This is a great idea. I earned the beekeeping merit badge when I was a youth in scouting and was disappointed when they dropped it. I will support a merit badge or any changes to add beekeeping to any other merit badge.
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This is a great idea. I earned the beekeeping merit badge when I was a youth in scouting and was disappointed when they dropped it. I will support a merit badge or any changes to add beekeeping to any other merit badge.
Thanks everybody who is posting here. I just want to be clear that you need to send an email directly to BSA to let them know of your support. That information is included in the recent email you should have received from Barry Birkey.
Thanks Neil, I did that as well.
Kevin wood
Riverton, Utah
Thank you Barry for the email. I have emailed BSA and offered my mentoring support.
Today is Monday December 20th, 2010. The Boy Scouts are moving on the beekeeping issue by including beekeeping in several merit badges - most notable the Environmental Science merit badge.
:applause:
So to comply with the request made on this forum:
I pledge to BSA that I will act as a mentor to scouts if BSA reinstates the Beekeeping Merit Badge! (or this reasonable facscimile thereof!)
I wish I could have got any kind of badge having to do with Environmental Science when I was scout's age!
Happy to do it!
-- Christy Hemenway
GOLD STAR HONEYBEES
207-449-1121
www.goldstarhoneybees.com
Do be sure to contact the BSA directly, as Neil points out.
The BSA will not want to add activities to the merit badges unless they feel certain the there will be beekeepers willing to teach the scouts, so RIGHT NOW, there are three things that you can do to help:
First, BSA has invited all associations and experts in the beekeeping community who are interested in helping with this project to e-mail us at merit.badge@scouting.org. Please put "bees" in the subject line.
Second, if you are interested in serving as a merit badge counselor, contact your BSA local council to initiate the process.
http://www.scouting.org/localcouncillocator.aspx
Finally, if you are willing to be a mentor, please contact BSA directly and let them know you are willing to be a mentor. BSA has requested that interested beekeepers e-mail them at: merit.badge@scouting.org and please put "Honey Bees" in the heading. Just write a few words letting them know that you are willing to act as a mentor, and please give BSA a way to contact you and let them know what states and counties you are willing to mentor in.
Do it! Don't procrastinate like beekeepers (sometimes) do!
:doh:
:-)
-- Christy Hemenway
GOLD STAR HONEYBEES
207-449-1121
www.goldstarhoneybees.com
Piedmont Bee - I pledge to be a mentor to a local boyscout seeking to attain the beekeeping merit badge. I am involved in cubscouts with my boy and was wondering why the boyscouts deactivate the beekeeping badge. I would like to see it reinstated. If I can help with this effort please dont hesitate to contact me.
Tonight I e-mailed merit.badge@scouting.org and told them that I will mentor if they resinstate the beekeeping merit badge. For me, it's also a memory of Bill Samples, who helped me get started.
According to the following source, even though a merit badge is discontinued, it may still be earned:
http://www.scouters.us/homemb2.html
a quote covering this information:
"A director of the Boy Scout division of the BSA stated at a Boy Scout Program conference at Philmont that a merit badge is never officially dropped. They are just omitted from all literature, the cloth badge is not made, and there are no books published. Apparently someone that has the most recent set of requirements can use them. I am not sure how one goes about getting an approved counselor. That could be a problem, however that hasn't stopped some people. A case in point is the Rabbit Raising Merit Badge that was dropped in 1993. BSA records indicate that 49 Rabbit Raising Merit Badges were earned in 2003. Using a realistic approach, my definition for the final year for a merit badge is the last year it appears in BSA literature as a valid merit badge even though it may be earned many years after that."
I hope the above information is correct, so a scout may earn the desired merit badge. Even if there is no current production of badges available, just like the phamplet, you can still purchase supplies previously produced, which are still available, as per example:
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...ng+Merit+Badge
As to applying for a copy of out-of-print beekeeping merit badge book, there is no need to purchase, since they are available at public library sources <imho out-of-print merit badge phamplets ought to be PDFd online>, they are available here:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/beekee...=di&ht=edition
Now as to finding a mentor, you can get a start here:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/show...453#post521453
I'm in north east Kansas, and since my nephew is wanting to get his Beekeeping merit badge, I am looking into the steps necessary for BSA to accept me as a beekeeping merit badge councilor, as per their requirements.
I would suppose whatever mentor discovered in your locality would similarity have to apply with their local BSA council and go through an approval process.
http://scouting.org/scoutsource/site...ilLocator.aspx
Good Luck!
I pledge to BSA that I will act as a mentor to scouts if BSA reinstates the Beekeeping Merit Badge!
Chesapeake VA
Snafu, catch-22!
I filled out all the paperwork to become a beekeeping merit badge councilor and took the necessary online studies and training required, but with the new computerized systems, without any necessary codes, my application for beekeeping merit badge councilor could not be processed.
I have emailed the BSA and pledged to be a mentor
My son Has just moved up, and we will be doing this merit badge ourselves, if all the info posted earlier is correct. I am also volunteering to be an assistant Scout master
I have found a copy of the badge on ebay and my wife runs an embroidery business too.
I also found here in another post, the requirements for the beekeeping merit badge.
Richard Cockcroft
Greensboro NC
Troop 107
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nimblebee
Ask and ye shall receive.
Here is a copy of the last version of the Beekeeping Merit Badge book
(if you have a Scribd acct, you can also download it as a PDF):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/64125042/B...Badge-Pamphlet
Thanks for all the hard work, Nimblebee.
"A director of the Boy Scout division of the BSA stated at a Boy Scout Program conference at Philmont that a merit badge is never officially dropped. They are just omitted from all literature, the cloth badge is not made, and there are no books published. Apparently someone that has the most recent set of requirements can use them. I am not sure how one goes about getting an approved counselor. That could be a problem, however that hasn't stopped some people. A case in point is the Rabbit Raising Merit Badge that was dropped in 1993. BSA records indicate that 49 Rabbit Raising Merit Badges were earned in 2003. Using a realistic approach, my definition for the final year for a merit badge is the last year it appears in BSA literature as a valid merit badge even though it may be earned many years after that."
Does this letter imply, once dropped the merit badge cannot be earned unless a scout is already working on it?
http://usscouts.org/usscouts/advance/docs/mb-memo.gif
Thank you for posting the letter. Here's my take on the letter.Quote:
Originally Posted by J&J
The phrase "Scouts that were already working on the badge can continue to do so until they complete the badge or reach the age of 18" simply reflects BSA's Eagle Scout policy that all badge requirements must be completed before a candidate's 18th birthday.
When I read the sentence "The most current merit badge pamphlet is the book that should be used", the word that jumps out at me is "SHOULD". It would be a different issue if the letter instead used the word "WILL", like when the letter states "the Boy Scout Requirements WILL come out around the end of the year" (although the writer still prefaces that phrase with the word "Normally").
So, the 1997 letter still corresponds with the above statement, "a merit badge is never officially dropped. They are just omitted from all literature, the cloth badge is not made, and there are no books published."
To that end, the above statement of "case in point is the Rabbit Raising Merit Badge that was dropped in 1993. BSA records indicate that 49 Rabbit Raising Merit Badges were earned in 2003" is somewhat confirmed by the fact you can still purchase the "Rabbit Raising Merit Badge" online (and I don't think as a collector's item either) - http://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_nkw=R....c0.m270.l1313
Another example - the Machinery Merit Badge was officially ended in 1995 (just as the Beekeeper Merit Badge), but here's a Boy Scout troop that is working on the badge for some of its Eagle Scout candidates in September 2010 (under title "Leadership Positions and Meetings"): http://www.orgsites.com/mo/bsa-troop...otes-sep14.pdf
So IMO, if you can find a certified Beekeeper Merit Badge mentor (I'm guessing one who's still alive today, 16 years after it was discontinued), a Beekeeper Merit Badge can still be earned by an Eagle Scout candidate today. The question also remains if there is some unpublished method to become Merit Badge mentor even after BSA discontinues a badge. I suspect there is, but you just have to talk to the right person at BSA HQ.
One thing I've learned over the years is there's always a waiver or work-around; you just have to find it.
While my hobby as a beekeeper started as a 4-H project, I earned the Beekeeping Merit Badge back in the '60s. I look forward to serving today's Scouts as a Beekeeping Merit badge Counselor.