1. Required for Eagle Scout

2. Current badges

3. "Colleges"

4. Workbooks

5. Historical program

6. See also

7. References
    Sources 

8. External links

Each merit badge has a pamphlet (booklet) associated with it; the pamphlet contains information on completing the requirements for the badge. Scouts must meet up with their Scoutmasters to receive a signed blue card in order to begin working on a merit badge. The Scout then contacts an adult who is registered as a counselor for that merit badge in order to learn which badge requirements they must complete before meeting. Once these requirements are completed, the Scout meets with the counselor to demonstrate that the Scout has completed the requirements. The counselor then 'signs off' on each requirement. After completing the merit badge, the Scout can then purchase a merit badge patch.^[3]

The award of a merit badge is represented by a circular patch with an image representing the badge's topic. The patches for the Eagle-required merit badges are distinguishable by the silver ring on the outside edge. Merit badges are displayed on a sash which can be worn with the Boy Scout uniform on formal occasions. Every year the National Council reviews and updates a certain number of merit badges. There are over 100 merit badges.

Scouting organizations in other countries issue or have issued merit badges, including Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Spain, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Austria has a program similar to merit badges for certain age groups.

Required for Eagle Scout

The current requirements for Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Boy Scouting, involve earning 21 merit badges including the 13 in this list^[4]:

• Camping
• Personal Fitness
• Personal Management
• Swimming, Hiking, or Cycling
• First Aid
• Citizenship in the Community
• Citizenship in the Nation
• Citizenship in the World
• Cooking
• Family Life
• Emergency Preparedness (E-Prep) or Lifesaving
• Environmental Science or Sustainability
• Communication

Current badges

The last revision date indicates the date of the latest requirement changes; the copyright or printing dates of merit badge pamphlets may have a different date. The Eagle Scout required merit badges are shaded in gray (see above paragraph for details).^[5]

"Colleges"

Merit badge colleges, which are also called fairs, weekends, midways, ‘’trail drives’’, or jamborees, are events where several troops and counselors meet and focus on teaching merit badges. Larger events are held on college campuses.

Workbooks

Into the 1990s, a number of merit badge counselors developed worksheets as a way for Scouts to document their work. Counselors could teach to a group but still verify each Scout's progress. Today, worksheets have given way to workbooks with added graph paper, blank maps and diagrams, logs, charts, checklists, links, and other resources as needed. One of the sites you can use to print them out is merit badge.org. ^[8] Merit badge workbooks are used by counselors, summer camps, and merit badge colleges. Workbooks have also been developed for ranks, Cub Scout belt loops, and Webelos activity pins.

Historical program

Offered only in 2010, The Historical Merit Badge program, part of the Boy Scouts of America centennial, allowed Scouts to earn the discontinued Carpentry, Pathfinding, Signalling, and Tracking (originally called Stalking) merit badges. The patches for these historical merit badges are distinguished by a gold ring on the outside edge. All were based on merit badges that were among the original 57 issued in 1911.^[9][10]

See also

• Discontinued merit badges (Boy Scouts of America)
• History of merit badges (Boy Scouts of America)
• Original 57 merit badges (Boy Scouts of America)

References

Sources

• {{cite web |url=http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/32215/mb/library.html |title=Merit Badge Library |accessdate=June 6, 2007 |date=June 2007 |work=Boy Scout Requirements |publisher=Boy Scouts of America |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200429/http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/32215/mb/library.html |archivedate=September 27, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.usscouts.org/mb/mbbooks.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001003032428/http://usscouts.org/mb/mbbooks.html|title=Current Merit Badge Pamphlet and Merit Badge Requirement Revision Dates |accessdate=June 6, 2007 |date=June 5, 2007 |work=U.S. Scouting Service Project |dead-url=yes |archivedate=2000-10-03}}
• {{cite web |url=http://home.earthlink.net/~scouters/mb.html |title=Merit Badges, Past and Present |accessdate=June 6, 2007 |author=Steve Henning |date=July 20, 1999 |work=Henning's Scouters' Pages }}

External links

• {{cite web |title=Introduction to Merit Badges |url=http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges.aspx |publisher=Boy Scouts of America}}
• {{cite web |title=MeritBadge.org |url=http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page}}
• {{cite web |title=Merit Badges |url=http://www.usscouts.org/ |publisher=U.S. Scouting Service Project}}
• {{cite web |title=IEEE emeritbadges.org |url=http://www.emeritbadges.org/ |publisher=IEEE}}
• {{cite web |title=Merit Badge reference |url=http://www.trail2eagle.com/ |publisher=Trail To Eagle}}
• {{dmoz|/Recreation/Scouting/Resources/Badge_Program/Boy_Scouts_of_America/|Badge Program: Boy Scouts of America}}
• {{dmoz|/Recreation/Scouting/Collectibles/Virtual_Collections/Badges_and_Patches/|Scouting: Collectibles: Virtual Collections: Badges and Patches}}

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