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Merit Badge Advancement
Scouts most commonly work on Merit Badges in two ways: (besides Summer Camp)
1. By finding (on their own) an adult counselor that has registered with the Council to teach that Merit Badge, and scheduling appointments as necessary.
SCOUTS: For a list of Troop 560's counselors for the various merit badges, updated 2023, please click here . To find a merit badge counselor outside of the troop, log into https://scoutbook.scouting.org/ with your user ID and password, click on My Dashboard, Administration, your unit and scroll down the page to the MB Counselor List.
2. By signing up for a 'classroom delivered' merit badge curriculum which will take 3-6 hours on a single day. Troop 560 attends these as a group, and must provide adult leadership, typically parents of the Scouts in attendance. Locally, Troop 560 Scouts typically have opportunities to attend:
University of Iowa Merit Badge University - March 2nd 2024 https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.meritbadge.info%2Fmbn2%2Feventdetails.aspx%3Fid%3DE02B38B3-A40B-4C27-9386-70EDAFC95B22&sa=D
Cedar Rapids Merit Badge University - April 13, 2024-https://www.google.com/urlq=https%3A%2F%2Fiowatroop37.weebly.com%2Fcr_mbu.html%23%2F&sa=D
Ankeny Merit Badge University - August 2024- (No Dates Announced for 2024 yet)
Monticello Merit Mania - (No Dates Announced for 2024 yet)
Northeast Iowa Council Merit Badge University-(No Dates Announced for 2024 yet)
Online Merit Badge Worksheets,
Books, and other Information
http://usscouts.org/mb/worksheets/list.asp has printable merit badge worksheets for scouts to fill out at usscouts.org.
https://www.scouting.org/skills/merit-badges is the new BSA Hub for merit badge information. There is a link to a list of the over 130 merit badges available and pdf files of the each book. There's a separate link listing the eagle-required merit badges and explaining which ones are required vs choosing from 2-3 options.
https://meritbadge.info/MBN2/default.aspx is a list and map of merit badge universities throughout the country
https://www.facebook.com/iowabsameritbadgefinder/ is another resource for finding merit badge universities close to Iowa