Troop 172 - Austin, Texas

1. Decide what merit badge you would like to earn.
2. Go online to the Troop Site and find a Merit Badge Counselor under the ADVANCEMENT Menu. If you cannot find a counselor, please contact the  Merit Badge Counselor Coordinator who will help you find a Merit Badge Counselors that are approved by the Troop, are available and are interested in counseling the specific merit badge.
   **** MERIT BADGE COUNSELOR COORDINATOR:  Ms Talbot - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ****
3. Contact the Merit Badge Counselor to make sure they are able to counsel you in earning your Merit Badge and then obtain a Merit Badge Progress Card - BLUE CARD - from a Scoutmaster, Merit Badge Counselor Coordinator or Advancement Coordinator.
4. Talk to your Scoutmaster of your intent to earn the merit badge and obtain the Scoutmaster's Signature on the BLUE CARD to begin your merit badge learning.
5. Meet with your Merit Badge Counselor to learn, explain, and demonstrate all the necessary requirements.  Please remember to use the buddy system or have your parents there when meeting with a Counselor (Two-Deep Leadership applies).  You will need to meet as many times as necessary to complete the merit badge. Only your merit badge counselor can sign off on your completion of the merit badge requirements.
6. Once you have completed all the requirements for the merit badge, you need to obtain the Merit Badge Counselor's signature on the BLUE CARD.  The Merit Badge Counselor keeps a section of the BLUE CARD.
7. You need to get another Scoutmaster signature for the completion and award of the merit badge.
8. Finally, you can turn in your BLUE CARD to the Advancement Chair.  You keep one section of the BLUE CARD and the last piece is kept by the Advancement Chair.
   **** ADVANCEMENT COORDINATOR:  Ms Freeman - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ****

What if I have a partially earned merit badge and no counselor for that badge?

Any scout can complete a merit badge until he is 18yrs of age.  Often boys have partially earned merit badges from camp, Merit Badge University, or just did not complete a badge and now the counselor they were working with is no longer available.  To complete your merit badge, regardless of how many requirements you have left to complete, you will still need to go to the website and contact a new counselor.  Once you have a new counselor, contact Mrs. Talbot with the name of your new counselor.   Your counselor will review the requirements you have already accomplished and continue from there.  Once you have a new merit counselor, only he or she can sign off on your requirements and completed blue card.

Do I need a Merit Badge booklet?

Having a merit badge book is very helpful but not required.  If you would like to use a book, you can contact the troop’s Librarian to see if the troop has a copy you can borrow, or you can purchase one from the scout store.  You can also find requirements and worksheets online at http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Merit_Badge_Worksheets .