Merit Badges:

There are over 135 various merit badges that your scout may earn, including 14 that are Eagle-required. These include Small Boat Sailing, Rifle Shooting, Climbing, Backpacking, Chess, Wilderness Survival, Archery, and a number of other fun and exciting skills your scout can learn. For more information on all the different merit badges, please click on the following link: Merit Badges | Boy Scouts of America (scouting.org). 

The 14 Eagle-Required Merit Badges:

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

We suggest that a scout always have at least one merit badge that they are working on, with focus on the eagle-required merit badges. In general, it is best for your scout to apply activities towards rank advancement first and then merit badges (i.e., cooking requirements). Summers and other school breaks are a great time to get these done. Additionally, the last Wednesday evening of most months are set aside for working on various merit badges (see Fuzzy Llamacorn Merit Badge meetings in TroopTrack). 

Also, there are designated merit badge days put on by Michigan Crossroads Council where a scout can work on several merit badges. For more information, please refer to the Michigan Crossroads Council calendar: Michigan Crossroads Council (scoutingevent.com).

Here is how the merit badge process works:

• First a scout identifies what merit badges they want to earn. 
• Once a scout has determined what merit badge to do, he should contact the scoutmaster to coordinate with a merit badge counselor (a scout leader within the troop or district that is an expert on the subject). If the Scoutmaster has concerns about the complexity of the merit badge and/or the scout’s ability to get it done at the age and skill level they have, the scoutmaster will meet with the scout to discuss. Note that there are a number of merit badges that are designated as Eagle required – these specific badges must be done to achieve Eagle; the balance of the merit badges are elective. Eagle, Life and Star all require a minimum number of elective and Eagle merit badges be completed.
• A scout can download and print a worksheet to document their efforts. Merit badge requirements and workbooks may be found online. 
  • Scouting file store (i.e., https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/Merit_Badge_ReqandRes/Backpacking.pdf)
  • US Scouting Service Project: http://usscouts.org/mb/worksheets/list.asp
• A scout should generally review if the merit badge requires advance discussions with the merit badge counselor on any requirements and should outline a plan with the counselor. In many cases the counselor will ask that the scout complete certainly requirements (pre-requisites) and document them in the worksheet prior to meeting with them live. In other cases it will be necessary to have several meetings throughout the merit badge completion process.
• Once all requirements are done and the merit badge has been signed off in TroopTrack (or on a Blue Card) as completed, the merit badge will be awarded at the following court of honor.