man at our church (CO) who loves sailing, but is too old to go out by himself any more. He donated his sailboat to our troop. He wasn't able to be the counselor for SMALL BOAT SAILING, but he happily agreed to teach me how to sail. Once he got me up to speed I was able to become the MB counselor. This worked out great for everybody.

 

Some merit badges are logistically difficult without outside resources... Horsemanship, motorboating, climbing, shooting, etc. These are great badges to work on at summer camp. However, I have worked very hard this past year to come up with a counselor/plan for these badges so that going to camp wasn't a limitation. One thing we did was get a local stable owner to become a Horsemanship merit badge counselor. Likewise, you could get a scuba shop owner to become a counselor for Scuba Diving. When I approach these people, I let them know that being a merit badge counselor can be a new revenue stream (albeit small) for the future. It helps their business and it helps the Scouts earn a badge they might otherwise have to do at camp or miss out on.

 

Anyway, these are some of the things I've done and my thoughts on building a better merit badge program in a troop.

[dewASM]

When I became SM of a brand new troop last year, a boy came to me asking about the coin collecting merit badge. I called council looking for a MBC. First I was told that I could not receive that information over the phone or via email. I would have to drive an hour to the council. Well, I did.

 

I was then handed two large three ring binders and told I could find one in them. They were sorted not by MB but by troop. As I leafed through troops closest to us I was amazed that many of the names in these books were no longer connected to scouting, very old and ill and some were even dead. Obviously these were not really MBC lists but just collections of old papers.

 

I did find two names from a well put together troop list but they were over an hour and a half away. We are still looking for someone closer.

 

My point is that at least in our council, a troop has to maintain its own MBC list. We are slowly building one.

[ctbailey]

Dew:

 

Whomever you spoke to at your Council Service Center when looking for a MBC needs a strict talking-to.

 

The Pros are here to serve the volunteers, not the other way around.

 

Did you try your District Advancement chair? If you don't have a District Advancement chair, the responsibility falls to the District Committee Chair.

 

The "District" is just a collection of scouters who's job is to support the units.

 

I think the problem is that Unit Scouters are not vocal enough, and do not demand the District support their (the unit's) needs. This is a prime example of where an active Commissioner can help. The Commissioner won't get you the list, but the Commissioner will bring the need front and center to the District.

 

The Council list of MBC's will always be very very much out of date.

 

Now with the new YPT requirements of adult leaders, the Council list will become even less useful. Our only hope is that District Scouters do their job.(This message has been edited by ctbailey)

[The Blancmange]

 

It could be that many have CO's that would only permit limited outside MBC's. Our CO is a Catholic church. The Diocese has regulations that any volunteers that work with other people are required to go through fingerprinting/background check and training.

I'm curious how this works in practice. Does your troop attend summer camp? District events? Does the Diocese vet the entire summer camp staff and district volunteers?

[DancesWithSpreadsheets]

Coming at this from the other direction, as I am currently invovlved with my son's cub pack, I thought that being an MBC might be a good way for me to find out a little about the BS troops in the area and make some contacts. So about 5 months ago I approached the DAC at roundtable and let him know I'd be interested in volunteering to counsel Personal Management and American Business.

 

He essentially told me that most troops stuck with their own MBC's and if I wasn't affiliated with a troop I probably wouldn't get any referrals. He took my business card and told me he'd get back to me, but so far not a word.

 

So around here anyway, it looks like its troop only MBC's all the way, and the DAC is pretty much resigned to the situation.

 

Regards,

 

DWS

 

[GKlose]

DWS -- the best way, and I think your plan is a sound one, is to go ahead and register as a merit badge counselor and then finding out the names of the Scoutmasters your local troops. Then let them know you're available as a merit badge counselor.

 

Guy(This message has been edited by GKlose)

[jr56]

I have been a merit badge counselor for years on the district MB list, and have never gotten a call from a scout from another troop.

I don't think district MB counselor lists are used much anymore, if at all.

[moosetracker]

My husband just took over as MBC his first priority is straightening out the very outdated MB book.. Luckily he has someone helping whose job allows her to make phone calls all day long at work, and it has taken her all summer and she is still going. There was alot of dead wood in there.. But also every time she calls she get complaints about this or that, they don't understand or like the new YPT requirement. They fear she's calling 'cause the fell off the list (well if they fell of she couldn't call).. They complain about the shape the MB list is in, but don't want people to contact them to validate it.. Anyway it is taking way longer they she had thought.

 

We just got a Excel sheet from council that let us check who was still registered with Council. Turns out about 1/3 no longer are, so somewhere along the way Council dropped them. Those who did say they want to continue, will now need to get another call saying if they wish to they must reregister.. (Typical problems of when one hand is not talking to the other).

 

We had lots on the list, there will be alot less when those who no longer are active are taken off, then YPT will whittle down more and then the dropped registration will whittle down more.

 

But the smaller list will be ones the scouts can depend on, until we need to revamp again.