Merit Badges
Once you reach First Class, you will need to earn merit badges to continue advancement. The Boy Scouts currently has over 120 merit badges available to you, which cover a huge variety of topics.
Certain merit badges are referred to as “Eagle-Required”. To earn your Star, Life, and Eagle ranks, you will be required to earn a total of 21 merit badges, 12 of which must come from the following list:
- First Aid
- Citizenship in the Community
- Citizenship in the Nation
- Citizenship in the World
- Communications
- Personal Fitness
- one of: Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving
- one of: Environmental Science or Sustainability
- Personal Management
- one of: Cycling, Hiking, or Swimming
- Camping
- Family Life
- Cooking
- and 8 or more additional badges of your choice
Every merit badge has its own pamphlet, published by the BSA, which gives a great deal of information which is useful to complete the requirements. Our Troop maintains a library of some of these books (all Eagle-required badges as well as a number of the optional badges); the books area also available at the Scout Service Center, or from www.scoutstuff.org.
You can view the full list of merit badges, and their requirements, at one of these sites:
To earn a merit badge, you need first contact a merit badge counselor. Our troop has counselors for over 70 merit badges, including all the Eagle Required badges. You will then work with your conselor (probably with one or more other scouts) to demonstrate you have completed the badge requirements.