Merit Badges
What are merit badges?
While rank advancement requirements guide the Scouts through a broad range of topics, merit badges take a different approach. They allow the Scouts to dive deeper into specific topics, typically with lots of hands-on experience.
There are more than 135 different merit badges that the Scouts can choose from. While some ranks have specific merit badge requirements, the Scouts are largely allowed to complete them as desired, at their own pace.
Is there a set schedule?
Some ranks have specific merit badge requirements. For example, the Star Rank requires that Scouts complete 6 merit badges, and the Eagle Rank requires 17 specific merit badges. However, the Scouts are largely able to choose topics that most interest them. And, they of course can always do more than what’s required. With so many merit badges available, the Scouts are bound to find something that piques their interest!
How do the Scouts earn merit badges?
The requirements for merit badges are a little more strict than for rank advancements.
For starters, only registered Merit Badge Counselors are able to teach and sign-off on merit badges for the Scouts. This makes the process of completing these requirements a little more difficult, but there are plenty of resources and opportunities.
Our Council has a listing of all of the registered Merit Badge Counselors. The adults leaders can help the Scouts look for counselors for the merit badges they want to take. The Scouts can then contact the counselor to make plans for completing the badge’s requirements.
Additionally, the Council and other units in the area occasionally host “Merit Badge Day” events. They essentially arrange for a bunch of Merit Badge Counselors to be at a location for a specific day, and the Scouts can register to attend one or more classes held by those counselors. It’s a great way to quickly complete one (or sometimes two) merit badges in a single day.
Summer Camps are also a great way to complete merit badges. Most Summer Camp programs include an extensive list of merit badge classes the Scouts can sign up for. It’s not uncommon for a Scout to complete 6 or more merit badges during the week-long Summer Camp event.
How are the completed merit badges tracked?
As with all advancements, merit badges are tracked in the BSA’s online system called ScoutBook. This is ultimately where all advancements need to be recorded in order to be part of the Scout’s official record. However, the information isn’t automatically entered into that system.
For a long time, the BSA used something called a “Blue Card“. It’s literally a small blue-colored card that the Scout and the counselor must fill out and sign at the completion of the merit badge in order to verify that it was completed.
Some counselors/events still use physical Blue Cards. However, most have converted over to “electronic” Blue Cards. Essentially, if the Scout registers for a merit badge class online, that same system is used to record the completion of the merit badge. The Scoutmaster or other adult leader can then upload that info into ScoutBook. This is typically done for organized events such as Merit Badge Days and Summer Camps.