131 Merit Badges and 20 Palms

LA HABRA – Ask mountain climbers why they expend so much effort in climbing frosty, craggy peaks, and the answer often is: “Because it’s there.”

It’s much the same with 18-year-old Andrew Croy. The Eagle Scout recently became one of the very few to earn his 20th Eagle Palm, the highest achievement ever awarded by the Boy Scouts of America.

He did it by earning all 131 merit badges offered by the Boy Scouts.

To attain the rank of Eagle Scout, one must acquire 21 merit badges, some required, others elective. At 12, he’d earned 50 merit badges.

Many scouts simply stop once they’ve reached Eagle. Why did Croy continue? Because those merit badges were there.

“I realized, ‘I could get these other merit badges. I have time,’” said Croy, who lives in La Habra and attends a private high school. “To not get them would be like giving up.”

Croy received his 20th palm in a mid-January ceremony.

Croy’s accomplishment “is very rare,” said Jon Maeda, director of field services for the Orange County Council, the umbrella for the county’s Boy Scout and affiliated troops. “It’s like one in 300,000 or half a million boys achieve anything that big. …

“Any Eagle Scout has earned his rank. The palms are for those who really have a passion for learning and going beyond that,” Maeda said. “Your average merit badge takes about 30 hours of work.”

The merit badge sash that Croy wears on ceremonial occasions got filled up well before he earned his last badges, so those got placed on the inside of the sash.

Croy’s scouting career began at age 6 when he entered Tiger Cubs, a precursor to the more familiar Cub Scouts. Six years later, he earned his Eagle rank, which scouts have until age 18 to attain.

“I just got started,” Croy, with his characteristic modesty, said about earning Eagle. “It was hard, but I was able to do it. It was a lot of phone calls to people I know, and I’m kind of shy. It was a lot of planning, solving problems, and finding the right supplies and getting everything set up.”

Later, Croy helped to form his local Venture Crew, in part to spend more time in the outdoors. Venturing is an affiliation with Boy Scouts, with an emphasis on wilderness outings, that includes boys, girls, men and women ages 14 to 21.

Croy’s Venture group has done trips such as mountain biking in the Angeles National Forest and a week-long canoe trip near Thunder Bay, Ontario.

“They canoed some of the same routes used by trappers 200 years ago,” said Andrew Croy’s father, Jeff.

The crew travelling with Croy had to take turns carrying the canoe over stretches of muddy land, or hauling gear bags topping 70 pounds. The reward? The area they visited was so remote, they ran across more fish and eagles than fellow homo sapiens.

Andrew Croy’s favorite part of the trip: “Being out in the canoe in the middle of a still lake as the sun is setting. We have some cool pictures. … It’s such an amazing place. It’s like you’re living in a painting.”

Croy’s has a strong love for the outdoors and remembers camping trips with his family when he was a few years old.

This summer, he’ll set out on his own starting in the eastern Sierra Nevada’s Onion Valley, near Independence. He plans to cross the Sierras, passing what is considered by many to be some of the most spectacular scenery in California on his way to Road’s End in Kings Canyon National Park.

“I like to backpack,” Croy said. “It provides a lot of quiet time to think.”

“I’m jealous,” Croy’s father said. “I’d like to go, but I don’t have that much vacation time.”

After that, Croy plans to take communications and electronic media courses at The Master’s College, a Christian university in Santa Clarita.

His study choice was inspired by earning his cinematography merit badge, one of his favorites because of the way he was required to make different shots of a room using different angles.

The first of Croy’s 131 merit badges was for reading. It was an easy choice.

“I always loved to read,” he said. “I don’t have as much time now, but when I was younger, you’d never see me without books.”

His least favorite was environmental science, which he earned at snow camp when he was 11.

“It involved a lot of writing, and I didn’t like to write (then). I didn’t want to continue, but I got a lot of encouragement from (my dad),” Croy said.

Once Croy made Eagle, Boy Scout rules say his palms could be earned only after serving a three-month period in a leadership role and by earning five more merit badges. At the end of the three-month period, there had to be a “board of review” involving parents of other scouts examining Croy’s accomplishments and agreeing to award him another palm.

These reviews had to take place on a particular time frame to enable Croy to keep on pace toward getting 20 palms. Sometimes that involved parents agreeing to get together at odd times at some restaurant.

One took place on the slopes of 11,500-foot Mount San Gorgonio in the San Bernardino National Forest, as several members of Croy’s troop hiked to the summit. Strangely, the review wasn’t the most memorable part of the trip.

That was when they accidentally crashed a wedding — at the mountain’s peak.

That was not what we were expecting,” Croy said. “The bride was in a long, white dress, so we’d assumed she’d helicoptered in.”

They found out later she, her husband, and the minister had hiked to the summit themselves.

The reviews are just one example of help from others that Croy received while he stockpiled his merit badges. He credits his father for urging him to continue. And each merit badge required Croy to consult with an expert in that particular field.

“That means 131 people had to help Andrew,” his father noted.

During his journey to 131, Croy co-piloted a Cessna, rode a horse and made friends laugh when he tried his hand at golf.

“I always feel accomplished and satisfied when I finish a merit badge. I feel like I’ve finished up a mini-school course. I’ve done something good, and I’m working toward my goal.”

Croy earned his last badges in mid-January, just days before the deadline of his 18th birthday. To get them, he had to take bugle lessons and convince a surveyor to spend his weekend helping Croy place cones to mark sections of Fullerton’s Rolling Hills Park.

“I’m glad it’s over. It was a lot of work, and stress, especially at the end,” Croy admitted. “I learned a bunch, and I got to do a lot of new things that I wouldn’t have otherwise tried.”

Lisa Todd said Croy’s accomplishment doesn’t surprise her. She knows him through his Venture Crew and has taught him in her science classes at Foundation Christian School in La Mirada.

“He’s got a character that moves him forward,” she said. “He’s the epitome of a Boy Scout.”

Croy is always willing to help others, she said. On the canoe trip, other campers often woke up to find that breakfast was already being prepared.

“It’s just indicative of Troop 81 and Andrew’s leadership,” she said. “They don’t even have to ask. It just gets done.”

Reported by: OC Register MICHAEL MELLO

You can learn about sports, crafts, science, trades, business, and future careers as you earn merit badges. There are more than 100 merit badges. Any Boy Scout may earn any merit badge at any time. You don’t need to have had rank advancement to be eligible.

Pick a Subject. Talk to your Scoutmaster about your interests. Read the requirements of the merit badges you think might interest you. Pick one to earn. Your Scoutmaster will give you the name of a person from a list of counselors. These counselors have special knowledge in their merit badge subjects and are interested in helping you.

Scout Buddy System. You must have another person with you at each meeting with the merit badge counselor. This person can be another Scout, your parents or guardian, a brother or sister or other relative, or a friend.

Call the Counselor. Get a signed merit badge application from your Scoutmaster. Get in touch with the merit badge counselor and tell him or her that you want to earn the merit badge. The counselor may ask to meet you to explain what is expected of you and to start helping you meet the requirements. You should also discuss work that you have already started or possibly completed.

Unless otherwise specified, work for a requirement can be started at any time. Ask your counselor to help you learn the things you need to know or do. You should read the merit badge pamphlet on the subject. Many troops and school or public libraries have them.

Show Your Stuff. When you are ready, call the counselor again to make an appointment to meet the requirements. When you go take along the things you have made to meet the requirements. If they are too big to move, take pictures or have an adult tell in writing what you have done. The counselor will ask you to do each requirement to make sure that you know your stuff and have done or can do the things required.

Get the Badge. When the counselor is satisfied that you have met each requirement, he or she will sign your application. Give the signed application to your Scoutmaster so that your merit badge emblem can be secured for you.

Requirements. You are expected to meet the requirements as they are stated—no more and no less. You are expected to do exactly what is stated in the requirements. If it says “show or demonstrate,” that is what you must do. Just telling about it isn’t enough. The same thing holds true for such words as “make,” “list,” “in the field,” and “collect,” “identify,” and “label.”

The requirements listed here are the official requirements of the Boy Scouts of America. However, the requirements presented here might not match those in the Boy Scout Handbook and the merit badge pamphlets, because these requirements are updated only when the Boy Scout Requirements book is updated. The only significant difference is that as new merit badges are introduced, the requirements are posted here.

If a Scout has already started working on a merit badge when a new edition of the pamphlet is introduced, he should continue to use the same merit badge pamphlet and fulfill the requirements therein to earn the badge. He need not start all over again with the new pamphlet and possibly revised requirements.

Resources

• Introductory Guide for Merit Badge Counselors

Merit Badge Requirements

Below is a list, in alphabetical order, of all of the current merit badge subjects. Click each subject to see the requirements for that merit badge.

American Business	American Cultures	American Heritage	American Labor	Animal Science
Archaeology	Archery	Architecture	Art	Astronomy
Athletics	Automotive Maintenance	Aviation	Backpacking	Basketry
Bird Study	Bugling	Camping	Canoeing	Chemistry
Chess	Cinematography	Citizenship in the Community	Citizenship in the Nation	Citizenship in the World
Climbing	Coin Collecting	Collections	Communication	Composite Materials
Computers	Cooking	Crime Prevention	Cycling	Dentistry
Disabilities Awareness	Dog Care	Drafting	Electricity	Electronics
Emergency Preparedness	Energy	Engineering	Entrepreneurship	Environmental Science
Family Life	Farm Mechanics	Fingerprinting	Fire Safety	First Aid
Fish and Wildlife Management	Fishing	Fly-Fishing	Forestry	Gardening
Genealogy	Geocaching	Geology	Golf	Graphic Arts
Hiking	Home Repairs	Horsemanship	Indian Lore	Insect Study
Inventing	Journalism	Landscape Architecture	Law	Leatherwork
Lifesaving	Mammal Study	Medicine	Metalwork	Model Design and Building
Motorboating	Music	Nature	Nuclear Science	Oceanography
Orienteering	Painting	Personal Fitness	Personal Management	Pets
Photography
	Pioneering	Plant Science	Plumbing	Pottery
Public Health	Public Speaking	Pulp and Paper	Radio	Railroading
Reading	Reptile and Amphibian Study	Rifle Shooting	Robotics	Rowing
Safety	Salesmanship	Scholarship	Scouting Heritage	Scuba Diving
				Snow Sports
Sculpture	Shotgun Shooting	Skating	Small-Boat Sailing
Soil and Water Conservation	Space Exploration	Sports	Stamp Collecting	Surveying
Swimming	Textile	Theater	Traffic Safety	Truck Transportation
	Water Sports
Veterinary Medicine		Weather	Welding	Whitewater
Wilderness Survival	Wood Carving	Woodwork

For over 100 years the Boy Scouts of America has been one of our nation’s largest and most prominent values-based youth development organizations. Today the Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America provides a program for young people that builds character and trains our future leaders to live the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

But we can’t do this work without you.

As a nonprofit organization, the Boy Scouts of America relies on the generosity of charitable donations to support its ongoing operations. Each gift, regardless of size, provides invaluable funding for OCBSA programs that benefit Scouts here in Orange County.

There are many ways to make your gift:

By mail:

Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America
1211 East Dyer Road,
Santa Ana, CA 92705

Please make your check payable to OCBSA.

Online:

Use our secure online giving form.

By phone:

Call us at 714-546-4990 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. PST.

Tax Information

For current information on charitable contributions visit the Internal Revenue Service website, where you can find the following helpful publications:

• Charitable Contributions – IRS Publication 526 [pdf]
• Determining the Value of Donated Property – IRS Publication 561 [pdf]
• Noncash Charitable Contributions – IRS Form 8283 [pdf]

Specific tax benefits are associated with certain types of gifts, including:

• Charitable trusts
• Life income
• Bequests and retirement accounts
• Gifts of property and securities

Thank you for interest in supporting the Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America.

To learn more please contact the OCBSA Development Department at 714.546.4990

Boy Scouts of America, Orange County Council has received a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator

Download the letter from Ken Berger, Charity Navigator’s president & CEO, informing you that Boy Scouts of America, Orange County Council has received a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest and most-utilized independent evaluator of charities.

But we can’t do this work without you.

Our five-day summer camps for girls and boys are packed with adventure and include opportunities for leadership development and team building.

Day Camp for ages 6-9
• $250/camper
• July 16-20 and July 23-27

Overnight Camp for ages 10-14
• $350/camper
• August 6-10 and August 13-17

Activities Include: Team building on the challenge course, archery and BB gun, pool and waterslide, zip line, arts and crafts, games, nature hikes, and much, much more.

Register online at Outdoor Center or call (714) 923-3191.

Webelos Pins Now Only $20 per Class at the Ranch
Get your friends together and come to the Ranch for a series of exciting outdoor activities designed for Webelos. Feel free to sign up for one or all of these upcoming sessions. Sign up for 2 sessions on the same day and receive a free lunch. Register online at Outdoor Center call (714) 923-3191.

WEBELOS ACTIVITY PINS
March
- Engineer – March 10 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
- Scientist – March 10 from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
- Readyman – March 17 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
- Handyman – March 17 from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

May
- Scholar – May 5 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
- Showman – May 5 from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
- Geologist – May 19 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
- Aquanaut – May 19 from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Sea Scouting is a co-educational program, for youth who have graduated the 8th grade thru 20 years old. Currently registered Boy Scouts or Venturers, who are age eligible, may also register in a Sea Scout ship at the same time. Whereas, Boy Scouting takes young men into the wilderness to discover leadership and character values, Sea Scouting takes young women and men onto the ocean to expand their horizons by sailing to them. Sea Scouts learn maritime-related skills such as sailing, navigation, piloting, radio communications, marlinspike, knot tying, engine maintenance, first aid, and much more. Most importantly, these scouts have adventures that will last lifetimes!

There are currently four Sea Scout ships in Orange County, with three calling the Newport Sea Base their home port, and the other meets at the Dana Point Youth and Group Facility in Dana Point Harbor. Ships 90, 711, 936, and 1767 are among the best in the nation, with 2 of the ships, in the past 5 years, earning the distinction of the top program in the nation, and a third coming in as runner-up. Sea Scouts in Orange County have won the International Sea Scout Cup, a sailing competition, 3 times in the past decade. The ships have continuously placed well at other annual Sea Scout competitions in Long Beach, Ventura, and San Francisco.

For more information about the Sea Scout program, please contact Tom Hartmann at thomash@ocbsa.org. 714-546-4990 x102.

What is Scouting for Food?

• Scouting for Food is a program of the Boy Scouts of America in cooperation Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County and the Girl Scouts of Orange County
• Designed to help alleviate the problem of hunger in Orange County.

What is happening during October?

• Thousands of Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and their volunteer leaders in Orange County will  approach homes requesting food donations. Each Scout that participates is eligible to purchase a patch for $1. Patch artwork coming soon!

• The food will be delivered to Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County for distribution to the hungry of Orange County.

How much food will be collected in one day?

• In 2009, Scouts collected 144,013 pounds of food.
• In 2010, Scouts collected 163,079 pounds of food.
• In 2011, Scouts collected 113,617 pounds of food.

How can people participate?

• Be prepared to donate food
• Select, in advance, canned goods you wish to donate. (Canned meats, soups, chili, peanut butter, and canned fruits and vegetables are appreciated.)
• Involve the children in your family in selecting an item (from your cupboard, or at the store) that they think a child their age would like, and add that to the family donation.

If you won’t be home on October 29, how can you
participate?

• Take your donation to a local Albertsons the week prior and after October 29, drop off your donation at the William Lyons Home Center for Scouting or contact Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County at (949) 653-2900.
• Consider making a cash donation. Funds are needed to help fill out the nutritional complement to gathered foods.   Again, call Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County at (949) 653-2900 for more details about this tax-deductible contribution.

Is the food drive really needed?

• Many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are confined to small pockets of society or certain neighborhoods, but the reality is much different. These are often hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot make ends meet and are forced to go without food for several meals, or even days. With sky-high rents, rising medical costs and unemployment, too many people have to make life-threatening choices.
• Children … 35% of the most vulnerable are kids.
• Seniors on fixed incomes … 15% of all seniors are at risk of hunger.

In addition to feeding the hungry,
what other goals does this program have?

• Scouting for Food shows Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts how to put words into action.
• The Boy Scout slogan is “Do a good turn daily.”
  
• Preparation NOW for October  includes  meetings where Scouts are taught about the problem of hunger in America.
• Scouting for Food helps youth realize they can help have an impact on community problems.
• This experience gives young people the chance to feel good about helping others. This value, when learned early in life, can become a life-long pattern.

Talk to your District Scouting for Food Chairman for more details or Rachel Rash, Staff Advisor (714) 546-4990 Ext. 132 or email rachelr@ocbsa.org.

Watch the video form: Second Harvest of Orange County

•  Download District Contact List

Cars N’ Mugs is held with the National Eagle Scout Association to promote the Boy Scouts of America, to renew old friendships and to fellowship in our own community. Please plan to invite someone who you think would like to get involved with the BSA. Stay tuned for information on the 2012 Cars N’ Mugs details.

Though Cars N’ Mugs is over for 2011, we want to encourage you to continue to reach out to Scouting alumni in your community, i.e. “former” Scouts not currently involved in Scouting with the idea of re-connecting them to Scouting through fellowship focused on the love of cars and mugs of all kinds.

For more information on reconnecting with Scouting contact Marty Cutrone, Alumni Services Director, at 714-546-4990 X 143 or martyc@ocbsa.org

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On behalf of the Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America, it is our honor to invite you to attend the Eagle Scout Recognition Dinner to be held on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Garden Grove, where we will recognize the accomplishments of the class of 2011 Eagle Scouts, Quartermasters and Venturing Silver Award recipients…666 outstanding young men and women. Community leaders, Scouters, Unit Leaders, family members and guests are all invited to attend this marquee event. Please see the enclosed sign-up form for more information about how you may participate as an Eagle Sponsor/Mentor for the evening.

“ATTITUDE OVER ALTITUDE!”

WITH KEYNOTE SPEAKER: EAGLE SCOUT, MIKE GIBBONS

Our keynote speaker for this very special evening is Eagle Scout, Mike Gibbons, Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 778 in the Portola District. Mike made local and national headlines back in May of 2011 when he summited Mt. Everest. The author of “Attitude over Altitude”, Mike’s summit was anything but typical. At 22,000 up the side of Everest a snow bridge broke beneath him and he found himself hanging from a rope 20 feet deep into a crevasse with damage to his arm and back. The next step—descending the dangerous Khumbu Ice Fall with only one usable arm, to be helicopter evacuated off the mountain. However, this wasn’t the end of Mike’s summit story. After coming back to Orange County for medical treatment, Mike found the courage and mustered the tenacity to return to Everest to start all over again on his quest to summit the tallest point on the planet…Mt. Everest, the granddaddy of them all at 29,035 feet.

Mike will be sharing his compelling Mt. Everest story as well as his extraordinary list of other trekking triumphs, including Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (19,340 ft.), Mt Shasta in California (14,162 ft.), Mt. Elbrus in Russia (18,481 ft.), Mt. Whitney in California (14,498 ft.), Mt. McKinley/Denali in Alaska (20,320 ft.), Mt. Vinson Massif in Antarctica (16,067 ft.), Mt. Rainier in Washington (14,410 ft.), Mt Aconcagua in Australia (7,310 ft.), The Matterhorn in Switzerland (14,687 ft.) and Mt Carstenz Pyramid in Indonesia (16,023 ft.). He is one of only 125 people in history to have climbed to the top of the eight highest peaks in the world in each of seven continents. With degrees from Harvard and Stanford Universities, the owner of a successful equity investment business, and a rich Scouting background Mike’s story will much more than summer vacation travelogue.

Please join us for this amazing evening of celebration and inspiration. You can fill out the attached registration form and return it to the council office via Marty Cutrone at martyc@ocbsa.org. Or if you have any questions, call (714) 546-4990 ext. 143.

I would like to invite you to join us in recognizing the extraordinary achievements of these gifted Scouts by sponsoring (hosting) an Eagle Scout, Quartermaster or Venturing Silver recipient at the dinner. You may also consider contributing financially to this very special evening as an event sponsor to help underwrite the event costs. (Click here for Sponsor Form)

By supporting this event you and your company align yourselves with the very brightest and best of the Boy Scouts of America, the most successful youth leadership development organization in the world. Enclosed with this letter is a sponsor form with details about the various sponsorship levels and advertising opportunities available. Please consider joining us as an Eagle Scout or event sponsor at this marquee event. With your event sponsorship you will receive priority seating and your company name/logo will be advertised during the audio-visual portion of the program. Your company will also be provided advertising space with a congratulatory message in the commemorative program that will be provided to each dinner attendee.

Please accept my personal thanks for considering this very special opportunity to provide a celebratory and memorable evening for these very deserving young men and women. Your support will not only make a difference in our 2012 event, it will also allow us to continue recognizing the accomplishments of motivated Scouts who will achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, Quartermaster or Venturing Silver Award in the future.

If you have any questions about the Eagle Scout dinner please email Marty Cutrone or call at (714) 546-4990 ext. 143.

Sincerely,

Eagle Scout Recognition Dinner Chairman

Signup Form

Scout Guest – Parent Form

Eagle Dinner

The Anaheim Ducks are extending a special offer to all Scout groups.
When: Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:05 pm.
Why: Pricing (more than 40% off!) when you come to the game with your group!
For all the details and other dates, get the FLYER HERE.