First Year Program
This fall, Scouts who have recently joined the troop will be focusing on their Tenderfoot rank. The goal of our First Year Program is to help our new Scouts advance through the first four ranks in Scouting during their first year with the troop. For more details on this, see https://www.troop542.com/rank-advancement/.
Merit Badge Program
Older Scouts will be able to choose from the following merit badges choices for the fall. Please note that Scouting for America has made all merit badge pamphlets available digitally for free. Scouts are strongly encouraged to download the pamphlet for the course they will take.
Camping – Eagle Required – Camping is one of the best-known methods of the Scouting movement. When he founded the Scouting movement in the early 1900s, Robert Baden-Powell encouraged every Scout to learn the art of living out-of-doors. He believed a young person able to take care of himself while camping would have the confidence to meet life’s other challenges, too. https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/camping/
Citizenship in the Community – Eagle Required – A nation is a patchwork of communities that differ from each other and may be governed differently. But regardless of how local communities differ, they all have one point in common: In the United States, local government means self-government. Good citizens help to make decisions about their community through their elected local officials. https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/citizenship-in-the-community/
Citizenship in the Nation – Eagle Required – As Scouts fulfill the requirements for this merit badge, they will learn how to become active citizens are aware of and grateful for their liberties and rights, to participate in their governments and protect their freedom, helping to defend their country and standing up for individual rights on behalf of all its citizens. https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/citizenship-in-the-nation/
Energy – Saving, producing, and using energy wisely will be critical to America’s future. If we are to leave future generations with a world in which they can live as well or better than we have, Scouts and other potential leaders of tomorrow must begin the hard work of understanding energy and the vital role it will play in the future. https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/energy/