Our troop depends on parents and other adults to help deliver a quality Merit Badge Program to our scouts as a part of its advancement program. The Merit Badge Counselor (MBC) plays a key role in the advancement of all scouts. Whatever your area of expertise or interest - whether it is a special crast or hoddy (basketry, leatherwork, coin collectin), a profession (veterinary medicine, aviation, engineering), or perhaps a life skill (cooking, personal management, communications, camping, fishing, swimming) - as a merit badge counselor, you can help stir a young man's curiosity about that particular topic. By serving as a merit badge counselor, you offer your time, knowledge, and other resources sot hat Scouts can explore a topic of interest.

Troop 299 has a long history of providing merit badge counselors for each of the Eagle required badges plus dozens of others. Having that breadth of counselors helps our scouts to advance and our troop to prosper. The only way this tradition continues is with your assistance, so please become a Counselor!  

Becoming a Merit Badge Counselor

Merit badge counselors are men and women of good character, age 18 or older, and recognized as having the skills and education in the subjects for with they are to serve as merit badge counselors, as well as having the ability to work with Scout-age boys.

1. Complete BSA Youth Protection Training
   
   The BSA requires all adult volunteer to complete Youth Protection Training (YPT)·before interacting with the scouts. This course is available online at www.myscouting.org. First time users will need to create an account. Your BSA ID can be added at a later time. When you have completed the course be sure to print a copy of your certificate. That certificate must be provided with your Adult Volunteer Application.  Youth Protection Training must be retaken every two years.
   
2. Complete an Adult Volunteer Application Form
   
   This form is available from the Troop Committee or downloaded from http://www.scouting.org/formsThe Position Code is 42 and the position description is "Merit Badge Counselor". There is no cost.  Consent to perform a criminal background check is mandatory as are personal references. There is no cost to you.
   
   Note: Registering as a Merit Badge Counselor does not, in itself, register you as an Adult Leader (a.k.a, "Scouter"). Please see the Troop Committee or Scoutmaster if you are also interested in becoming an Assistant Scoutmaster or Committee Member.
   
   
3. Complete a Merit Badge Counselor Form
   
   This form is available from the Troop Committee or downloaded from http://www.scouting.org/forms. Use this form to indicate the badges you want to instruct. Click here for a complete list of Merit Badges. You have the option of limiting your instruction to only Troop 299 or you may choose to make yourself available to other troops in our District.
   
4. Turn in your completed forms and Youth Protection certificate to the Troop Committee Membership Coordinator or Chairman.

Getting Started

Being a MBC is not complicated but there are rules in place to ensure an enjoyable and safe experience for everyone involved.  As you read the following information, keep in mind that BSA Advancement requirements are to be taken very literally. For example, if an instruction says "the scout will..." then nobody but the scout can.  Similarly, the words Parent and Scout are never inter-changeable.  In the end, only you the Merit Badge Counselor decides when the scout has completed each and every requirement.

You should look over each of these BSA documents:

• Guide to Merit Badge Counselors
• Introduction to Merit Badges

The Process

1. The steps a Boy Scout takes to completing a merit badge are described in Chapter 7 of The Boy Scout Handbook. They are shown here with a little elaboration.
   
2. The scout obtains from the Scoutmaster a signed Blue Card and the name of a qualified merit badge counselor for that merit badge.
   
3. The Scoutmaster approves the scout's request for a blue card by signing the front of the Application for Merit Badge portion.  In some situations, such as summer camp, the Scoutmaster may delegate the approving of blue cards to an Assistance Scoutmaster. The Scoutmaster assigns a specific merit badge counselor. On occasion he might instead provide the scout a short list of potential counselors. These are the only counselors the scout may contact.
   
4. Along with a buddy - another scout, a relative or a friend - the scout sets up and attends his first appointment with the merit badge counselor. The counselor will explain the requirements for the badge and help the scout plan ways to fulfill them so that he can get the most out of the experience.
   
   Never meet alone with a scout! As discussed in Youth Protection, no adult can meet alone with a youth. Whenever a counselor meets with a scout, there must always be a third person present. Many of Troop 299's counselors will meet with scouts at IRUMC before or after troop meetings or in another public setting, such as fast-food restaurant.
   
5. Verify that the scout's blue card is in order:
   
   1. It must be clearly legible and with all three parts attached
   2. The scout's full name is on all three portions
   3. The name of the merit badge is on all three portions
   4. The scout has filled in the other info on the Application for Merit Badge portion. 
   5. Troop 299 is in the Darby Creek District of Simon Kenton Council (SKC)
   6. The counselor fill's in his/her name, address, telephone number on the Application for Merit Badge portion, but does not sign until requirements are 100% complete.
      
6. Sometimes, scouts return from camp with a partially completed blue card. When a scout appears for a first meeting holding a "partial", the counselor should be convinced that the boy did get the Scoutmaster's approval to meet
   
7. At all times, the scout is to behave in accordance with the Scout Oath and Law. The scout must meet with his counselor wearing his Class-A uniform unless the activity requires specialized clothing. Please let the Scoutmaster know immediately of any issues.
   
8. The scout completes the requirements.
   
   He meets with the counselor whenever necessary until he has finished working on the badge. The burden of making progress on a badge rests exclusively with the Boy Scout.
   
   Scouts are encouraged to obtain the handbook for the merit badge but requiring it is up to the Counselor. The requirements in effect at the time the Scoutmaster assigned the blue card are the requirements that must be met.
   
   Requirements are to be worked by the scout exactly as stated in the handbook for the merit badge - no more, no less. They may be completed in any order and at any time.
   
   Only the assigned counselor signs off on completed requirements. The counselor should sign off on each requirement individually but not until all requirements have been completed to the counselor's satisfaction does the counselor sign and date all three portions of the blue card. It is helpful to write "Complete" across the back of the Applicant's Record portion of the blue card, just to be absolutely clear.
   
9. When all requirements are complete the counselor detaches and retains the complete Counselor Record portion of the blue card. There is no retention requirement but many MBCs hold onto these stubs for years.
   
10. The scout shows his completed blue card to the Scoutmaster. If the counselor has signed that all requirements were completed then the scoutmaster will approve by signing on the Applicant's Record.
    
11. The scout turns the completed blue card into the Advancement Chair (or Committee Chair) for processing.Usually, the Applicant's Record portion will be given to the scout for permanent keeping.
    
12. The scout will receive his Merit Badge patch and card at the next Court of Honor.