We Invite you to apply

10th Annual Merit Badge Camporee

Hosted by Troop 90

Shrewsbury, PA

May 20 – 22, 2016

Hello Troop Representatives and Merit Badge Counselors,

Your troop is invited to apply to attend our 10th Annual Merit Badge Camporee. Make sure to add this event to your planning calendar for 2016. This Camporee has grown each year and continues to be a rewarding for both, the scouts who have participated and the Merit Badge Counselors who have given of their time.

Due to the success of this event it will be by Invitational only and we will be limiting attendance. To be considered for invitation, you are asked to complete the online form by January 7, 2016. Each troop is required to offer at least 2 badges; however, we also ask to provide additional counselors if you have 10+ scouts attending. Additionally, we ask the troop to provide with at least one helper for every 10 scouts attending. They will be assigned to assist with Merit Badges or driving scouts to the offsite location. We are also limiting the number of not helping adults to one per troop. This is a camporee and it success depends of the help we get from everybody attending the event.

Please, ask your counselors willing to lead a MB to fill a Lead Counselor form for the MB they prefer to teach; one form for each of the MBs. Remember that having a large number of volunteer counselors allows for a better variety of courses to be taught and gives us options when developing the best possible schedule. Ideally, if you are teaching a merit badge, you should also provide supporting adults from your troop to assist. The success of this event depends on the willingness of each troop to share their talents with the other troops attending. Troops will be selected to attend based on their commitment to lead merit badge sessions, as compared to the number of boys they plan to bring and the type of merit badges they can offer. Please, make sure to check your schedule before you fill the Lead Counselor form. Filling this form implies you are willing to lead the MB. We will take your commitment very seriously and it will weight heavily on the selection process. Also, if we have many counselors for the same merit badge, we will give special consideration to those troops offering unconventional MBs. Last year the event hosted 300+ scouts and 100+ scouters; make sure you apply on time so you don’t miss out on this great event.

Here is a list of MBs we offered in previous years:

American Heritage, Art, Astronomy, Automotive Maintenance, Aviation, Basketry, Bird Study, Camping, Chess, Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in World, Communications, Computers, Cooking, Crime Prevention, Dentistry, Disabilities Awareness, Dog Care, Drafting, Electricity, Electronics, Energy, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Farm Mechanics, Fingerprinting, Fire Safety, Fish and Wildlife Management, Forestry, Genealogy, Geocaching, Geology, Graphic Arts, Indian Lore, Inventing, Law, Leatherwork, Mammal Study, Music, Orienteering, Photography, Pioneering, Plumbing, Public Speaking, Radio, Rifle Shooting, Safety, Salesmanship, Scholarship, Search and Rescue, Shotgun Shooting, Space Exploration, Stamp Collecting, Swimming, Theater, Traffic Safety, Truck Transportation, Veterinary Medicine, Weather, Welding, Wilderness Survival, and Woodcarving.

Note: These are the Merit Badges that MAY be offered this year. Available Counselors and Scouts interested in the badges will determine the final list.

Merit Badges that we will not offer during the camporee, because we do not feel these are not adequate for this kind of event, are:

First Aid, Family Life, Backpacking, Environmental Sciences, Personal Management, Hiking, Camping, and Sustainability.

If there is a badge not listed that can be taught in a one or two session time frame, please feel free to add it to this list by having the counselors complete the form below. Note that we offer four 3-4 hour merit badge sessions at the camporee with sessions on Friday Night, Saturday Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. Also, if there are any requirements that cannot be completed in this time period, please list these as Prerequisites. This will ensure that the boys can leave with completed blue cards.

There are a few things to keep in mind when planning for this event.

1. Each troop needs to provide at least 2-deep-leadership for the entire weekend.

2. The success of this event is dependent on the availability of Merit Badge Counselors from each troop that attends. This allows for the most variety in badge selection. Each troop needs to volunteer to teach at least 2 merit badges over the course of the weekend. If you are not sure what needs to be done, feel free to ask, we can give you advice on what has worked well in the past.

3. Each troop has to provide with at least one helper for every 10 scouts attending.

4. Each troop will be allowed to bring only one non-helping adult to the event.

5. Each troop should take their commitment to lead a MB seriously and if selected have a backup on hand in case the volunteer MB leader cannot attend.

6. When providing number of scouts, make sure you include any scouts that would bridging, from Webelos to Scouts, before the event and that would like to attend.

If your troop is interested in participating, please discuss this with the adults and youth within your troop to see who is willing to lead a merit badge session and to make sure you will have the two-deep leadership required. Keep in mind that not helping adults have to pay a fee. Only Merit Badge Counselors and assigned Assistants attend free for the weekend! This is an all-volunteer effort; many hands make light work.

Troop Application

http://goo.gl/forms/L5ZoUEVyxi

Lead Counselor Applications

http://goo.gl/forms/94z07mdjGi

Yours in scouting,

Rosa Diaz

Event Coordinator

10th Annual Merit Badge Camporee