This council’s University of Scouting event will offer more than 100 merit badges

A simple discussion over lunch sparked a big idea – so big that more than 1,000 Scouts and leaders from 16 states will flock to West Lafayette, Ind., this December for it.

The Sagamore Council will host a University of Scouting event at Purdue University, presented by Subaru of Indiana Automotive, and offer more than 100 merit badges – the largest such event the council has ever done.

University of Scouting is a council-run event that provides supplemental training for adult leaders and sometimes for older youth. Some councils also offer merit badge classes. Councils often partner with colleges or school districts to accommodate the one-day event.

Last year, the Sagamore Council attracted about 800 people, the most the council had hosted at its semiannual University of Scouting event.

At its spring event at Indiana University Kokomo, Bryon Haverstick, the council’s assistant Scout executive, was talking with another Scout leader from Ohio over lunch. Haverstick asked the Scouter why he and his Scout attended.

His answer? The University of Scouting allowed his Scout to work on merit badges he didn’t have, and his goal was to earn all of them. With about two dozen merit badges usually offered, Haverstick surmised that the event might be able to expand at the much larger campus at Purdue University – perhaps providing as many as 100 merit badge classes.

“On the drive home, I said to myself, ‘Could we really pull that off? Could we offer 100 unique merit badges?'” Haverstick says. “That was the birth of it.”

Making partnerships

Two weeks after that conversation, Haverstick reserved 120 classrooms at Purdue University. Over the next few months, he made calls with Scout leaders and local businesses, seeking partnerships and instructors.

He received an overwhelmingly positive response, including from organizations that didn’t already have a relationship with the council. The council lined up 150 instructors to teach on- and off-campus classes. They will lead Cub Scout Adventures, 102 merit badges (several with multiple offerings), leader trainings and classes reviewing methods for boards of review, Scoutbook, religious emblems, unit program planning and Dutch-oven cooking.

Twenty-one merit badge classes will be off campus with subject matter experts teaching at their places of business. For example, Horsemanship will be offered at Wild About Horses, an equestrian facility nearby; Dentistry will be at Klondike Dental Care; and Truck Transportation at an Old Dominion Freight Lines facility. The event will even have aquatic merit badges like Swimming, Lifesaving, Canoeing, Kayaking and Rowing at indoor facilities.

With more than 100 merit badges, that accounts for about 75% of all the merit badges Scouting America offers.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 20 years working for Scouting America. We offer more merit badges than the National Jamboree.” Haverstick says.

Still time to register

Registration for the Sagamore Council’s University of Scouting event on Dec. 7 opened in July. It will remain open until Nov. 26, though the early-bird deadline is Nov. 7. Early-bird registration is $25.

Since combining the concepts of a merit badge fair and a University of Scouting event in 2020, the council has seen its youth participation increase by more than 300% and more than 100% in adult leaders. More than 1,000 participants have already registered for December’s event, but there are still more spaces available.

You can find the catalog and event guide on the council’s website or follow the event on Facebook.