Need help finding merit badge counselors

[gwd-scouter 11]

For the past two years I've been working hard at turning our little troop around from adult-led to boy-led. We have finally reached that fabulous place! PLC meeting each month and planning meetings and outings. Have secured a new enthusiastic ASM, so we now have two which helps alleviate some of the burden on my husband and myself.

 

Now, the biggest challenge I've faced, and one that has really been on the back burner. Merit badge counselors. In all the years I've been involved with this troop (about 6 - I was Advancement Chair and Committee Secretary before becoming SM), the SM or ASMs signed off on merit badges. Most were for partials earned at camp or merit badges that were taught at troop meetings. I did question this practice, but was soundly admonished and was not so politely encouraged to defer to the other "more experienced" adult leaders (read that to say MALE leaders). Ah, the only female in the troop so I went along with their decisions. ---Sorry, a small rant there.

 

Anyway, we still have that system. In the past two years, other than a couple of guys who have done music, reading, or scholarship merit badge and have had a teacher sign off on it (no, they weren't actually registered merit badge counselors), all other merit badge work done by our Scouts has been in completing partials from camp. Our Advancement Chair or I have signed off when completed.

 

I have talked about this with other troop leaders and district folks and it turns out this is pretty much the way it's done throughout our district. We have no merit badge counselor list and each troop handles it within their own unit.

 

Blue cards - not even used anymore. Scouts merely have the printed out work sheets from USScouts or Meritbadge.com and the requirements are initialled on those sheets.

 

What can I do? This is the last of the adult-led legacy I'd like to change, but I just don't know how to go about it.

 

As I said in the beginning of my post, this is something I've continued to perpetuate because in my mind I had so many other "bigger fish to fry" in turning this troop around.

 

I have a couple of Scouts that are very close to finishing their Eagle requirements. They come to me and ask if they can talk to me about a few remaining requirements on their Eagle required merit badges. Since these badges were mostly started at summer camp, and in most cases several years ago, I have agreed to work with them on the last remaining requirements. I know this is NOT the way merit badges are to be done. I probably can't do much to make changes in time for these near-Eagles, but I'd like to get the younger and newer scouts thinking about their merit badges and working on them properly.

 

Help, please?

[Lisabob 13]

Just curious here. If your district/council doesn't use blue cards, how do they track completed mbs? Do they collect and sign off on the USScouts worksheets or something?

 

Can you enlist the help of the young/new scouts' parents on this front? If you can "sell" the idea of MB counselors to them (the way it is supposed to work) then perhaps they would be willing to sign on as mbcs. Even if only for one badge each and even if it isn't for Eagle-required badges (though that would be helpful), that would be a good start.

 

Can you talk with your local first responders about signing on as mbcs? We've had excellent luck with that for badges such as first aid, fire safety, finger printing, crime prevention, and emergency preparedness.

 

Are you close to any of the social studies teachers in your middle school/high school? Tap them for the various citizenship badges.

 

I think the big first step is getting buy-in from your younger scouts (PLC), their parents, and your committee so that you are all in agreement that you will build a mb program that works the way it ought to, prior to getting people signed up. Once you're all on the same page you can tap your scouts/parents/committee to help you locate willing community members to sign up as mbcs.

 

Keep us up to date! And good luck!

 

Lisa'bob

[gwd-scouter 11]

A bit more clarification: Blue cards are not turned in with advancement reports. I remember when older son was still in the troop. He did have blue cards and as advancement chair, I did sign off on others. But, the scout kept one segment, the "counselor" kept a segment and the third was kept in the scout's file. No one, district or council, ever asked to see signed blue cards. This may be why our troop in particilar got away from them.

 

I wasn't clear in my first post about the blue cards. I can't speak for other troops in our district in that blue cards aren't used. They may be using them. I only know that none of the scouts in our troop has ever been asked to produce one as evidence of completing a merit badge for the district or council.

 

Thank you for the suggestions, Lisabob. I will certainly work harder at fixing this problem in our troop.

 

Another question for the forum members: in the short term while I try to get folks in the community to help, can the members of our committee and our ASMs sign up as MBCs so we at least can get started doing the paperwork right?

 

 

 

 

 

[Lisabob 13]

"Another question for the forum members: in the short term while I try to get folks in the community to help, can the members of our committee and our ASMs sign up as MBCs so we at least can get started doing the paperwork right? "

 

 

Yes! That will certainly make your life easier to start with. Here's a link to "a guide for merit badge counselors" on USScouts.org which you may find useful.

http://www.usscouts.org/boyscouts/MBCounseling.html

 

Also here's a link to the registration form for mbcs.

http://www.usscouts.org/advance/docs/33405.doc

 

Note that the mbc's do register as scouters (but usually don't pay a fee if that is the only position for which they are registering) and they are supposed to be approved by your council so once you get people who are willing, that's an important next step. (though frankly, it doesn't sound like your council is too worried about this given the process you've described for mbc's right now! But to do things by the book, you'll need council's approval.)

 

Also I know some councils limit the number of mb's any one person can sign up to counsel. You should check with your district/council advancement chair to find out about this.

 

 

[scottteng 11]

I have thought about making up a list of mb's all 130 of em and circulating list and request among all parents of our troop and pack. Even if they do not want to participate in any other way it should be a pleasure to share their vocational or avocational expertise with the next generation. We have a lot of occupations represented not to mention all the hobbies. Here each counselor is allowed thirty different mb's to counsel. Last I heard a mb counselor only did not even have to pay the 11 bucks.

[Beavah 205]

Many good questions and thoughts. Good eyes on gwd for figurin' out "the real way it seems to work."

 

Blue Cards - Most councils/districts don't use them or do anything with them, though not all troops know that. All advancement entry is based on the Advancement Report Form (or now on electronic entry by the troop). So practically, it's up to a troop whether Blue Cards is the way they want kids to keep track. I personally think usin' the USSSP or MeritBadge.com sheets is easier and works better.

 

Now, as to gettin' counselors. You really want to use a rifle, not a shotgun. Only a subset of parents are good at the MBC business. So to really get your program up and runnin', I suggest:

 

1) Identify a few people who you feel are "good" MBC's - ones who make the MB fun & interesting, who expect each kid individually to meet all the requirements, and who make it an appropriate challenge.

 

2) Recruit just a few people at a time, beginnin' with the "required" MB list. Give preference at the beginnin' to people who can do more than one badge. You should build this up gradually and well, rather than rush it.

 

3) Do the background/reference checks yeh should do on everyone. More than a lot of scoutin' adults, these people will have the opportunity to meet with boys individually, with no other adult lookin' over their shoulder. Call the references. Be thorough.

 

4) Get the MBC's trained. YPT first, then MBC trainin'. Some districts provide this, but you can also do it in-house, which helps with settin' up your system for tracking and expectations.

 

5) Have each person team-teach a MB at least once with one of your "good" MBC's. Works best if the "good" counselor leads one, and then the "new" counselor leads one. This is the most critical step. More than anything else, this sets the tone, gives people experience with the expectations, and gives you a chance to see whether the person will "work out" as a MBC. It also establishes a friendly, known "mentor" that the new MBC can call with any questions/problems down the road. Plus it's fun, eh?

 

As far as where to look for MBC's, that kinda depends on what you need. Most troops try to find an ASM-type person for the outdoorsy badges, because they're most likely to be in the field with the boys to be able to do those. For hobby badges, there are all kinds of local hobby groups - HAM radio clubs for Radio, rocket clubs for Space Exploration, stamp clubs for Stamp Collecting, etc. I find Citizenship badges hard sometimes; seems like few adults know the Cit. Nation material and even fewer are proficient in the Cit. World stuff. Any local politician, or anybody from the local branch of a political party is good for Cit. Community/Cit. Nation. Yeh want to find people who love the stuff, eh? Not just people who will "go through it" but ones who will bring it to life!

 

Round here it's sometimes hard to get people who are good at some outdoor things. Canoein' is always a bugger; seems like 2/3 of the Canoe MBC counselors aren't much beyond beginners themselves. Sometimes yeh can get help by callin' one of the national organizations and askin' them for local affiliates or members - like callin' the American Canoe Association. Local shops or outfitters can be good, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SueM 10]

As you know gwd-scouter..we have been kind of living parallel lives in our scout troops. We also do not have (for the most part) MB counselors and boys mainly work on MB's either at Summer Camp, MB Universities or other such things. In our troop, we traditonally used to do "Boards of Review" (that's what they called them mainly..we've kind of changed that to "MB Summaries" now and only do them for MB's that the boys work on independently without a counselor of any kind. It's not a retest, but just having the scout sit down and tell some adults what he learned doing the badge, so that we can have SOME idea of whether or not the requirements were even -attempted- to be met. I don't see it as adding requirements..it's just a conversation about the MB mainly and we are moving away from them as much as possible. It really is a hard transition for them to understand the way things are supposed to be done. For example, I recently started to do Family Life with my boys...I have had several come and said "I did this (or that) with my family in the past" and not really understand why I have an issue with it when I look at the requirement and it says "discuss with parent AND MB counselor" BEFORE doing something..and why I may not accept that. I also have brothers who try to piggy back on each other's work and don't understand why they both need to do the same things at home! I am trying to be as close to a real MB counselor as I can be in the process so that they learn how it should be done. It's another of those roadblocks to the process that take some time. And yes, I -may- be being a bit tougher on them then many MB counselors are, but I am trying to teach them that they need to strive for excellence in what they do and not to accept mediocracy... which has been the norm! I want them to get something from what I am teach that they can hold on to.

 

Sue M.

[SueM 10]

scotteng,

 

Before you put too much work into doing the MB list...there is a Troop Resources Survey in the Troop Program Resources which has them all already listed on the back of the survey. The survey itself might help you find other sources of help for your troop too.

 

I include one in our new scout information package for parents to fill out.

 

 

Sue M.

[Gonzo1 10]

SueM,

What????? you said:

.....we traditonally used to do "Boards of Review" (that's what they called them mainly..we've kind of changed that to "MB Summaries" now and only do them for MB's that the boys work on independently without a counselor of any kind.

 

Isn't the lad supposed to get the blue card signed by the SM first, have a MBC identified first? You're not doing BOR? Based on what YOU have said here, you're unit needs a pile of training, starting with how to do a Board of Review and Merit Badges.

 

Check these links for additional info on merit badges:

http://www.meritbadge.com/info/policy1.htm

 

http://www.meritbadge.com/info/cnsling.htm

 

Gonzo

[SueM 10]

Gonzo1,

 

As I explained to you privately, you misread what I said (or meant)in the post..what they were doing what was called a "BoR" for -MB's-...a separate thing from advancement..we certainly do BoR for advancements.

 

Our Council (and note I said -council-, not unit!) has not used Blue card for as long as I've been with the troop, which is 5 years now, nor do we HAVE real MB counselors. (a list to choose from) so we're basically on our own as units!! Our troop meetings used to be mainly focused on doing MB work there. I only do that now on a RARE occasion now and when I do, boys are often miffed because I expect them to follow the requirements as stated!!..they were not used to really doing that! We also now have an adult leader to whom the boys are to report to before starting a MB independently...and who they are supposed to check in with, with their progress. Is it a perfect troop? Heck no!! But changing "traditions" is a tough uphill battle..especially for us female SM's...and we are working on it one step at a time! Progress only happens as fast as those involve WANT it to happen and quite frankly...many of my boys could care less about it.

 

Turning a troop around is NOT an easy thing to do...I get very discouraged when I hit the "next" brick wall. (and anyone who is in this same situation knows exactly what I mean) I did not ask to be put into this position..I had no choice! No one else would do it. I sure as heck am giving it my best shot though, as imperfect as it is.

 

Sue M.

[Gonzo1 10]

SueM,

Keep up the good work! Keep at it, change will happen, see PM.

 

If ever there was a ticket item for someone in your area, here it is: Develop a MBC list for the district. Someone from each district could do one for their own district, then the council would have a list.

 

All the best,

G

[scottteng 11]

No blue cards then well ouch. How does the 18 year old eagle candidate verify that four troops ago and three states ago he really did complete the first aid merit badge at summer camp his first year in summer camp at 10.5 years old crossing over from a pack in yet another state? Hmmm those blue cards are for those boys protection. He gets to keep a copy. Or at the eagle board he is asked why here on our council ppw it says you completed Emerg. Prep at merit badge univ in october but by our records First aid was not earned until December when your former troop got around to sending your records. Any computer guy will tell you that GIGO is still a big problem. Paper is still paper and still trumps the computer. Sorry I am not a Luddite but real world says each boy must take ownership of his own records.