BSA Troop 31
St. George’s Episcopal Church
4715 Harding Road, Nashville, Tennessee 37205

“It is far better for a scout to eat a burnt pancake that he cooked himself
than to eat one perfectly prepared by an adult.”
William W. Stifler, Troop 31 Scoutmaster, 1957-1964 and 1966-1969

“Even the burned parts taste good.”
Hicks Woolwine, Troop 31 Eagle Scout

Merit Badges

When you join the Boy Scouts, you can start to work on Merit Badges. You don’t have to be First Class, you don’t even have to be a Tenderfoot. You just have to be registered with the Scout troop.

There are four ways to earn Merit Badges:

Boxwell
If you go to Camp Boxwell in the summer, it’s a great way to get Merit Badges.   If you work hard, you can get up to six in one week!

At Scout Meetings
New Scouts work on Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class requirements during scout meetings. Older scouts all work on Merit Badges during the scout meetings. We teach four or five different badges at a time. Some are Eagle required, and some are not. If you’ve got a Merit Badge you want to take, suggest it to the Assistant Scoutmaster in charge of Merit Badges!

Merit Badge University
A one day event sponsored by the Scout Council. You can earn one or two merit badges in a day. There are several of these a year. A very good idea to sign up for these!

On Your Own
You and a buddy can contact the Assistant Scoutmaster in charge of Merit Badges and find out who teaches a badge that you are interested in, and you can get it from that counselor on your own. If there is no one in Troop 31 who can teach it, check with the BSA District Representative to see who does.

Merit badge pamphlets are one of the easiest and most efficient ways of getting help on merit badges and are available at the Scout Shop.  Merit badge pamphlets are also available in the troop library; however, about 20% of merit badge requirements are revised each year, so some might be out of date!

Merit Badge Workbooks are not required but are tools that can help Scouts organize notes, listen actively, and document their work. These worksheets are used by summer camps, merit badge events, and individual Scouts.  These and other useful merit badge tools can be located at http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Merit_Badge_Worksheets.

Last Modified: January 09, 2011
Copyright © 2000-2008, BSA Troop 31
Nashville, Tennessee