May 03, 04 and 05, 2013
Your troop is invited to attend the Merit Badge Camporee. Make sure to add this event to your planning calendar for 2013. This Camporee will be rewarding for both the scouts who will participate and the Merit Badge Counselors who will be giving their time.
You are asked to apply to the event by March 12, 2013, which is the night of Roundtable. Please include the number of scouts who plan to attend and the names of counselors who are available to lead a merit badge session. Each troop is required to provide counselors for at least 2 badges however we ask that you volunteer for more especially if you have a large troop and so that we can offer a variety of merit badges.
If everyone volunteers to teach the same badge we will not have enough variety. Ideally if you teach a badge you should also plan to have enough support adults from your troop to help you. Please complete the attached form for each badge your troop is willing to lead for the weekend so we can plan a schedule accordingly. The success of this event depends on the willingness of each troop to share their talents with the other troops attending. Scouts will be selected to attend Merit Badge classes based on their Troops willingness to lead merit badge sessions compared to the number of boys they plan to bring.
American Heritage, Astronomy, Automotive Maintenance, Basketry, Bird Study, Camping, Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in World, Communications, Computers, Cooking, Dog Care, Drafting, Electricity,
Electronics, Engineering, Fingerprinting, Fire Safety, Geology, Indian Lore, Leatherwork, Mammal Study,
Metalwork, Orienteering, Photography, Pioneering, Plumbing, Public Speaking, Radio, Salesmanship,
Swimming, Traffic Safety, Truck Transportation, Veterinary Medicine, Wilderness Survival, and Wood
Carving.
Note: These are the Merit Badges that MAY be offered this year.
Available Counselors and Scouts interested in the badges will determine the final list.
If there is a badge not listed that can be taught in a one or two session time frame please feel free to add it to this list and provide us with the counselors contact information. Also if there are any requirements that can not be completed in this time period please list these as Prerequisites. This will ensure that the boys can leave with completed blue cards. We offer four 3-4 hour merit badge sessions one each, Saturday Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Sunday Morning.
There are a few things to keep in mind when planning for this event.
Each troop needs at least 2-deep leadership for the entire weekend.

The success of this event is dependent on the availability of Merit Badge Counselors from each troop that attends. This allows for the most variety in badge selection. Each troop needs to volunteer to teach at least 2 merit badges over the course of the weekend. If you are not sure what needs to be done, feel free to ask, we can give you advice on what has worked well in the past.
If your troop is interested in participating, please discuss this with the adults and youth within your troop to see who is willing to lead a merit badge session and to make sure you will have the 2 deep leadership required. Keep in mind there is no limit to the number of adults you send and Merit Badge Counselors are free for the weekend! This is an all volunteer effort, many hands make light work. We hope you are able to attend.
Timeline of events leading up to the Merit Badge Weekend
December
– Invite Troops to Merit Badge Weekend
January Roundtable – Let us know if your troop will attend and what Merit Badge(s) you will teach.
Please offer several suggestions if possible since we want to offer a variety of badges and will have to coordinate with all troops attending.
Late January – will hold first planning meeting with interested troops to build schedule to be offered the scouts for badge selection.
March Roundtable – we will provide schedule of merit badges for Scouts to select, including list of prerequisites. Please set reasonable expectations, it may not be possible to complete every merit badge in a weekend. Some work may need to be completed before or after the merit badge weekend.
April Roundtable – Troop rosters are due with Merit Badge selections. Payment is also due at this time. All adults attending should be listed as well.
End of April – Scouts will be notified if the badges they selected are not available due to lack of interest.
We need at least 2 scouts in each class. All class rosters will be finalized and all Merit badge counselors will be notified of class size so they can prepare materials.
Early May - final meeting for all troops attending and to finalize meal planning (note volunteers will be needed to help prepare and serve meals).
Please send Contact Information (by the March Roundtable) including names of merit badge counselors and the badge(s) they are willing to teach to:
Aaron Epstein
17 Bancroft Rd.
Newton, NH 03858
Firedoc166@comcast.net
603-300-2202

2013 Merit Badge Weekend Counselor Volunteer Form
(Please complete a separate form for each badge you/your troop can lead)
Name of Merit Badge ____________________________________________
Name of Counselor ________________________Phone #______________Email Address _________
Troop # ____________
Please tell us about your experience with this badge – i.e. is this badge related to your profession, a hobby, etc. This will help us decide which counselor may be the best fit if there are various people offering to teach the same badge.
Are you available for the entire weekend, or is there a reason to limit this badge to a specific session (i.e.
Friday night or Saturday morning only etc)? Also, will you need more than 1 session to teach this badge?
Please be specific if there are limitations to when or where this class can be offered.
Will you be able to teach the badge so that it is completed in the allotted sessions or will there be requirements that cannot be completed during the weekend? Please refer to current requirement numbers and please advise us if there are any pre-requirements or items that will need to be completed after the weekend. Please be specific.
Are there any other restrictions for this badge? As an example, class size limitation or age of scout limitation. While there are no age limits for earning merit badges we have found that in the past it has been helpful to limit some sessions to scouts 14 and older etc. due to the class material and/or time limitations imposed by the weekend to ensure the greatest chance of success for all scouts involved.
Anything else we should consider or you would need to teach this badge?
Thanks for your interest in volunteering for this event.