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It may actually shock you but I would suggest having mandatory firearm safety training for everyone, in school regardless if they individual ever want to get a firearm. This is what a number of states do for drivers education currently so why not do the same for firearm safety. This would probably also help to get some people over their irrational fear of firearms as well. There are a number of valid courses that would make effective training courses for the general population. The most intensive of which would be either BSA's rifle merit badge or BSA's shotgun merit badge, but even the standard firearm safety certification course or the various hunter education courses offered by some states. Personally I have been through 4 safety courses (rifle merit badge, shotgun merit badge, firearm safety, and the MN CCW permit) and the most detailed and in depth ones were the 2 boy scout merit badges. The least useful one from a safety and competency perspective was the MN CCW course but since I wanted to carry a loaded sidearm to protect against large predators (I have had close encounters with wolves, bear, and cougar) when walking to and from camp down the road I needed the carry permit. I was stalked by a wolf pack with one trying to drive my back into his friends, the bear I came across was trying to get into a hollow log with its ass hanging out, and the cougar walked under my deer stand like it owned the place. Those are the confirmed instances where I actually saw the animals but I have seen plenty of evidence for them like fresh bear prints, wolf print, and cougar prints (only recently) through out the area as well as seeing fresh bear claw marks on trees, and hearing the wolves at night just outside of camp (this is why we bring the dog)..

It may actually shock you but I would suggest having mandatory firearm safety training for everyone, in school regardless if they individual ever want to get a firearm. This is what a number of states do for drivers education currently so why not do the same for firearm safety. This would probably also help to get some people over their irrational fear of firearms as well. There are a number of valid courses that would make effective training courses for the general population. The most intensive of which would be either BSA's rifle merit badge or BSA's shotgun merit badge, but even the standard firearm safety certification course or the various hunter education courses offered by some states. Personally I have been through 4 safety courses (rifle merit badge, shotgun merit badge, firearm safety, and the MN CCW permit) and the most detailed and in depth ones were the 2 boy scout merit badges. The least useful one from a safety and competency perspective was the MN CCW course but since I wanted to carry a loaded sidearm to protect against large predators (I have had close encounters with wolves, bear, and cougar) when walking to and from camp down the road I needed the carry permit. I was stalked by a wolf pack with one trying to drive my back into his friends, the bear I came across was trying to get into a hollow log with its ass hanging out, and the cougar walked under my deer stand like it owned the place. Those are the confirmed instances where I actually saw the animals but I have seen plenty of evidence for them like fresh bear prints, wolf print, and cougar prints (only recently) through out the area as well as seeing fresh bear claw marks on trees, and hearing the wolves at night just outside of camp (this is why we bring the dog)..

Hi.

I think it is great that you have a camp that is well rounded in the arts and soon to be technology. I studied both music and physics in college, so I really appreciate that balance. Also, I ran a Technology Center at a Boy Scout Camp for 6 years, and am still involved in it today.

My personal philosophy was to introduce campers to aspects of technology that they probably wouldn't see at home or at school. My specialty is ham radio, so my center had was heavily bent toward that. Ham radio gave me a way to provide a hands on activity to scouts while teaching the basics of electronics, communications, history, ionospheric and space physics, just to name a few.

Other classes focused on electronics and soldering, astronomy, weather, nuclear science, space exploration, and computers. I'm pretty sure that many of the scouts walking through the door did not have the opportunity to use soldering irons, telescopes, and build and launch rockets at home or school. Many young people don't understand computers much beyond word processing and e-mail, so by providing any introduction into hardware fundamentals, operating systems, programming, and servers is also useful and interesting.

This is mostly a laundry list of different technology subjects, but maybe it will give you some good ideas as to what you might want to focus on.

Also, scouting makes building a curriculum easy... they have pre-defined requirements for all of their merit badges, along with very nice "pamphlets" which provide an excellent guide for completing the requirements and introducing the new topic. You can read the BSA requirements here: http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Merit_Badges. That and the pamphlets may be a useful resource.

One nice thing about technology is that there are often hobby organizations for each of the different subjects with people who are both skilled and willing to share time. For ham radio, visit http://www.arrl.org/ to find local clubs. Amateur astronomers and rocketeers also have similar clubs which can provide support. At my summer camp, I was able to bring in outside volunteers to provide ham radio license exams on a weekly basis, host star parties with large telescopes, and launch 6 to 8 ft tall rockets that required FAA clearance.

You may want to focus on one or two subjects to start off with. Hire the best person you can to serve as the main teacher. Hopefully this person is an excellent teacher and an expert in at least one of the subjects you are trying to focus on. Then, have them coordinate with local volunteers to enhance the program.

I hope that helps... best of luck with your camp!!!

• Electricity from salt water
• Non-Newtonian liquids (corn starch)
• Slime (polymers)
• Menthos + coke bottle rockets
• Vinegar and baking soda bottle rockets
• Strawberry DNA extraction
• litmus tests using dyes from garden veggies
• sugar crystal growing
• magic rocks
• surface tension (soap, oil, water, etc)
• states of matter (ice, butter, dry ice)

Keep it simple and stuff they can relate to. Be sure to talk about safety on dangerous reactions, acid and alkaloid burns, etc. Check out also the Khan Academy online - lots of good stuff in there. www.khanacademy.org/

Back in my day, the BSA had a merit badge for rifle and shotgun marksmanship that was a wee bit more applicable.

Still do. Archery, too.

I actually quit the boy scouts as a kid because we didn't do any scouting. Showing up to every meeting and going to clean parks and talk about the evils of drugs wasn't my thing. I actually liked to spend my time out in the woods, hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, etc. Our troop did very little of such things, however, and I quickly lost interest.

Sounds like you had a lousy troop. It's unfortunate you weren't able to find a better one. That said, I think the public service aspect is equally important, but it shouldn't overshadow camping and outdoorsmanship.

There are definitely too many troops set up as 'Eagle factories', where they just rush to get the minimum requirements for Eagle done as quickly as possible. Quite a shame.

Back in my day, the BSA had a merit badge for rifle and shotgun marksmanship that was a wee bit more applicable.

Still do. Archery, too.

I actually quit the boy scouts as a kid because we didn't do any scouting. Showing up to every meeting and going to clean parks and talk about the evils of drugs wasn't my thing. I actually liked to spend my time out in the woods, hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, etc. Our troop did very little of such things, however, and I quickly lost interest.

Sounds like you had a lousy troop. It's unfortunate you weren't able to find a better one. That said, I think the public service aspect is equally important, but it shouldn't overshadow camping and outdoorsmanship.

There are definitely too many troops set up as 'Eagle factories', where they just rush to get the minimum requirements for Eagle done as quickly as possible. Quite a shame.

How about a merit badge for creating Web pages or setting up a Web site. Maybe one for completing a simple self-taught course in a simple language like Java?

Already been done. Computers Merit Badge, for Boy Scouts.

That said, Cub Scout awards are more about participation and providing learning opportunities, rather than judging proficiency. Merit badges, on the other hand, do require a demonstration of proficiency.

Really? This? Are you going to have a merit badge for going to the movies?

Yes.

But this isn't a merit badge, it's a cub scout award. That's like saying an elementary school graduate has their diploma...

As a previous scout, I appreciate you doing that, but unfortunately the current computers merit badge isn't hardware at all... I don't think it was in my day either. The new copyright requirements are hilarious, if only we had iPods back then...