The orienteering merit badge teaches compass skills.
After joining the Boy Scouts of America, you will work toward earning your different ranks. Those ranks range from "Scout" up to "Eagle Scout." Part of the requirements for earning some of the higher ranks is to obtain merit badges. Merit badges are earned by completing a set of required tasks for a particular badge. As of 2011, there are more than 100 merit badges available for scouts to earn.
Rank
The lower ranks of Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class do not require you to earn any merit badges. However, many troops create activities around earning merit badges so you can advance within the Scouting program. To obtain a "Star" rank, you must have earned six merit badges, four of which need to be from the required list. To obtain "Life" rank, you must earn a total of 11 merit badges, with three more being from the required list. Finally, in order to obtain an Eagle Scout rank, you must complete 21 merit badges, with 12 of them coming from the required list.
Required Merit Badges
There are 15 required merit badges. Of those, a Scout can pick 12 to earn. However, only some of them are optional. The required merit badges include First Aid, Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in the World, Communications, Personal Fitness, Environmental Science, Camping and Family Life. A Scout can choose to earn either Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving, and he can also choose to earn either Swimming, Hiking or Cycling to make up his 12 required merit badges.
Tasks
Each merit badge has a list of associated tasks that the Scout must complete in order to earn it. These tasks ask you to demonstrate, make, build or experience things about the particular merit badge. For example, the Hiking merit badge requires a Scout to plan a 10-mile hike including a list of clothing, food and emergency items. He must also take a hike of 20 continuous miles, and write a report about each required hike to be shown to the troop leaders for merit badge approval.
Merit Badge Counselors
Often the merit badges require the Scout to work alongside an expert in the field of the merit badge he is trying to obtain. The troop will have a list of merit badge counselors that have been pre-approached and approved by the Scout leaders. However, there must be three people together at all times: the Scout obtaining the badge, the counselor and either another Scout, parent or leader within the troop.
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