Compiling List of Scouts Who Have Earned All Merit Badges - Private Issue Knot

[pohsuwed]

Congratulations to Nathaniel for his achievement! I have posted his information to the list.

[John-in-KC]

BSA is 100 years old.

 

For over 70 of those years, records are/were hardcopy. We've had a wave of Council mergers, starting in the 70s. National's registry is that of young men achieving Eagle. SFAICT, they've never had an interest in tracking the feat of earning all MBs.

 

Only 106 Scouts in 100 years who earned 121 merit badges?

 

Gut feeling: You're undercounting, by at least one Order of Magnitude. You will never be able to validate the completeness of your registry.

 

[pohsuwed]

John,

 

I agree that I will never be 100% on this list. I also agree that there are many more scouts out there who I will never find and that the number 106 (at this point) is far short of accurate.

 

At the same time, does this mean that there is no sense in trying as it will "never" be complete? I don't think so. Just like everything else, if a person were to avoid activities due to perceived difficulties or the fact that it will never be "perfect" the person will just end up sitting on the couch watching TV.

 

Interestingly, when I started the list I had read in several places that people estimated that the total number of scouts ever to have earned all the merit badges to be less than 100. At least I have shown that this is a more common achievement than otherwise assumed. Sure, many of them have completed them in the last few years, but I am also sure that there are a significant number over the years to easily add up to the several hundreds, if not more.

 

And in each of these cases if the scouts quit because they felt the task was too large I'm sure they would have missed out on plenty of great adventures in life and being a great example to other scouts and people around them.

 

Similarly, if I quit putting the list together after I first started this thread based on the feedback I got on it we wouldn't have any of this information recorded. And by the way, I receive comments on the website frequently, especially from scouts and families who are progressing through scouting with this as a goal of theirs. I firmly believe that this is providing a great deal of motivation for scouts to remain active in their troops and continue to be productive.

 

And yes, I always hear about questions of whether these scouts are benefiting from the other methods of scouting and having tunnelvision on merit badges. My question is how could they not be benefiting from and adding value to the program otherwise? It's difficult to walk through the rain and not get wet.

 

And finally, the previous post regarding Nathaniel Buffington is a great story and written well by the reporter. I would suggest everyone read it and share it with their troops. It highlights family involvement and exploring the many areas the merit badge program offers life experience.