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Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

merit badge

Camp Marriott Program Update: Welding MB

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A quick update to the Camp Marriott program schedule!

Welding Merit Badge now offers shorter classes, to better fit into your schedule, with smaller class sizes. To compensate, there is now an additional section offered.

Get the latest program schedule and learn more about programs at the Guild and other Camp Marriott program areas at www.gotogoshen.org/marriott

Camp Marriott programs are available for both Scouts BSA attending with their units as well as those attending as individuals as part of the Provisional Camp program.

New at Camp Olmsted in 2022!

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What’s new in 2022?

Not too much is changing this summer, but as we do every summer season, there is always something new! We have rotated out some badges and rotated in some old stand bys as well as making some more sections of some of our more popular badges.

As for other changes, Small Boat Sailing is now going to be 1.5 hours. Be on the lookout in the program schedule – Session A starts at 2:00pm and Session B starts at 3:45pm.

All things willing, we are planning and looking forward to being able to run the Mile Swim and have Open Swim, Open Boating, and Open Shoot instead of the Troop sign ups that were needed in Summer 2021.

Check out all the new offerings below!

NEW CULTURE CRAFT MERIT BADGES

  • American Heritage

NEW ECOLOGY MERIT BADGES

  • Weather

MORE SECTIONS AT HANDICRAFT

  • Art & Sculpture (combined MB class)
  • Leatherwork
  • Wood Carving

MORE SECTIONS AT SCOUTCRAFT

  • Fishing

Learn more about Camp Olmsted and get the Program Schedule, Leader Guide, Trailshead Schedule, and other helpful downloads at www.gotogoshen.org/olmsted

New at Camp Marriott in 2022!

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What’s new in 2022?

As we do every year at Goshen Scout Reservation’s Camp Marriott, we have updated our program schedule. Some badges have been rotated out and some badges have been rotated in. With some familiar badges – like Bird Study – we also have some entirely new badges – like Moviemaking.

There is a big change for Shooting Sports class – Archery, Rifle Shooting, and Shotgun Shooting. Rather than 2 consecutive hours in either the morning or the afternoon, now the Merit Badges have a Part 1 and a Part 2 – an hour long morning session plus an hour long afternoon session. There are still two sections – A and B – but now both have components in the morning and the afternoon. Make sure you plan your schedule accordingly!

Meanwhile, Eagle’s Eyrie’s schedule features Eagle required badges in the morning and a mix of different humanities badges in the afternoon. Adding to that is Archaeology, which is moving up the trail from Ecology to become part of Eagle’s Eyrie’s offerings.

The featured area for the 2022 season is The Guild, which is expanding its offerings to include a number of new skills and trades in addition to the popular favorites like Cooking, Welding, Metalwork, and Woodwork.

Check out the full list of new for 2022 badges below and be sure to check out the full program schedule in the Downloads section to start picking your favorite Merit Badges and activities for the summer!

NEW EAGLE’S EYRIE MERIT BADGES

  • American Business
  • American Cultures
  • American Heritage
  • American Labor

NEW ECOLOGY MERIT BADGES

  • Bird Study
  • Mining in Society
  • Oceanography

NEW HANDICRAFT MERIT BADGES

  • Moviemaking

NEW MERIT BADGES AT THE GUILD

  • Automotive Maintenance
  • Composite Materials
  • Engineering
  • Home Repair
  • Plumbing

Learn more about Camp Marriott and get the Program Schedule, Leader Guide, New Scout Quest Schedule, and other helpful downloads at www.gotogoshen.org/marriott

Calling All Merit Badge Counselors!

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We’re looking for Merit Badge Counselors for the first-ever Camp Snyder Scouts BSA Merit Badge Week, July 19 – 23. Come and be a part of creating an amazing week for Scouts BSA of all ranks as they learn in the outdoors.

There are 135 Scouts registered for camp so far. They’re looking forward to learning new skills and personal growth as they explore the world around them through the 50+ merit badges to be offered. We are looking for Merit Badge Counselors to guide the Scouts in earning the following merit badges:

Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in the World, Communication, Emergency Preparedness, Environmental Science, First Aid, Lifesaving, Swimming, Animal Science, Archeology, Archery, Architecture, Aviation, Canoeing, Chess, Fishing, Geocaching, Geology, Mammal Study, Moviemaking, Nature, Nuclear Science, Oceanography, Orienteering, Photography, Pioneering, Plant Science, Programming, Public Health, Public Speaking, Radio, Railroading, Rifle Shooting, Rowing, Scouting Heritage, Search and Rescue, Soil and Water Conservation, Space Exploration, Weather and Welding

WE WANT YOU if you are 1) a registered counselor in one of the above merit badges, 2) have current Youth Protection Training and 3) are willing to come to Camp Snyder each the day or to camp overnight to help Scouts from Tenderfoot to Life rank earn merit badges. All your meals will be provided free and there is no cost to register at https://scoutingevent.com/082-2021SnyderMBWeekStaff

Please contact Jim Chaplin jhchaplin@comcast.net or Dave Seitz dbseitz@gmail.com for more information or to volunteer.

Architecture Merit Badge

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The American Institute of Architectural Students from Catholic University is holding two panels this week for scouts to learn about architecture!

This is a great entree to the Architecture merit badge as well – they will touch on requirements 2, 3a & 5 too!

The sessions are free to join – please feel free to invite your friends to learn about architecture and interact with the CUA students! During the Q&A they will welcome your questions about CUA too!

 

Below are the links:
When: Sep 23, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: STEM Speaker Series – AIAS-CUA panel I

Register in advance for this webinar:
https://ncacbsa-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dmGXLaqJSFyVPMUdJb_p_w

 

When: Sep 24, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: STEM Speaker Series – AIAS -CUA architecture panel II

Register in advance for this webinar:
https://ncacbsa-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VICX6vflTPS513Eza6TGJQ

Public Health Merit Badge in the COVID Pandemic

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To be perfectly honest, when I signed up for the online Public Health Merit Badge, I only wanted to get another merit badge towards Eagle. I thought “well, I suppose I’ll do it. I want more merit badges”. The funny thing is, sometimes the merit badges you think will be just something to earn end up being the most interesting. First of all, I had an awesome merit badge counselor. Unlike the other merit badges I earned, she seemed genuinely interested in my class learning, not just going through the motions. She encouraged us to research questions for ourselves and share information and ideas about our experiences and knowledge in class.

Second, we learned outside of what was required. We learned all sorts of things in class including (but definitely not limited to) how water spreads disease, the difference between immunization and vaccination, and about diseases like gonorrhea, West Nile virus, Zika, botulism, influenza, syphilis, hepatitis, emphysema, meningitis, herpes, and lead poisoning, to name a few. I also learned about the health drawbacks of water, air, and noise pollution. I had no idea there are so many!

One thing I learned that I hadn’t even thought about is how racism, especially systemic racism, is a public health crisis. If systemic racism forces some American minorities to have fewer economic and social opportunities than white Americans, this can put minorities in less than ideal living conditions and can lead to a decline in their physical and mental health. It made me think: The fact that people live in conditions like these at all is not okay, and the fact that systemic racism is an underlying cause is even worse. It is un-just to have people suffering when what makes them suffer is the unfairness of others.

This merit badge also taught me more about Covid-19, both in a public health way and a personal way. I learned about the spread of diseases like Covid-19 and even made this about staying safe during the pandemic video , but I also learned that you can still go to interesting places and learn new things during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the one plausible option for requirement 5, you have to go to a solid waste management operation. Normally during non-Covid-19 days we would go on a “field trip” in class, but this time we went by ourselves. I went to a transfer facility, or as many call it, “the dump”. Even though we had to wait in line to get in, it was definitely worth it. I had no idea what a dump looked like, and it was really interesting to see what people brought to the dump. I even saw a wagon in the pile and the pick-up truck in front of us dropped off a mattress!

I think that one of the main lessons to get out of this is that there is always time for learning, and that often scouts enjoy the merit badge more if their counselors seem excited and make an effort to teach scouts outside of the requirements. I really enjoyed this merit badge, and I think the others in my session did too.

Stay home! Stay safe!

Written by Scout Evelyn