An awesome merit badge fair

[Krampus]

Can't call it a fair because at fair's not everyone gets bling. At MB "fairs" everyone gets something.

[Hedgehog]

A neighboring council has a merit badge event (for lack of a better term) that is at least closer to actual learning.  The classes are held on two Saturdays that are two or three weeks apart.

 

There was one STEM fair done at the Princeton Plasma Physics lab.  It was clear on the prerequisites and what needed to be done before you got there.  It also provided that certain badges required post badge reports that had to be submitted.  My son too young (11 years old) to do the Nuclear Engineering, but man, that would have been exciting if he could have done it.

 

That being said, we didn't do either of the merit badge events,  so I really can't comment on them other than what I found to be different than the badge-for-attendance type fairs.

 

All that being said, I had a blast earlier this month doing the Chess Merit Badge with 12 scouts.  It was from 9:00 until 1:00 and the guys loved it.  But then again, these guys have four chess matches going at night during summer camp.

[fred johnson]

I've seen a few merit badge fairs that went well.  Most don't, but a few did.  

 

- Metalworking merit badge done in a metal shop.  Scouts bent metal and built tool boxes.

- Photography was done with dozens of cameras and assembled a slide show

- Archaeology done with experts at a local dig site.  

 

The big difference is making it worthwhile with something unique and special.  I've begun to think merit badge fairs are not that much different than the normal situation except that dozens of scouts emphasizes bad counseling.  I've begun to think MB fairs are really not worse. It's just more evident when scouts get little out of the merit badge ... except the merit badge.

[qwazse]

....

 

All that being said, I had a blast earlier this month doing the Chess Merit Badge with 12 scouts.  It was from 9:00 until 1:00 and the guys loved it.  But then again, these guys have four chess matches going at night during summer camp.

Did 1st class BoR last night. Favorite MB so far? Chess.

[CalicoPenn]

You're making it way to hard and my intention is for scouts to get opportunities to earn badges they might not get elsewhere using basic BSA guidelines . You are so afraid of the system getting abused that you are taking away the advantages that a fair can provide. I have no problem with the showcase idea and think it can work too, but I don't think you should be afraid of counselors working with scouts at these fairs. 

 

 

 

Ok, I'll admit to being a bit old fashioned in my thinking about merit badges - that they are done by individual Scouts (or with a buddy or two) with solid contact between the counselor and Scout.

 

I do see a lot of merit in your approach as well - indeed, I've seen it work - our District used to run a winter time swimming and lifesaving merit badge "class" at a nearby indoor swimming pool to give Scouts the opportunity to earn these badges outside of the normal summer camp routine (heck, I worked these for a number of years).  Earning these badges required a commitment of at least 4 Sunday evenings in a row at the local indoor pool, with plenty of Counselors on hand - swimming offered first, the lifesaving afterwards.  It was comprehensive, and well run.  I think this approach, which sounds much like yours, is a good approach - for a certain subset of merit badges.

 

I think that's where my dislike of the standard merit badge fair comes from - its taken the concept and applied it to many merit badges that perhaps shouldn't be included, then made them a one day event.  I don't think merit badges like the Citizenships, or First Aid, or Camping, etc. should be counseled this way.  Yet the merit badges where this kind of fair would work well - swimming, lifesaving, auto mechanics, etc. end up getting the short shrift.

 

Unfortunately, it would be an exercise in futility to try to come up with a list of merit badges to use this approach on with the idea that it not be used for other merit badges.  But still, if we can resist the temptations (and demands) it would still be something worthwhile to pursue.

[Eagledad]

I'm with you

 

Ok, I'll admit to being a bit old fashioned in my thinking about merit badges - that they are done by individual Scouts (or with a buddy or two) with solid contact between the counselor and Scout.

 

 

I'm with you Calico, but I also came to the OPs conclusion that MB Fairs, Colleges or whatever are here to stay. So I decided to use them for teaching scouts and Troop leaders how the MB process is supposed to work as guided by the BSA. My ultimate goal is for units to learn the process well enough to encourage MBs all year, rather than waiting for fairs or summer camp which is becoming more typical of many troops. If the fairs or Colleges encourage the counselors to attend training once a year before the event, then the District has a current list of trained counselors all the troops can use. The list would get updated every year and the training would remind counselors how the process is supposed to work and the benefits for the scout other than just advancement. And the Troop leaders are reminded every year how the counselor search and signup is supposed work, as per the BSA guidelines. 

 

That was my plan anyway. 

 

Barry

[hicountry]

I'd love to see scouts take the initiative to contact a counselor and work with them like it used to be but I recognize the world has changed, the Norman Rockwell days of scouting are long in the past. I think merit badge colleges, fairs whatever anyone wants to call them are here to stay, I recall going to one at a local firehall in the early 70'2 where I got started on Firemanship, First Aid and Emergency preparedness, it was a great experience so this is nothing new. It is the way the world functions today. I think they are great and encouraged my scouts to attend them, I advertised them and signed blue cards for them. I realize the quality of the experience of each badge varied widely and I saw some merit badge counselors/classes at summer camp that were far more lacking than the colleges I saw. The fairs/colleges at least motivated the boys to pay attention to their own advancement and look for opportunities to accomplish more. Where I did draw the line was parents signing up as MBC's and giving their kids a pass, or even worse, parents outright doing the work for their scout.

[CNYScouter]

I am in the Longhouse Council in NY.

They have instituted a policy that if you are going to teach a Merit Badge for more than 6 Scouts or hold any type of MB day or fair you need to fill out a form and get approval from the Council Advancement Committee.

The issue wasn’t just the “do an 1 hour class and get the badge†but these were being done with MBC’s that were not registered/not taken YPT.

 

I think a lot of this had to do with our local APO fraternity’s Merit Badge Day.

It was really poorly run and not organized very well.

At the last one (it was a couple of years ago) many Blue Cards were lost.

Not only did they not have a list of what MB’s each Scout took to get replacements, they had lost the list of MBC’s and what MB they taught.

 

A few weeks later some of the Blue Cards showed up in the mail but we also received Blue Cards that were from another Troop that was from another council.

The frat was no help in tracking down the Troop.

Our council wouldn’t help (they had nothing to do with the Merit Badge Day).

Luckily there was enough information filled out on the cards we figured out what council they were from to get the cards to them (at our own cost)

[Krampus]

I am in the Longhouse Council in NY.

They have instituted a policy that if you are going to teach a Merit Badge for more than 6 Scouts or hold any type of MB day or fair you need to fill out a form and get approval from the Council Advancement Committee.

The issue wasn’t just the “do an 1 hour class and get the badge†but these were being done with MBC’s that were not registered/not taken YPT.

 

Great policy. Wish more did this.

[Eagledad]

Great policy. Wish more did this.

This is the one policy our district does right. We train all MB Counselors in our district before the college. Makes it easy to keep the Counselor list updated.

 

Barry

[Eagledad]

It may have changed now, but the reason policies with MB counselors grew more strict is because the majority of abuse complaints were from the counselor/scout meetings.

 

Barry

[blw2]

Ok - I can see some kind of "MB Fair" along these lines being awesome - provided that a Scout can't earn a merit badge at the fair.  If it's set-up more like a Merit Badge Showcase where it's held all day at a school or banquet hall or a park or somewhere with enough room that maybe multiple merit badge counselors for a badge could set up a "booth" (like an old-fashioned Scout-O-Rama booth - or a Fishing, Camping, Hunting, Outdoor Loving, RV, etc. type of show for the public) where Scouts can visit all the booths and see if something catches their fancy and they decide to try for the badge by making an appointment with one of the counselors at the show (or is given a list of the counselors for that badge) I can see that as being pretty awesome.  A Scout can't earn a badge, no lectures, no spending 3-5 hours in one sitting in a classroom environment with 20 Scouts and a Counselor - but they can certainly learn more about a badge and what the requirements are - heck, if you can generate the interest among the Merit Badge Counselors, you might be able to showcase 50, 60 or more merit badges.

 

I'd even think that each booth could do some kind of activity where a Scout could meet one - and no more than one - requirement for a badge to get them on their way.  It would require the cooperation of MBCs and the flexibility of Scoutmaster's to accept a "partial" blue card for the one activity to sign - but I could see this.  I could also see where a couple of the largest and most active Troops in a District get together to plan and coordinate it and invite other units to come to the showcase.

 

This is more along the lines of what I thought our U of Scouting was going to be.

I guess it is a distant cousin of the idea, but it just seems to miss the mark, especially on the youth side