Merit Badge Counselor

Yesterday we had University of Scouting. I was asked to teach the Merit Badge Counselor course. It's not a difficult process, being a Merit Badge Counselor, but there are some key ingredients to success. The course agenda starts with the aims of Scouting, which are:
1. The ideals of Scouting (the Oath, Law, Motto and Slogan)
2. The patrol method
3. The outdoors
4. Advancement
5. Association with adults
6. Personal growth
7. Leadership development
8. The uniform

Merit badges factor into each of those aims to some degree, but particularly with association with adults. Or rather I should say, a variety of adults. (Because in almost all Scouting activity there is some adult supervision, but when doing Merit Badges, a Scout has the opportunity to get to know someone they otherwise wouldn't). Enter the Merit Badge Counselor! This is a person, who by vocation, avocation or special training has the knowledge to guide and instruct a scout on a particular subject.

Merit Badge Counselors must meet certain requirements:

• he or she must register annually with the BSA and submit a Merit Badge Counselor form each year.
• must be at least 18 years old.
• be of good character (i.e., a good role model).
• be proficient in the merit badge subject matter.
• be able (and willing) to work with scout-age youth.
• be approved by the Counsel advancement committee.

Those conditions being met, there are few other limitations. (Two-deep leadership isn't specifically required for Merit Badge Counselors, but according to the Gospel of firebirdluver, it would be unwise to put oneself in a situation where there might be the appearance of evil. In other words, never be alone with a Scout and always have another adult present. Besides, each Scout earning a merit badge should have a buddy to work through the badge with). Youth Protection training is also very important for Merit Badge Counselors.

There is no limit to the number of Merit Badges a Counselor can make him or herself available to teach, although he or she must be approved for each Merit Badge by the Council.

In fact, one of the few limits is that a Counselor cannot change the requirements of a Merit Badge. A Scout must do only the requirements, no more, no less. (Which isn't to say that if the Scout is interested, the Counselor can't help pave the way for the Scout to do more, just that the Scout isn't required to do more. This rule makes the merit badges fair and equitable for everyone). The exception to the rule is in the case of a special needs scout.

Two things that I think are important to note are that Scoutmasters and their assistants are not automatically approved to be Merit Badge Counselors. I was involved in a troop some years ago where the Scoutmaster, who was a good and well-meaning man, taught the Photography Merit Badge. During the course of the instruction, it became apparent that he had common knowledge (nothing technical or specific) of film photography, but was completely in the dark about anything digital. He should have found someone better trained to teach the Scouts.

The other important note is that a Merit Badge is an individual award. Group instruction is great and can be very beneficial to both the Scout group (who can help each other accomplish their goals) and to the Counselor (who then doesn't have to repeat the instruction over and over). However, each Scout must individually pass off all of the requirements.

The process for a Scout earning a merit badge goes something like this:

• The Scout decides he wishes to pursue a Merit Badge. He tells his Scoutmaster.
• The Scoutmaster either approves or dis-approves the Merit Badge. (Why might a Scoutmaster tell a Scout he can't work on a Merit Badge? Well, there could be a number of reasons; perhaps the boy is already working on several Merit Badges and the Scoutmaster feels it would be appropriate for the Scout to finish some of them before he starts another. There are some Merit Badges that are better earned in a certain order (Family Life, Cit. in the Community, Cit. in the Nation, Cit. in the World).
• If approved, then the Scoutmaster gives the Scout a Blue Card and tells the Scout the name of a counselor for that Merit Badge. (It is the Scoutmaster's prerogative to either select a Counselor or let the Scout select one from a list. This might help the Scout be exposed to a number of different individuals, as he might otherwise be tempted to always select people he knows).
• The Scout contacts the Counselor, discusses the topic, makes arrangements to complete the requirements and meet again with the Counselor. This may have to happen more than once.
• The Scout works on the requirements. When complete, he contacts the Counselor, who ensures the Scout has completed all the requirements and signs the appropriate documentation (Blue Card). The Counselor keeps his or her portion of the Blue Card.
• The Scout takes the Blue Card to the Scoutmaster, who verifies completion of the Merit Badge.
• The Scoutmaster gives the Blue Card to the Advancement Chair.
• The Advancement Chair submits the award to the Council and purchases the award.
• The award is presented to the Scout, along with the Scout's portion of the Blue Card.

My recommendation is to carefully complete and guard any documentation (Blue Card) while completing a Merit Badge. Even if it's only partially complete, because a partially completed Merit Badge can still be completed up until a Scout's 18th birthday. (But if you lose it, you'll probably have to start over). Also, it's not entirely unknown for Counsel records to be incomplete, so it's good to have a copy of your own to back up your claim that you have completed the requirements for an award.

Merit Badge counseling can be a very rewarding experience for the Counselor. If you have some in-depth knowledge on a subject, please consider applying to be a Merit Badge Counselor. It could change a life!

Service

This is another of the requirements for my 100 years award. This letter was sent to the editor of the Elko Daily Free Press.

I joined the Cub Scouts 29 years ago. That started a lifelong learning process; I learned to be prepared and to do a good turn daily; I learned that camp counselors are flammable and that you should always pack your underwear in a waterproof bag; I’ve learned that it’s possible to receive an award you didn’t earn, but it’s nowhere near as satisfying as working for it; I’ve learned many virtues such as trustworthiness, loyalty, friendliness, courtesy, kindness, obedience, cheerfulness, thrift, courage, cleanliness, and reverence.

I’ve also learned the importance of being helpful. I’ve been fortunate enough to be on both the giving and the receiving end of service. One of the highlights of my scouting career has been my association with the local Cub Scout Day Camp, which is usually held the first or second weekend of June. During Day Camp, I get to provide a service to the boys and the community and I get to receive the benefits of working with others. The boys have the opportunity to play games and complete items required for advancement. The adults have the opportunity to provide a good example and see the growth of the wonderful boys.

Our district has an amazing group of people that seem to be involved in all the big events. These people give of their time and talents to help our boys grow to be men we can be proud of as a community and as a country. I would encourage anyone that has the time (all other qualifications can be earned on the job!) to volunteer with a troop or pack or even with the district.

Service Projects for Cub Scouts

The new Cub Scout delivery method encourages holding two regular den meetings a month and using the extra week for an activity or outing. One possibility, especially in the colder winter months, is to do a service project with the boys. It can be difficult, though, coming up with service project ideas for this age range. Here are some websites with suggestions:

366 Community Service Ideas from UNL

Community Service Ideas For Kids from Buzzle

Developing Service Project Ideas For Younger Children from Corporation for National and Community Service

Community Service Ideas For Kids Of All Ages from Kid Activities

Kidz4Troops

LDS Service Ideas from About.com

Service Projects For Kids from suite101.com

Pocket Flag Project

Boys this age can learn to tie quilts (a good reinforcement of square knot tying); read to younger children or the elderly; draw pictures and write letters (for troops, hospital children, rest home residents or missionaries); sign up to clean the church as a unit when it's your ward's turn (a good activity for involving families too); clean up trash in a neighborhood, park or canyon. If your area has a festival of trees you can plan ahead for next year. After Christmas artificial trees can often be found on clearance for a very low price. If someone in your pack is willing to get a tree and store it for a year, the boys would have a great time making ornaments and decorating a tree to donate next year. In the summer or spring an environmental service project can be tied in to the Leave No Trace Award. You can find suggestions for projects to meet the requirements for the award here. You'll need to contact the groundskeepers of local campgrounds and hiking trails to find out exactly what is needed.

You may need to call around to various organizations in your community to find out exactly what it is that they need that the boys can do. Some may prefer visits, while other may ask for drawings and letters or quilts. Try contacting your local senior center, hospital, museum, animal shelter, homeless shelter, foster parent association, schools or library.

Why do Mormons...?

Every so often I get in a conversation with a "traditional" (non-LDS) scouter and they often have a question or comment on how the Church conducts the scouting program. I'm afraid that most often, it's a (well-earned) criticism and it bums me out that the church's scout programs often have a bad reputation. This morning I got in a conversation with a fellow at our local scout shop. (OK, it's really just a tiny corner of a clothing store; they're just kind enough to also supply scout supplies). We were commiserating about the difficulties getting volunteers to help out with pack and District activities. I mentioned that I've been doing our local day camp for the last couple years and he grinned and said he'd done it four four years in Reno. He said something like, "No offense, but it's really hard to get the LDS packs to supply volunteers." I had to agree that it's often really difficult to get LDS volunteers. He offered several suggestions, but unfortunately, they wouldn't really work in our situation.

I think sometimes, in the Church, we tend to think that unless we have been called, we don't have to help out. Cub Scouts is treated as drop off child care and Boy Scouts as something to be studiously avoided. In addition to the Cub Scout program being the basis for preparing a boy to be a priesthood holder and preparing him for his mission, it is a program to train parents. Parents should learn early on (hopefully someone will take them aside when their oldest son turns eight and explain the Cub Scout program to them and what is expected of them) that they are an integral part of their son's scouting experience. Whether he succeeds or fails will be highly dependent on how well they lead him. The scouting program is also good for parents. How much easier is it for the parents of a young man that has been an active scout to send him on a mission than the parents whose son has never been away from home in his life? At least the scout's parents know he can survive a weekend in the wild and that he probably won't starve to death in his first few weeks in the field. (He might only be able to prepare a very limited menu of burned food and may be in danger of burning down his apartment, but at least he won't starve).

Sometimes my conversations with traditional scouters come around to how we as LDS groups tend to pencil whip the boys through the program. (To be clear, pencil whipping is when a requirement is signed off but the boy hasn't really fulfilled it or met the objective. This cheets both the boy and the leader). I generally have to agree that it does happen. A year or so ago, our District Eagle Scout Project coordinator passed away and the people that took it over were aghast at some of the projects he'd approved. I don't know if he was LDS or not, but it does seem that we put such a high focus on getting the Eagle that sometimes we lose track of the importance of the boy earning his advancements. The guidelines for being a merit badge counselor are pretty specific that the counselor can't change the requirements. Of course, there are occasionally rare instances where it is appropriate to fit the requirements to the individual's abilities, but it shouldn't happen very often. I've seen whole groups signed off when collectively the group barely passed the minimum requirements, let alone each individual. (One traditional scouter told me after last year's Day Camp that a number of LDS groups had given belt loops for the activities we'd done at Day Camp, even though we'd only superficially covered the requirements. The intent was to get them started and they could finish off the requirements at home or at Den Meeting). It's important to remember that a boy having a shirt full of decorations is far less important than his having the knowledge he gains from learning and doing on his own and his knowing he didn't slide by. Neither the scout nor his leaders can claim to be trustworthy when awards are given and not earned.

One big reason these kinds of conversations really burn me up is that the Scouting program is also supposed to provide missionary opportunities. Generally we tend to think that these opportunities are limited to the boys we might bring into the program (less-active or non-members). I'd guess in reality we make just as big of an impression on their parents and other scout leaders. Some of these people are really the salt of the earth, but because of the examples they see in our leaders and parents, they'll never desire to join the church.

I attended Naval Science Institute in the summer of 1998. In the first few weeks we identified some areas we thought the service was lacking in leadership. We agreed that our small group wasn't likely to make huge changes, but our motto was "Change Your 10%". We agreed that wherever we went, each of us would do our best to improve the 10% we had influence over. In the years since 1998, I've had other conversations that make me not-so-proud to be an LDS scouter. All I can do is agree that we [LDS scouters] should be doing things the right way, try to lead by example and change my 10%.