Overview

Dear Scouts and Parents,

We will soon start this year's Merit Badge program.  The Troop Meeting classes provide a good opportunity to learn some important skills and to earn badges without having to search all over for a counselor!

Merit Badges are an important part of the Scouting program.  There can be a tendency for boys to become too narrowly focused on an end result which is a colorful little piece of embroidery to be collected and occasionally displayed.  This would be unfortunate, as Scouting is a program where boys can accumulate certain valuable skills and knowledge sets.  The advancement program is the locus for this. 

Our goal is for boys to emerge from the program after two, or four, or eight years with more than a colorful sash and an Eagle pin they will never wear.  We want them to know how to set up a tarp in the rain, take a fish-hook out of someone's scalp, and pack for 3 days in the wilderness.  We want them to know what's in the Bill of Rights, how to write to their representative in Washington, what an APR is, and how to keep a group's attention for an hour at a campfire.  And we would like them to know this stuff forever, not just for 5 minutes.    No one will ever ask to see a Boy Scout's merit badge sash other than maybe grandma or another Boy Scout.  On the other hand, if someone has hypothermia, or a blister, or luggage they need tied to the top of their car, or a fire started, and they know you were a Boy Scout, they are going to expect you to be ready and able to help.  If you are not, it puts a negative light on all of us in the program.

In other words, this part of Boy Scouts is about real learning, and that's how we want you to approach it.  Here are some rules of thumb:

• Be ORGANIZED.  Buy at least a 1 inch 3-ring binder with at least 3 dividers and 3 pockets (for merit badge books, blue cards and photos, etc.).  Each section will be for a merit badge you are working on. When you are done with a badge, take the whole section out and KEEP IT in a manila envelope in your desk.  If you lose a badge, and blue card, this section you have saved will prove you did the work!
• If you plan on earning a badge, you MUST get and read the merit badge book.  You can buy it at the Scout Store (Warwick or Swansea), online at scoutstuff.org, or borrow it free from the troop librarian.  You should know pretty much everything in the book.  That may sound like a lot, but these books are THIN, with PICTURES!  You can finish one in a few hours.  Compared to school, they are easy. 
• Find a counselor.  If we are teaching a badge at troop meetings, this is done for you.  The Scoutmaster can refer to you counselors for other Eagle required badges.  If it is a non-required badge, find someone qualified (like your veterinarian for Dog Care Merit Badge), and clear it with the Scoutmaster or Advancement Coordinator.  It can be your parent, but only if s/he has special qualifications relevant to the badge, and if s/he is willing to serve as a counselor for other Troop 28 scouts who want to earn the badge.
• Print out the merit badge worksheet from meritbadge.org.  Fill it out; it's like an open book test, since the answers are all in the book.  Once you fill it out, it proves you knew the information at least for a short time!  This will be your study sheet. When we test you, we will mostly just ask you to repeat what you wrote down.  No trick questions.
• Keep records so there is no doubt whether you did something. If there are written projects, print them and keep them.  If you visit a site, or meeting, etc., then take a photo, pick up a brochure, or at least write down a few details of what you did or saw. 
• Get a Blue Card from the librarian or Advancement coordinator, and get it signed by counselor and Scoutmaster, then turn it in.  If it is a partial completion, get the counselor to write down exactly which requirements you completed, and KEEP the card as your record for when you want to finish the rest of it. 
• After you get your badge, sew or glue your badge on your sash, and KEEP the card as your record.

And here are some of our troop policies regarding classes:

• Although the requirements for obtaining a badge are made clear in each merit badge book, the details about classes and instruction within this troop will vary according to the way in which the instructor wishes to handle the course.  Each of our instructors will make his or her approach and rules clear at the outset of class.  Email correspondence to scouts (and parents, if they choose) will be made each week to clarify homework, assignments, and expectations.
• If you are attending a merit badge class taught at troop meetings, but don't plan on earning the badge this time around, that is generally ok (subject to the instructor's permission).  You will have other chances, and you can still learn a lot of useful information at the classes.  However, you must be attentive, and respectful of the instructor and other students.  If you are not, you may be asked to leave the class and do another activity.
• If you are not attending a class during the time for Merit Badge classes in a troop meeting, you must be occupied in some other way with merit badge work at that time.  You might work on a badge you have not yet completed;  you might help another scout who is doing merit badge work; or you might help an instructor in one of the troop classes.  Come prepared to troop meetings ready to do some merit badge related work during this time.  Bring worksheets and merit badge books you have not completed.  Arrange to help an instructor or another scout BEFORE you arrive at the meeting.
• For Eagle required badges you take at Yawgoog or Merit Badge College (or any other external venue), you will be required to verify with the Troop 28 counselor for that badge that you did the work and know the material.  Verification can be straightforward since it is generally fairly easy to tell whether concepts and techniques have been understood.  We do know from experience, however, that some counselors at these venues do not maintain the standards for achievement that our troop does.  We simply want you to know what Scouting expects you to know when you get one of these badges.  The rules of thumb outlined are even more important for Eagle-required badges, especially the last two!