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Current events last updated 19 May 08.

A detailed summary of the 2008 Boy Scout Rank Requirement Changes are now on MeritBadgeDotOrg, including updated links for recently changed Eagle Scout Award-related forms. (Once announced, BSA Rank changes become effective immediately.)

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Welcome to... WWW.MERITBADGE.ORG — "Helping Scouts Advance"

"Badges of Honour are also given for certain tests. These are worn on the right arm below the elbow.

Signalling: ability to read and send Morse or semaphore message, twenty letters a minute.
First Aid: for passing the St. John Ambulance tests in First Aid.
Stalking: series of twelve photos of wild animals taken from life by the scout and developed and printed by himself.
Merit: for twenty good marks for various good deeds."

—Baden-Powell C.B., Lieut. Gen. Robert (1908). Scouting For Boys by B-P, 1st edition. London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd, (more info).

Cub Scouting

Cub Scout Leader portal

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Webelos Den Leader portal

Boy Scouting

Merit Badges (Worksheets)

Boy Scout portal

Venturing

Expert-level awards:

Sea Scouting:

Advancement

Venturing portal

Varsity Scouting

Varsity Ranks

Varsity awards:

Varsity Scout portal

Selected article

Scouts who earn the Swimming merit badge will learn about safety when swimming and diving, how swimming can contribute to overall fitness and health, and gain some basic competitive swimming skills.

Required for the Eagle Scout Rank, the Swimming merit badge was on the the original 57 merit badges created in 1911.

Suggestions and Archive

Selected image

Image:Boy-Scouts-of-American-Coin-Mockup.jpg
mockup of the
Boy Scouts of America
Silver Dollar Centennial Commemorative Coin

Suggestions and Archive

Finding your way around

To understand MeritBadge.org, it is easiest to think of this website as having two types of pages: pages that are part of the encyclopedia itself, and pages of the community (used by contributors to help build and operate the encyclopedia).

To search for a term, enter it in the search box on the left side of the screen, or click on a topic link on this page. Search Help

MeritBadge.org's community pages include instructions, help pages, policies, guidelines, discussion forums, places to make requests, pages to report problems, and user pages. These are all pages which we use to develop the encyclopedia and to communicate with each other in that mission. Some directories to help you find your way around the community are:

MeritBadgeDotOrg:Department Directory - what gets done where.
MeritBadgeDotOrg:Community Portal - MeritBadge.org's hub of activity. It includes announcements, news, ongoing projects, and task lists. This is where to find out where your help is needed most.

MeritBadge.org Portals
Boy Scout	Cub Scout Leader	Webelos Den Leader	Venturing	Varsity Scout

Scouting news

August 12: Boy Scouts prepared to launch marketing campaign to connect with digital-era youth Full story

July 1: The World Organization of the Scout Movement welcomes four new member organizations. Full story

June 11: Four Boy Scouts dead and dozens injured from tornado at Little Sioux Scout Ranch in Iowa. Full Story

May 15: A bill to issue a commemorative silver dollar to honor the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America is passed by the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 403-8. Full Story

Archive

August dates

August 1-9, 1907 – Robert Baden-Powell holds the first Scouting encampment at Brownsea Island. He began setting camp up on July 29, 1907.

August 6, 1900 – William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt, the father of American Scouting, is born in Denmark.

August 21, 1912 – Arthur Rose Eldred becomes the first Eagle Scout in the history of Boy Scouts of America.

Suggestions and Complete list

Advancement opportunities

Advancement Overview
- Ranks
- Awards
Cub Scout Advancement Ranks
- Tiger Cub → Electives
- Wolf → Electives
- Bear → Electives
- Webelos → Activity Badges Worksheets
- Cub Scout Beltloops & Pins Worksheets
Boy Scout Advancement → Ranks
- Merit Badges → Worksheets
Varsity Scout Advancement → Ranks
Venturing Advancement → Ranks
- Sea Scouting → Ranks

Advancement support

BSA Program Info (many answers here)
Merit Badge Program Outlines (on MeritBadge.com)
Merit Badge Worksheets
Forms and Files (on MeritBadge.com)
Discussion Forums (on MeritBadge.net)

BSA Programs

Cub Scouting: Cub Scouts is a year-round family- and home-centered program that develops ethical decision-making skills for boys in the first through fifth grade (or who are 7, 8, 9, and 10 years old). The Tiger Cub program for first graders and their adult partners emphasizes shared leadership, learning about the community, and family understanding. The Wolf and Bear Cub activities for second and third graders emphasize character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness. Webelos Scouts (fourth and fifth graders) participate in more advanced activities that begin to prepare them to become Boy Scouts.

Boy Scouting: Boy Scouts is a year-round program for boys 11 through 17 designed to achieve the aims of Scouting through a vigorous outdoor program and peer group leadership with the counsel of an adult Scoutmaster. (Boys also may become Boy Scouts if they have earned the Cub Scouting Arrow of Light Award and are at least 10 years old or have completed the fifth grade and are at least 10 years old.)

Varsity Scouting: Varsity Scouting is an active, exciting, year-round program for young men 14 through 17 built around five program fields of emphasis: advancement, high-adventure/sports, personal development, service, and special programs and events.

Venturing: Venturing is a year-round program for young men and women who are 14 (and have completed the eighth grade) through 20 years of age to provide positive experiences through exciting and meaningful youth-run activities that help them pursue their special interests, grow by teaching others, and develop leadership skills.

Sea Scouting: Sea Scouts is a specialized segment of the Venturing program, which was organized to address members' boating skills and promote knowledge of our maritime heritage. Swimming, lifesaving, first aid, Coast Guard Auxiliary Sailing and Seamanship, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation courses are taught with the ship by its officers.

Other areas of this site

Site Map - A list of all the pages on this web site
FAQ - Frequently asked questions about this web site
Policies - Important information about you and this site

Featured collaboration

Please help us locate and repair any broken links to Scouting.org!

Message from Scouting.org webmaster

On February 4, 2008, changes will be made to the Scouting.org Web site that will require your Webmaster to update links on your Web site.

For example, the URL for the Boy Scouts program on Scouting.org has previously looked something like

http://www.scouting.org/nav/enter.jsp?s=by, whereas the new URL for the Boy Scouts program will be
http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts.aspx.

Links to Programs and other sections

Links to Programs and other sections (e.g., BoyScouts, Venturing, etc) should be changed to the new URL's (available below). If the webmaster is linking to a particular webpage deeper into the website than the top-level programs, they'll need to contact the National Council Webmaster (Chad Jordan) for the new URL.