Troop 120 Merit Badge Process
This guide is for the Scouts and parents of Troop 120 to understand the process of working on and earning merit badges. Merit badges are for learning and developing skills, and they are required for Advancement to Star, Life, and Eagle ranks.
If a Scout has a goal of reaching Eagle, they must earn a total of 21 merit badges, including these 14 merit badges: (a) First Aid, (b) Citizenship in the Community, (c) Citizenship in the Nation, (d) Citizenship in Society, (e) Citizenship in the World, (f) Communication, (g) Cooking, (h) Personal Fitness, (i) Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving, (j) Environmental Science OR Sustainability, (k) Personal Management, (l) Swimming OR Hiking OR Cycling, (m) Camping, and (n) Family Life.
It is our intention to give our Scouts several opportunities to earn merit badges, but keep in mind that Scouts can also work on merit badges independently.
If you have any questions about the information in this guide or the merit badge process, please reach out to troop120mb@gmail.com.
Blue Cards:
Before you start working on your merit badge, you need to obtain a blue card. Reach out to one of the merit badge contacts listed above. They may ask some questions about your plan for working on it. Once it is approved, you get a blue card to fill out and use to track your progress and completion.
Here is the front of the blue card:
On the front, you must fill out (print neatly!):
Your name & address.
Check Scout and specify Troop 120.
District: Old Hickory
Council: Central Carolinas
Take it to the Scoutmaster to date and sign.
Here is the back of the blue card:
On the back, you must fill out (print neatly!):
The name of the Merit badge on each of the three sections.
Your name for Name on the APPLICANT’S RECORD.
Your name for Applicant on the COUNSELOR’S RECORD.
Troop 120 on the COUNSELOR’S RECORD.
Leave the name of the counselor and contact information blank unless you have a merit badge counselor that will work with you from start to finish.
When you have neatly filled out these fields, please take it to the Scoutmaster for his signature on the front of the blue card. He will also record on our side that you are working on it.
Merit Badge Counselors
A Merit Badge Counselor is a registered adult with Troop 120 who reviews your work on the merit badge and signs off on your completed requirements. Ideally, the Merit Badge Counselor also has expertise in the subject of your badge and can share that knowledge with you as well. In Troop 120, the Merit Badge Counselor is often an Assistant Scoutmaster, but there are multiple parents signed up to be Merit Badge Counselors as well that you might work with.
Troop 120 has a growing list of Merit Badge Counselors by badge that you can see here:
Troop 120 Merit Badge Counselor list
If you are a registered ASM or Merit Badge Counselor, you can add your name to the primary or backup contact for any merit badge. If you are not a registered ASM or Merit Badge Counselor, please reach out to troop120mb@gmail.com to express your interest. Our recommendation is to not sign up for more than one of the highlighted badges, as those are Eagle requirements and will be much more frequent than the others.
Working Independently:
If you choose to work on a merit badge independently, use the following steps:
Choose a Merit Badge…something of interest to you, something you think sounds “fun,” or something to get you to the Eagle rank, if that is your goal.
Devise a plan…requirements are available online, or you can reach out to troop120mb@gmail.com for a list of requirements that need to be completed to earn a particular badge.
Before you begin, ask for a blue card and fill it out. See the previous section on Blue Cards.
Print out a Workbook for your merit badge, which is required for merit badges that you work on independently.
Work on your merit badge! Remember that the goal is to have a wide array of experiences…quality over quantity. Enjoy the process of earning your badge. Write down how you have met the requirements in your Workbook.
When finished, talk to the Merit Badge Coordinator or Scoutmaster in the meeting (see the contacts above). They will help connect you with a Merit Badge Counselor to review your merit badge work and discuss it with you. Because this takes some time, it will be a separate appointment and not during regular advancement time. Once all requirements are verified to have been met, the Merit Badge Counselor and Scoutmaster will sign off on the blue card, showing that the merit badge has been earned.
Collect your merit badge at the next Court of Honor!
Working with a Merit Badge Counselor:
You can also ask to work with a Merit Badge Counselor all the way along as you earn the badge. This still involves a lot of independent work and study, but you can get advice and signoffs from the Merit Badge Counselor as you go.
Choose a Merit Badge…something of interest to you, something you think sounds “fun,” or something to get you to the Eagle rank, if that is your goal.
Devise a plan…requirements are available online, or you can reach out to troop120mb@gmail.com for a list of requirements that need to be completed to earn a particular badge.
Before you begin, ask for a blue card and fill it out. See the previous section on Blue Cards. When you ask for a blue card, explain that you would like to work with a Merit Badge Counselor from the beginning. We will help you identify a leader to work with you. Remember, you must always have another adult present when you meet with or email/text your Merit Badge Counselor.
Decide with your Merit Badge Counselor whether you will use a Workbook to track your progress or not. It is whatever helps you and the Merit Badge Counselor to verify you have met the requirements.
Work on your merit badge! Remember that the goal is to have a wide array of experiences…quality over quantity. Enjoy the process of earning your badge.
Meet with your Merit Badge Counselor when you have requirements to sign off. Use the blue card as described in the Partial Completions section. You may meet with your counselor several times before finishing the merit badge.
Once your Merit Badge Counselor has verified that all requirements have been met, the Merit Badge Counselor and Scoutmaster will sign off on the blue card, showing that the merit badge has been earned.
Collect your merit badge at the next Court of Honor!
Classes:
Our goal is to have 1 class per quarter for groups to earn a merit badge (or part of a merit badge) together. If parents in the Troop have a special expertise they would like to share, we’d love to have them lead a merit badge class! We would also like for the older Scouts to teach the classes, if possible.
Camp Barnhardt and other local BSA groups offer a variety of merit badge classes. We will soon add a tab on our website that will contain links to these classes, and you are welcome to register individually. We may also send out occasional emails if we find out about an upcoming class we think our Scouts might be interested in.
Summer camp is also a great way to earn merit badges.
Most classes other than summer camp require you to bring a blue card for the merit badge. Many of them have prerequisites as well. You must return the blue card to the Scoutmaster to sign and record in Scoutbook. If you don’t complete all of the requirements, then it is a “partial”. See the next section on handling partially completed merit badges.
Partial completions:
It’s possible to get part of a merit badge signed off but still have remaining work to complete it. We can refer to this as a “partial”. In these cases, please follow these steps:
If you don’t have a blue card (for example with summer camp), obtain a blue card and write down the numbers/letters of the requirements you did complete previously.
Show the Scoutmaster the evidence that you completed those requirements previously, and he will both sign the blue card and the individual completed requirements.
Then write down the numbers/letters of the requirements that you have not yet completed. Do not sign off or date these. These track the work that needs to be completed and reviewed.
If working independently on more than one remaining requirement, the Scout should use a Workbook and write down how they met the requirement for later review. They don’t have to write anything for the requirements that were already signed off.
TIP: Take a picture of the blue card in progress if you want to protect against losing it.
When those are completed, the Scout should get them reviewed by a leader and signed off.
Here is an example. In this example, most of the requirements were completed on 1-1-23, but some were incomplete. So, the merit badge counselor writes down the complete items and signs them as done. The Scout writes down the remaining requirements needed to complete the badge but leaves them blank until they are completed and signed off. Note that this allows another merit badge counselor to finish the badge if needed, because they don’t need to review what was previously signed off.
The final Merit Badge Counselor should just make sure that the complete set of signoffs represent all the requirements of that merit badge. Of course, they should not re-review the requirements that have already been signed off (BSA policy is once signed off, always signed off). They can confirm the signed-off requirements meet the merit badge requirements at BSA Merit Badges A-Z.
Merit badge signoffs:
When you work on any part of a merit badge on your own, you must have a Merit Badge Counselor sign off on those completed requirements to earn the badge. In our troop, the Assistant Scoutmasters will often be your Merit Badge Counselors, but there are also parents who are registered Merit Badge Counselors.
Note that if you complete a merit badge in full in a class, then the instructor of the class is your merit badge counselor. In that case, you can just bring the signed blue card to the Scoutmaster to get recorded. He will return the “Applicant” portion of the blue card, which you should keep for your records.
Remember: all Scout communications with an adult must be two-deep. You must include a parent or another leader on all emails and texts. You must not meet alone with an adult. This is a BSA policy.
Scout Responsibilities:
Identify your Merit Badge Counselor:
If you have been working with the same Merit Badge Counselor from the beginning, you already know who they are! So just meet with them as you go or at the end to review your work and get signoffs on the requirements.
If you don’t have a Merit Badge Counselor, email troop120mb@gmail.com to find out who you should work with.
Note that Scouts is boy led! So, we prefer communications to come from Scouts rather than parents in most cases.
Provide any information your Merit Badge Counselor needs to sign off on the requirements. We recommend using a Workbook along with any other supporting evidence you need to show your counselor (pictures, videos, etc.).
If you have previously gotten signoffs from a different Counselor or class, take a picture of the blue card and text or email it to them. That way they can focus on the remaining requirements.
Share your written Workbook with your Counselor (it may be a good idea to fill out your workbook on a computer to make it easy to email).
Your Merit Badge Counselor can decide not to require the Workbook, but you should check with them first.
Set up one or more meetings with your Merit Badge Counselor to talk through the requirements and your work on the merit badge. Although you may have written everything down, you should also discuss your work on the badge to share what you learned and give your Counselor a chance to ask questions to make sure the requirements were met.
This should not happen during the 7:15pm Advancement time on Mondays.
You can do this during a troop meeting in view of at least one other leader for two deep.
For longer reviews, it is recommended to set up a separate meeting or zoom call to talk through the signoffs. For example, you could choose to meet from 6:45pm – 7:15pm before the meeting. Just make sure you have another adult nearby during any conversations.
Find out if there is still more work left to do to complete the badge.
Complete the badge:
The Counselor should sign off on all “Counselor” fields on the blue card.
If you have remaining work, follow the steps for Partial completions above to track what is and what isn’t signed off until all requirements are completed.
Take the blue card to the Scoutmaster for “Unit Leader” sign off and recording in Scoutbook.
The Scoutmaster will give you back the APPLICANT’S RECORD section of the blue card. Store this in case there are ever any questions about the badges you earned.
Merit Badge Counselor Responsibilities:
Merit Badge Counselors should follow these guidelines.
When a Scout reaches out to you, verify whether they are looking for you to help as they work on their merit badge or whether they have completed the work and are looking for your review and signoff on the completed merit badge.
If it is a review of a completed merit badge, review the written Workbook and any other information the Scout gives you ahead of time.
You can also refer to the merit badge requirements online.
If you’re reviewing a partial, you just need to review remaining requirements only.
Note: if you have been working with the Scout all along, then the Workbook is optional and depends on what you worked out with the Scout. Independent work brought to us at the end requires a Workbook.
If the badge doesn’t look complete, you can ask those questions before you meet or wait to meet to discuss more.
Make sure the Scout has met the requirements as written to the best of their abilities. This is not a college course, so don’t hold them up to a rigorous standard of quality. But make sure they have followed the instructions as written.
For example, if it says provide a camp recipe, don’t pass them writing “Grilled Cheese Sandwiches” and nothing else. But if they provide a recipe for grilled cheese sandwiches, don’t send them back because it is too simple or because their directions weren’t detailed enough for you. That level of quality is not specified by the requirement.
On the flip side, if the effort is so minimal that they can’t even explain what they wrote, you can send them back to do a little more on it.
Merit badges are not a professional certification or degree; they are an opportunity to learn and gain new experiences and work with adults.
If you have questions, tell the Scout you’ll get back to them on a requirement, and email troop120mb@gmail.com to discuss.
Meet with the Scout one or more times to have a discussion about their merit badge. Make sure to ask questions and have them talk about their experiences. That discussion is part of the process and ensures that the Scout did the work themselves.
This should not happen during the 7:15pm Advancement time on Mondays.
You can do this during a troop meeting in view of at least one other leader for two deep.
Ideally, this is a separate meeting or zoom call.
Note: if you have been working with the Scout all along, you might have several smaller conversations/emails/texts along the way rather than a big review at the end. In this case, the Workbook is optional, and you can work that out with the Scout. But track all progress on requirements on the blue card as you go, signing them off as they are completed.
For partial completions, sign off all requirements on the blue card that have been met and send the Scout back to complete the rest.
When complete, fill out and sign the blue card under all portions that mention “Counselor”.
Cut off the COUNSELOR’S RECORD for yourself. Store these in case there are ever any questions about the merit badges you reviewed and approved.
Give the Scout back the remaining two portions to take to the Scoutmaster for signature and recording.
FAQ:
Q: I worked on a badge in a previous troop or at a past summer camp, how do I complete it with Troop 120?
If you have a blue card, just use it and write down the remaining requirement numbers and letters that you need to complete. See the Partial completions section above. If you don’t have a blue card, ask for one and fill it out along with all the requirement numbers and letters you have already completed. Bring evidence to the Merit Badge Coordinator or the Scoutmaster that you have already completed some of the requirements previously (like Scoutbook records, summer camp records, etc.). They will sign off and you can continue working on the remaining requirements. See the Partial completions section above.
Q: I lost my blue card!
If you lost your blue card, you can fill out a new one. If you had already signed-off on some requirements, you need evidence that you completed those or you will have to review those again with your Merit Badge Counselor. It’s a good idea to take a picture of in-progress blue cards that have requirement signoffs in case of an emergency.
Q: I went to summer camp and did merit badges. Do I need a blue card?
Maybe. For merit badges that are completed at camp, you don’t need one. We will enter those into Scoutbook for you. For merit badges that are partially completed at camp, you will need to get a blue card and fill out the numbers/letters you completed at camp. Then follow the Partial completions process.
Q: I’m not sure how to complete one of the requirements!
Contact your Merit Badge Counselor for that badge. If you don’t have one, email troop120mb@gmail.com, and we will find you a leader to work with you and help think about how to complete the requirement for the badge. You can also purchase an official BSA Pamphlet to help you work on the merit badge. Our Troop has some of these in our Troop 120 Library, so reach out and ask before you buy one.
Q: When do I get the merit badge?
At the next Court of Honor. Note that there is a cutoff to be able to prepare for the COH, so if you earn it too close to the Court of Honor, you may not get the badge until the next COH. However, you have still earned it and it counts toward any advancement requirements.
Q: Where do I put the merit badge?
On a merit badge sash. You need a sash for Boards of Review and other formal occasions.
Q: I have a question not listed here.
Email troop120mb@gmail.com with your questions!
Resources:
Merit badge pamphlets (BSA study aids for purchase)
Merit badge Workbooks (required for independent work)
