Blackhawk Area Council Arrowhead District Merit Badge Midway

Dear Scoutmaster, Dates: The 2014 Arrowhead District Merit Badge Midway will be held February 1, 8 and 15, 2014 at Ottensman hall on the University of Wisconsin - Platteville campus. Boys can earn up to 3 merit badges over the 3 weekends. One at each session that is from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. and 11:00 to Noon or 12:30 p.m. A Snow date of February 22nd will be scheduled if one of the first three dates is cancelled because of snow or ice. If the February 22nd sessions are cancelled, there will be no make-up date and partials for the merit badges that they were taking will be sent to the leaders.

Registration: Registration will be through January 17, 2014. Classes will be filled on a First-come-first-serve basis. No registrations will be accepted after January 17th or the day of the Midway (No Exceptions). Please don’t try to substitute new boys at the Midway. If a boy is not coming and you have a substitute, call by January 24th. If a boy is not able to come, please call before the 17th for a refund.

Cost: The registration fee will be $6.00 per merit badge if postmarked by January 10, 2014. Registration postmarked between January 10th & January 17, 2014 will be $7.00 per merit badge. Make checks payable to Blackhawk Area Council. (Additional fee for indicated merit badges should be paid to the Merit Badge councilor at the Midway for extra supplies). A merit badge book will be furnished with each merit badge. We will buy back the books at the last date for $2.00 each.

Selection of Merit Badges: Each boy can take 3 merit badges, one in each time session. The merit badges offered this year are: American Heritage (Last year) Energy ($) (new 2013) Painting Art Engineering Photography Chemistry ($5) Fingerprinting Plumbing (new 2013) Citizenship in the Community(E) Fishing Railroading Citizenship in the Nation (E) Genealogy Scholarship Citizenship in the World (E) Home Repairs Surveying Coin Collecting (This year only) Indian Lore (This year only) Theater Collections Law Veterinary Medicine Communications (E) Medicine (new 2013) Woodworking Computers Model Design & Building Crime Prevention Nuclear Science ($5) Do Not allow boys to sign-up for more than two Eagle required merit badges. They could earn one and possibly two, but there is to much work to earn all three. We also ask that 1st Year boys do not sign- up for Communications or Citizenship in the World. The idea is to have them take merit badges that will be of interest to them and will keep them interested in earning more merit badges and stay in Scouting. We are offering 44 sessions & 31 different merit badges this year. I will only register 2 Eagle required merit badges per boy. Some merit badges are only offered for one time in a particular session. (A boy cannot sign up for that merit badge at a different time). Check the Session/room schedule to see when a merit badge is offered. If the boys do not sign-up for alternate badges during the time session and a session is closed, they will not be put into another class. A minimum of 5 boys are required to hold a merit badge class with a maximum of 10 to 15 boys are allowed depending on the merit badge. Engineering will last from 11 to 12:30 for the first session. We are offering 2 new merit badges this year. (Coin Collecting & Indian Lore) Please print on the form, so I can read the name of the Scout, phone # and e-mail address.

Merit Badge Books: We will be supplying a merit badge book for each of the merit badges that your boys are taking as part of the registration. We will be buying back any books that the boys do not want to keep at the last session for $2.00 per book.

Earning the Merit Badges: Each year only 57% of the boys earn the merit badges that they register for. Each councilor has been instructed to make sure that each boy meets the requirement for each particular merit badge to keep the integrity of the Midway. (This is not a merit badge mill). The biggest reason that boys do not complete the merit badge is because they wait until the last session to do the paperwork and assignments or miss a session. Your help in guiding them on how not to procrastinate would help them complete the requirements. If they are going to miss a session, please check with the councilor on what the assignments are for the next session. A Guide for Parents & Councilors is attached. Please make copies and give to the parents of each boy. They can help in getting a better completion rate.

Working on requirements before Midway: A number of requirements should be worked on by the boys prior to the Midway to help them have a better chance of completing the merit badge. The number of the requirement is listed under each merit badge on the registration form.

Session Lesson Plans: Each counselor has drawn up a lesson plan of what will be covered each week and what is to be assigned for the next week. We are working on adding them to the Arrowhead District WEB site the beginning of January. I will e-mail the leaders when it is complete.

Partials from last year: Boys can either take the class over or turn in there completed work to the councilor along with the partial form.

Weather: If we get bad weather (snow or ice) that would make holding a session dangerous to travel, we may cancel a weekend. I will call those furthest away to help make the decision. If it occurs, (one of the first three weekends) then we will make it up on February 22nd. If the last weekend, February 22nd, is cancelled, we will send out partial forms and the session will not be made up. We will broadcast the cancellation on the following radio stations (WPVL, WGLR, WEKR, KDTH/KAT-FM, WDBQ/KLYV, KGRR and WJOD) and try to call each leader by 6:30 a.m.

Adult Training: We are offering some programs and training that you, other leaders, committee members and potential leaders might be interested in, since adult drivers will be bringing the boys to the Midway. There is no preregistration, so bring as many leaders and committee members as you can to share and learn from the other leaders that will be attending. We have leaders from over 20 Troops from 3 States, so you will be able to pick-up ideas how things are done in different Troops, Districts and Councils. If you have a topic that you would like to have discussed, just call Matt Ohms at (815) 397-2110. I will let you know what your boys are taking in an e-mail as soon as it has been determined what the program will be.

Communication: All communication will be made via e-mail to the attached list of leaders. If you would like to have someone added or removed, please e-mail me with the appropriate information.

If you have any questions, Please feel free to contact me. I hope to see you at the Midway.

Yours in Scouting,

Dennis J. Palmer 1360 Lancaster Street Platteville, WI 53818-1100 Home (608) 348-9627 Cell (608) 778-2438 Fax (608) 348-3643 E-mail [email protected]

PS. If you are no longer the leader, would you pass this along, so the boys will have the opportunity. Thanks 2014 MB Scoutmaster 1st letter