MB Completion Day?

[SSScout]

Well here's a new one , for me at least....

 

Local District is sponsoring a "Eagle Required Partial Merit Badge Completion Day"    .

There will be MBCounselors available for all  Eagle required MBs to help the Scout finish the partials , specifically mentioned "from summer camp" .  Contact info available to talk about finishing prerequisites....

[jr56]

Interesting,  never heard of one of those either.  Would be interesting to see what kind of participation they get.

[Hedgehog]

Our Troop will be having something siimilar for Emergency Preparedness.  A lot of the boys got partials at summer camp.  

[Eagledad]

I have to wonder if part of showing the maturity of an Eagle is initiating the process for finishing MBs. I don't have a problem with MB completion day being as a solution to something like Scouts in Hedgehogs troop looking to finish a single badge. But adults just bringing MB counselors together for any scout needing to complete MBs for Eagle seems a bit "controlling?" of  the scouts' responsibility.

 

That's just me. Our troop doesn't work that way. If scouts ask for help after running into walls, we are all for it. But pulling scouts through the process is not our style.

 

Barry

[CNYScouter]

The council next to ours is doing something similar to this.

They are offering a program for Scouts to attend day camp to finish up any partial Merit Badges they may have earned will attending week-long camp.

[T2Eagle]

I wouldn't be a fan of this.  There are some MBs that require specialized equipment or certfication, like shooting sports, climbing, maybe even some of the boating ones, where it might make sense to line up the resources for a group of scouts to finish partials.  I mention boating because a week of daily thunderstorms can play havoc with having enough time on the water, and there may not be a lot of access to small sail boats or other craft.

 

But I don't see that kind of specialization for Eagle required badges.  If a scout wants to finish the badge it's not really much of an expectation that they be able to reach out to a counselor to make those arrangements.

Edited August 19, 2016 by T2Eagle

[NJCubScouter]

I don't think our council has anything like this. (The annual Trail to Eagle camp, a week devoted to just earning Eagle required MB's, is bad enough.)

 

It does sound like too much micromanaging what the Scouts are supposed to be managing for themselves.

[bsaggcmom]

A couple of the camps in our statewide mega council are hosting events like this. Scouts pay for a weekend of camp and complete just about any partial they earned at a summer camp or elsewhere. The waterfront and ranges will be staffed by the area directors from the camps with staff from all the council staffs that wish to volunteer. About $25 for the weekend of provo camping with food included.

[andysmom]

Our council does this, kind of.   They have 1 day at one camp to finish merit badges started at camp that for various reasons couldn't be finished.  I know that if any scouts from our unit attended it would be if they didn't qualify in shooting sports, catch a fish for the fishing merit badge or waterfront badges that couldn't be completed because of weather.

 

Setting up a completion day specifically for "eagle required"  badges is ridiculous and in my opinion, weakening the integrity of the rank. 

Edited August 20, 2016 by andysmom

[Beavah]

Yah, it seems like da place where a council could contribute is in those camp badges where a troop might not have da resources or a counselor.  Stuff like shooting sports or lifesaving, eh?  Outdoors badges that belong at camp.   That's why council camps and volunteers exist - to provide services to units that they can't do on their own.

 

My feelin' is it should be a service to troops, though.  That's what we council folks are supposed to do.  When we make it a service to individual boys we're undermining the patrol, and the PLC, and the troop, and its adults.   

 

Now if this is somethin' that a group of troops are askin' for because they don't have internal MBCs for some Eagle Required badges... OK, I guess.  I'd rather have the council do a better job with counselor lists and active counselors that can really counsel boys in small groups, though, rather than runnin' another school class weekend.

 

Beavah

[Tampa Turtle]

I like the idea of trying to do it at the Unit level and let the boys organize one.

[SSScout]

This is strictly District sponsored.  Just Eagle Required, the promo sez.  No canoeing or archery....    I will follow up eventually, and see how it goes, er, went.  

[SSScout]

Event was canceled.   No full reason given, but I gleaned a lack of interest. 

[Torchwood]

We have had a couple of evenings, at the Scouts' request, to finish partials with a couple of specific counselors. Usually the Citizenship badges are the big culprits, but also going over the reporting requirements for Pers. Fitness, Pers. Management and Family Life to get those buttoned up too. They are small affairs- a handful of boys and a couple of counselors and parents.