• Starting in the fall

Looking for a merit badge counselor? Call them up before an advancement night so that they know you have read the book and are prepared to work on the badge you are intersted in.

1. Come prepared for a specific badge rather than appearing at the meeting with all your work and no one to show it to.
2. Learn the art of communication and planning. Many troops will not run our type of advancement night simply to enforce the experience of finding and calling someone you may not know to request a session.
3. The counselor will know someone is coming and be more prepared. Most do not prepare to counsel all of those that they offer.
4. The counselor will realize if more than one scout is interested in working on the same badge as another scout that already made a call. Depending upon the badge, he may not be able to handle more than a single or set of scouts for one week, the second scout can then be informed of this and prepare a different badge to work on or find another counselor.
5. This allows the counselor to ensure the scout has met some minimum preparation by the time of the meeting by suggesting such at the time of the call (ie, Did you read the book? Do you have a list of the dates you camped with you for our meeting.)
6. If the counselor does not get a call and does not otherwise need to attend, their time is not lost.