Merit Badge
Camporee: 11 Days — Emergency Mobilization
District Camporee Chair Stu Bowes announced yesterday, “Con Sullivan, our District Executive, will be conducting a mass casualty and mobilization drill with our Zombie theme at 4:00 for the Scouts. This should help some of the boys (and motivate others) who are working on their E Prep Merit Badge.”
Con is an Emergency Preparedness merit badge counselor. More importantly, he has a Master’s Degree 
from Ball State in Government Affairs, with an emphasis in Homeland Security. He will make himself available to scouts who wish to do some counseling with a counselor having a professional insight into this world. (As always, scouts should bring their blue cards with scoutmaster signatures.) Check in with the scout cabin to keep up to date on Con’s schedule.
Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge Requirement #7 states, “Take part in an emergency service project, either a real one or a practice drill, with a Scouting unit or a community agency.”
Requirement 8 further requires,
Do the following:
A. Prepare a written plan for mobilizing your troop when needed to do emergency service. If there is already a plan, explain it. Tell your part in making it work.
B. Take part in at least one troop mobilization. Before the exercise, describe your part to your counselor. Afterward, conduct an “after-action” lesson, discussing what you learned during the exercise that required changes or adjustments to the plan.
C. Prepare a personal emergency service pack for a mobilization call. Prepare a family emergency kit (suitcase or waterproof box) for use by your family in case an emergency evacuation is needed. Explain the needs and uses of the contents.
What can you imagine for your scouts can be done to prepare for Con’s exercise to complete these requirements!?
District Training for August
As part of our effort to streamline and improve North Star District, the Commissioners Service and the District Training Committee are offering three trainings in August 2015:
1. Unit Commissioners Training on Monday, August 3rd at St Luke’s UMC.
2. Merit Badge Counselor Training at Roundtable on Thursday, August 6th at Second Presbyterian, 4th Floor.
3. Chartered Organization Representative Training on Monday, August 10th at St. Luke’s UMC.
For more details about times, locations, RSVPs, go to www.cacnorthstar.org/calendar.
How Do I Add or Remove Merit Badges for Counseling
UPDATE: 11/5/15: District is working at updating its list of MBC’s right now. If you see the draft and find that you are not included on it, please read this article about why and how to proceed.
For all of the blog’s information about Merit Badges, click here.
If you want to add or subtract from the Merit Badges that you counsel, please complete this North Star MBC Drop/Add Form. The form must be on file for all counselors. It is required along with the Adult Application.
Please have your troop’s Merit Badge Counselor Registrar contact the District MBC Registrar Mike Yates with any questions about a counselor’s current registration.
The District records are the authority on who is properly a Merit Badge Counselor. Troop registrars are for the convenience of the troop and its members to have a sole point of contact who is familiar with the system.
When a Merit Badge Counselor turns in his or her Drop-Add Form, please encourage them to offer their services to the District or Council, not just your unit, especially if they offer a rare badge. They will not often receive many calls.
For recent history on the MBC registration process and why changes have occurred, please read this blog article. To see options for bringing counseling into the 21st Century, read about the BSA’s acquisition of Scoutbook.com. Regardless whether your unit uses Scoutbook.com or not, it has some invaluable tools for Merit Badge Counseling that are not available elsewhere. Encourage your MBC’s to enroll. Their list of badges offered will then be added to the District list.
If you are retiring from serving as a MBC for the new year, make sure that the District MBC Registrar Mike Yates is aware. Your Troop and Crew leader, committee chair, and chartered organization representative were emailed his email address in October 2015.
If your troop does not have a person listed on your troop’s roster as the MBC registrar, please contact your Troop Committee Chair for more information.
BSA Advancement Newsletters
Like most businesses today, BSA has built many online resources and is using social media and email lists to push that information to potential users.
Some users automatically receive these newsletters based on their position. Some users have to opt-in to the newsletter lists.
Merit Badge Counselor’s Compass is one of those. (You can subscribe by emailing merit.badge@scouting.org.) In the current issue of the Compass, they discuss:
- Changes Counselors Need to Know
- Interactive Digital Pamphlets Now on Sale at ScoutStuff.org
- Be Sure to Read The Notes
- Merit Badge Myths: Fact vs. Fiction
- Completing Requirements as Stated Matters
- Beekeeping: A Part of Existing Merit Badges
Merit Badge Counselor List
Quote Posted on Updated on
One of the major projects for the District Committee is going to be making sure that the Troops’ expectations of who is a registered Merit Badge Counselor matches the District’s records.
The Guide to Advancement (2015) now has a system for automatically de-registering merit badge counselors who do not respond to emailed inquiries. Several of our former merit badge counselors are no longer registered in that position, who believe that they are. A copy of the current merit badge counselor list has been mailed to all of the Troop’s Key 3 (chartered org rep, Scoutmaster, and Troop Committee Chair).
2015 Central Indiana Merit Badge University
UPDATE: 5/7/15. Moved to top of blog. This event does not appear on district calendar because it is a council event. (This blog is a supplement for the Council’s website for North Star, not a replacement.)
The Seventh Annual Central Indiana Merit Badge University, sponsored by Crossroads of America Council, will be held at Greenfield-Central junior high school, May 15 through the 17th, 2015. Greenfield, Indiana is on I 70, 14 miles east of Indianapolis I 465 bypass.
They will be offering 61 different merit badges in 110 classes over five sessions beginning Friday evening and cont
inuing through Sunday morning. Fees vary by session length in cost of supplies. Meals are included during the Saturday sessions. Official BSA adult training courses such as scoutmaster specific training, merit badge counselor introduction, troop committee challenge, and youth protection are available. More information at
Originally posted 4/21/15.
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