Troop 87's
COMMUNICATIONS MERIT BADGE

 

The following requirements were taken from the 2002 Communication's Merit Badge Book.

If you want to see just the requirements, click here.  This will open a new window to Meritbadge.com's Communications page.

  1. Develop a plan to teach a skill. Have your merit badge counselor approve the plan. Make teaching aids. Carry out your plan. With your counselor, check to see if the learner has learned.
  2. Choose a product or service. Build a sales plan based on its good points. Try to "sell" your merit badge counselor on buying it from you. Talk with the counselor about how well you did in telling about the product or service and convincing the counselor to buy it.
  3. Do the following:
    1. Show how you would make a telephone call inviting an expert in the field of your choice to give a demonstration to your unit on that person's area of expertise.
    2. Show how to create an effective recorded message and how to leave a voice-mail message.
  4. Do the following:
    1. Write a 5-minute speech. Give it at a meeting of a group.
    2. Show how to introduce a guest speaker.
  5. Attend a town meeting where two or three points of view are being given. Listen and take notes. Make a report from your notes. Tell your troop or patrol what you heard.

Houston has its own web page.  You can find links to all sorts of information about city events, history, meetings, and news.  Harris County has its own page as well.  Both offer many different types of information.  Current agenda, calendars listing the meeting times, and more.  You will need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat software, available free from Adobe,  to view some of the information.

  1. Do ONE of the following:
    1. Write to the editor of a magazine or your local newspaper to express your opinion or share information (on any subject you choose). Or, write to an individual or organization to request information (on any subject). Send your message by fax or electronic mail, if possible. Otherwise, mail a traditional paper letter.

      For most people, you can search at Newspapers.com to find your local paper if it's online.  This site also has links to some of the major trade journals as well as local newspapers.

      For Houston, we have several different news medias to use.

  1. Create a page on the World Wide Web for yourself or to give information about your unit, school, or other organization. Include at least one article and one photograph or illustration.

      For members of our Troop, Patrols can create their own webpage and post it on the web following the BSA Internet guidelines.  Remember, no posting names with pictures of scouts.  Posting any pictures of scouts need approval unless it is in a secure section of the Troop site.  If you use another "free webhosting service" such as Tripod and Geocities, you must avoid the pop-up ads that come along with those sites.  Since the ads are rotated out very often, you never know what your personal site will be advertising.  This may conflict with scouting values, which I have seen on several occations.

    Most internet service providers who provide your online access have free webspace for you to use.  If you choose to not use the Troop's resources, please look into that resource.  They normally have no banner ads at all.

  1. Use desktop publishing to produce a newsletter, brochure, flier, or other printed material for your Scout troop, school, or other organization. Include at least one article and one photograph or illustration.
  1. Prepare an autobiographical resume that you would use in applying for a job.

Check with your Guidance Counselor at your school for additional advice on creating a resume.  They should have quite a few resources available to you or could direct you to someone else who knows a lot about writing a resume.

I used to have a list of great sites that would help to prepare a resume.  Unfortunately, they've all disappeared in the last couple of years.  I'd recommend searching on Google or About.com (search for resume here) for some good resume design tips and examples.

Remember to include a statement indicating your job goal.  This is a chance to sell yourself.  Concentrate on what you can provide for the employer.  Employers get turned off very quickly by people wanting to know what they can do for you. 

  1. Check careers in the field of communications. Choose one career and discuss with your counselor the qualifications and preparation needed for it.

The American Communication Association has a website that is dedicated to communication in all forms.  It also is a member of a communications web ring, a group of related sites.

I'd recommend the above site and your merit badge book for some ideas on where to start.  Journalism and broadcasting should get you some ideas if you plug those into a search engine, but please don't limit yourself to those.

BSA Advancement ID#: 5
Source: Boy Scout Requirements, #33215E, revised 2002