Fishing Merit

[Kevin Winkler]

Hello all, My name is Kevin Winkler I live in central Mn. I'm looking to speek with a few more troops from the area to get more involved in the helping of the merit program.

This past weekend I set up a event to take a local group of scouts out and earn their Fishing Merit. This was a one of a kind event, I was able to gather some great help and I'm sure I can do it again in the future, I'm working some of the kinks out now, but I'd like to see how many might like to see this happen in their area and how many "Helpers" I can round up for those dates. This does take some time to set up, so please, give me some time. But I hope to be able to hit maybe 10 areas a year, with that said, I have some works in progres now, but I'd just like a little input and maybe I can get things rolling in other states as well. Right now I have hundreds of contacts threw the ice belt, and might be able to pull some smaller events off right out to the east coast.

Here is a link to the days events with pictures of some happy scouts

http://forum.iceteam.com/viewtopic.php?p=1528#1528

Please feel free to message me here or on Ice Team and I'll try to get back to you with more info ASAP

Helping Kids to help themselves for a better future in the outdoors.

[Kevin Winkler]

34 views... Maybe I might have better luck with the girl scouts

No info or input...? how about a contact number

[wagionvigil]

Looked like a great day for the Cubs. be patient and I am sure someone will contact you about the program. this also looks like something that a Venturing Crew might be interested in.

[Nuts4Scouts]

Looks like the boys had lots of fun. How much of the Merit Badge did you cover? Are you a registered Merit Badge Counselor for the Fishing MB?

We are in IL & usually do our fishing stuff in warmer weather. Ice fishing might be interesting, but it would depend a lot on the weather conditions. This winter you would have to go all the way up to Northern WI or the UP to find a pond with enough ice on it! That makes it a long weekend trip, not just a day jaunt!

Contacting your local Girl Scout council is a good idea. They might be interested in setting up a program.

[Kevin Winkler]

We covered most of the basic fishing end of it(Merit) and the rest was covered by the troop leader in the class room. Now that I know a little more about the program thanks to this site, I'll cover more at the next one, Frist aid (Hook removal) knot's, I'm sure we showed them many items that will flo with code # 3 and code #5... And when it comes to code #9, we released most all of the fish, but the next time we will clean and eat them right on the lake if the weather holds.

Thanks for the posts, I'll sit tight and see if I can learn more browsing the other topics.

[Nuts4Scouts]

If you, are going to be working specificaly on the Merit Badge, and not just running ice fishing outings for kids, then you really need to become a registered Merit Badge Counselor with your local BSA Council.

It will not cost you anything, the $10 BSA National registration fee is waived for Merit Badge Counselors. However, you will need to fill out an Adult Volunteer Application -

http://www.scouting.org/forms/28-501.pdf

And a Merit Badge Counselor Application -

http://www.scouting.org/forms/34405.pdf

And turn both of these into your local council's office. They will run a background check on you before you are approved as a Counselor. They might also require that you attend Youth Protection & Merit Badge Counselor training.

You should ask the Troop's Scoutmaster (your brother?) for more info on the local council.

[Kevin Winkler]

WOW All that just to help out? Do they need a DNA sample as well? I'll look into this more, but I'm going to shoot strait here, a friend of mine told me to use the K.I.S.S. angle when dealing with events that help kids enjoy the outdoors. If a person starts to get to deep in the paper work it is alot easier to just make a few phone calls to some church groups that might just see it as a fun activity for the kids and K.I.S.S.

I do it to help the kids learn new and exciting ways to catch fish, show them that it can be fun and that there are many safety factors when dealing with icefishing. I thought I was doing a good thing by volentering my time and resources to make the best out of the day, but if its going to lead to a mountain of paper work... I'll find a easier way to share what I know.

Thanks for the info, I'll look into it.

But, I'll also stand by the Keep It Simple Stupid (K.I.S.S.) rule as well.

[WVBeaver05]

Don't forget that the BSA as an organization is committed to protecting it's members (Scouts and Scouters) - and to protecting it's self. There are many strange things going on in the world around us, and my view is that the BSA has taken a very conservative approach to a lot of things to ENSURE that everyone is protected and that there isn't even an appearence that they aren't. This does add paperwork and rules, but it isn't entirely a bad thing.

Now, completing a couple of forms (takes maybe 10 minutes) isn't a barrier to most of the folks that I know who want to volunteer their time. Nor is agreeing to a few BSA rules - primarily youth protection and nothing added or subtracted from the requirements. The first protects Scouts from things and protects the volunteer from unsubstantiated and/or malicious claims. The second protects the integrity of the award (Merit Badge in this case) by ensuring that all Scouts in the organization meet the same requirements to earn it. To me neither of these is bad.

If you think about it in those terms, filling out a couple of forms and perhaps even taking a couple hours of training makes a lot more sense.

And, who knows, once exposed to the Scouting methods you may decide to become even more involved

[jhawk]

Kevin, it isn't just about enjoying the outdoors. You can be active with a troop and have all the fun fishing trips you want, but you can't award a merit badge unless you are a registered counselor for it. You get training in which you learn you follow all requirements and ask for no more or no less than the requirements call for. It's one of the ways to make things a bit more standard. Not that every counselor does a badge EXACTLY as strictly as others, and some are way more fun that others, but if everyone does the same requirements, then they have at least been exposed to the same info. You can't call your activity a merit badge, especially not if you "think" you covered some requirements... You really do have to go by the book on merit badges and rank. You can't do a merit badge without a registered counselor responsible for making sure all of the requirements are met.... You can, however, have lots of fun fishing....

[Kevin Winkler]

So... If the Two other counselors had done most of the work with the kids and I just steped in to lend a helping hand with the fishing end of the merit then its O.K. ...? I can't see contacting other groups in my area if I have to go threw a background check for each one, as you can see... Kevin Winkler is my real name, I don't use a nickname so I have nothing to hide, I would be willing to go threw any background check once, and the paper work ONCE. What I want to do is offer a day on the lake to HELP the counselors finish any end of the merit that they need help with.

I work nights (6p.m. to 2-3-4 a.m.) and don't have much time to offer durring the week.

I started this post to find out if more people would like some HELP with the fishing end of the Merit in my area. I dont have the time to become a full time counselor, but if I need to do some paper work and do a background check one time to help and it will work for all areas I dont see a problem with it. I'm just not going to do it for 5 or 10 areas each year.

[jhawk]

Kevin, once you register as a merit badge counselor for the Fishing merit badge, you can counselor any scout who comes to you to do the badge.
If other merit badge counselors are asking you for help, sure you can help them, but if a boy has a blue card for fishing, he can do the requirements anywhere (troop, home,camp,school, wherever) and have a registered fishing merit badge counselor sign off on completed requirements. This is a badge often done at summer camp.
I interpreted your posts as meaning that you were running a fishing clinic of sorts as a means of awarding the fishing merit badge since you keep calling it the fishing merit.... Sorry if I was confused. It sounded like you were teaching and offering to teach the fishing merit badge. You can do that if you are a registered MB counselor trained by your council and registered with them. Nothing says you can't have kids from other councils doing the badge with you. You don't have to register in every council a kid is from. My son has done merit badges in 4 councils besides ours....
If a boy "earns" a badge from someone not a MB counselor, it can stop him from advancement, even Eagle, if it were discovered and that badge were one of the ones the boy had to have to advance. If a boy did fishing with you, for example, and you signed his card, and it was discovered that you were not registered as a counselor for that badge, and he needed it as an elective badge for Eagle, he would have to do another elective badge to replace it before he could qualify for Eagle. If he were a few days or weeks from turning 18, as scouts often are at that point, it could prevent his becoming Eagle if he didn't have time to complete another one.
So, it isn't just nit-picking at you, Kevin. That is why people are a little concerned if you are counseling but not registered. If we misunderstood, then never mind. Fish away!

[Kevin Winkler]

It's a little more detailed than I thought for boys that young I signed nothing, It was up to the troops leader to make sure they compleet the Merit end of earning the badge, what I did was hold a clinic that might help the boys to finish their badge.

So can I assist a counselor with the fishing end of the whole deal if it is the counselors that makes sure that the kids have earned the rest of it

OOP's I re-read your post a few more times and I see it is O.K. to help. I'll place a call to the counselor soon, actualy... I'll be fishing a tournament with one of them this weekend, so I'll ask him then for more details and see what else he needs me to do.

Thanks for your help. Its a BIG EYE OPENER I just want the kids to have fun and know that ice fishing can be and is a safe sport. I feel too many kids dont get out of the house in the winter months and this is a good way to get them started. If we can work together and kill two birds with one stone. The Kids will earn their badges threw their counselor and I can show them a fun and safe way to fish in the winter. Most of the kids that were at the last outing would have been playing a video game in the house if it was'nt for the BSA.

[jhawk]

Oh, sure. You can help. It just sounded like you were doing a merit badge. A counselor signs off on requirements that a scout has done regardless of who teaches the skill. Lots of requirements just have to be done, and once you satisfy the counselor that the requirement is met, they sign off. The counselor doesn't necessarily have to teach the badge or any of the requirements to the scout. I looked at the photos of the boys. looks like they had a lot of fun. They looked pretty young. Were they Cub Scouts? (In that case, the whole thing is moot, because Cubs don't earn merit badges to begin with. They have to be Boy Scouts. If they were cubs or Webelos, they might have been doing a belt loop. You don't have to have a counselor for those.) Even as Boy Scouts they can fish all they want with whomever and as long as they have a blue card and a registered counselor, they can get the counselor to sign off on any requirement they complete. You can certainly help, though. If you work with fishing a lot, though, you might consider becoming a fishing merit badge counselor, though, in your local council and you could be a great resource for lots of boys.

[Kevin Winkler]

I'm learning lots here as we go along I think only a few of the boys were working on the badge...? I know it was not the whole group. I'm not sure of all of their rank That is something I am learning as we go along...? What should I look for, is there a set age for each rank? I guess I'll have lots to talk about on the way to the lake this A.M.

I just got home from work, then I instaled my Lowrance 332c in my truck Now I can just drive out on the lake... and presto... All of my waypoints I set this summer are right there in the cab of my truck. My brother is one of the troop leaders, he is going fishing with me and the conversation will help to keep me awake

Thanks for all the help, wish us luck in the tournament

[Lynda J]

As a MBC I bring in outside people often. Especially on Reptiles. Have a friend that works at the ZOO. He loves having the boys come and visit.
But it is my responsibility to sign off on the badge. I can't have anyone else do that.
Becoming a MBC isn't hard. You fill out an Adult Registration form and a Merit Badge Counselor form. You turn in into your local Council. After a background check they will approve you. There isn't any fee to become a MBC. But you do need to pass a background check.

And from what it looks like this is a really great event and if you are a registered counselor you can sign off on the badge for all the boys.