Merit Badges, A How To Guide

I’d like to work on a Merit Badge, what do I do?

• See the scoutmaster or an assistant scoutmaster who will help you to identify a MB counselor

• Get a blue card from the Scoutmaster

• Contact the Merit Badge counselor and proceed with their guidance

I have completed all of the requirements for my Merit Badge, what do I do now?

• Your MB counselor will sign your blue card when all requirements are met

• Once signed, bring entire 3 part blue card to your Advancement Chair *in some cases, the counselor may elect to keep the “counselor record”

• Advancement Chair will confirm all appropriate signatures, will record your completed MB in troop records, and will report it to council

Then what happens? When do I get my patch and blue card record?

• All Merit Badges are presented at Court of Honor. When presented, you receive the following: Your patch and the “Applicant Record” portion of the original 3 part blue card. These items will come attached to a Merit Badge presentation card that is signed by your current Scoutmaster.

• Wear your earned Merit Badges on the BSA Merit Badge sash

• Keep your paper records (Applicant Record portion of blue card and signed MB presentation card) in a safe place like a designated scout binder or scout box. The blue card is an official BSA record and will accompany you on your Eagle BOR.

*Troop recommends a binder with baseball card sleeve protectors. This ensures that you have a safe place to not only keep your records, but to keep them in relative good order. Good, personal record keeping helps to protect a scout from errors, or discrepancies in their advancement.

I have completed a Rank requirement, what should I do?

• Bringing your Scout Handbook to each meeting and activity helps to ensure that you have access to signatures on completed requirements

• The following is a list of approved signatures: from adv guide 4.2.1.2

• The scoutmaster authorizes who may test and pass the scout on rank requirements. They might include his patrol leader, senior patrol leader, an assistant unit leader, a troop committee member, another scout, or the scoutmaster himself. Merit badge counselors teach and test him on reqs for merit badges.

I am close to completing my next Rank, what should I do?

• Be prepared! When you realize that you are fast approaching the final two requirements for a given rank (SM Conference and BOR), access the “Board of Review request” form from the Troop website, www.waxhawtroop53.com under forms, and keep it in your handbook.

• Communicate to the Scoutmaster that you are ready to have a Scoutmaster conference. In some cases, you may sit with an Assistant Scoutmaster (ASM), but begin with your Scoutmaster if he is available, and he will direct you accordingly.

• Once you have successfully completed your SM Conference, ask the SM or ASM to sign your “BOR request” form, as well as your handbook.

• Give your signed “BOR request” form to the BOR Coordinator. This signed form serves as a request to be put on the agenda for the next scheduled round of BORs. Troop 53 holds BORs the first Monday of the calendar month, with few exceptions.

• Once the BOR coordinator has confirmed receipt of your BOR request form, come dressed in your full Class A uniform, “neat in appearance”, to the following scheduled BOR, prepared to sit before the BOR committee.

I started a Merit Badge, but I didn’t complete it, what should I do?

• Unfinished Merit Badges are referred to as “Partial Merit Badges”

• If you are not working on the MB in a class setting, you should keep your unfinished blue card in a safe place

• Depending on your counselor, you may be given the blue card for safe keeping, or the counselor running a class may keep them all to be entered as a group when completed. Be sure to discuss this with your counselor.

• If you began a MB at Council Summer Camp, the advancement chair receives all partial blue cards along with all finished blue cards at the end of each camp week.

• In this case, the partial information is recorded and the partial blue card is returned to the scout for his own safe keeping

• Remember, that however long it takes you to complete a Partial Merit Badge, any signed requirement is good forever, so hang on to those blue cards, however old.

I really want to finish my partial Merit Badge, what should I do?

• Depending on the manner in which you began the Merit Badge (at camp, or with an individual counselor), initiating completion is much the same as beginning a new Merit Badge

• See MB Coordinator who will help you to identify a counselor

• Contact MB counselor, present them with your partial blue card, and proceed with their guidance Always remember to keep track of your own blue cards!

* Revised 2/1/14