Troop 540,
Today, I received the official e-mail alerting me that the online registration for merit badges at Ranachqua’s summer camp opens this Saturday. Again, our summer camp (week 5 – Eagle Week) will be from Sunday, August 7th through Friday, August 12th. So, to avoid some of the issues we had last year with merit badge registration, I have uploaded some files for you to review. When you are done reading through the details for the merit badge registration, please fill out the Troop 540 MB Registration Form (Excel file) and email this back to me: NO LATER THEN THIS FRIDAY MORNING. If I don’t receive your registration forms, there’s a good chance that you will NOT get all of the merit badges you are looking to sign up for. You will stand the best chance by emailing me back by this Friday morning with your form and requests.
Please review the Week 5 Merit Badge Schedule (PDF file) and select at least 5 merit badges for the week. Anything less and it’s just not worth the money that you pay for the camp. BEFORE you choose your merit badges, please review the Merit Badge Prerequisites (PDF file) as you will NOT be allowed to take certain merit badges without the necessary prerequisites!
Also, the camp will be charging an additional $15.00, (this does not include the fee for camp) for Eagle merit badges that they don’t ordinarily do during the summer. Scouts that qualify for this are those that are 13 years or older and hold a rank of 1st class or higher. Even if your son registers for ONLY one special eagle merit badge, they will still charge you this additional fee.
Regarding the BSA Medical Forms: You will have to take your child to their doctor and have them fill out the information pertaining to their health history (demographics, immunization record, medications, allergies & other health related issues). We will hold a pre-camp meeting sometime in July, where we will be collecting the health forms and 2 copies of your health insurance cards. If we don’t have this important documentation, your child will not be allowed to go to camp this summer.
Just to reiterate Mrs. Crown’s email the other day, the fees for summer camp registration have gone up. Early bird is $390.00 and will be going up to $420.00 after May 23rd. If you plan on taking the additional eagle merit badges, add $15.00 to your total fee. The troop will start collecting the money now. If anyone would like to use their money from their scout accounts, please see Mrs. Donahue to find out what your balance is. Any scout that requires financial assistance, please see me in confidence to discuss this available option.
One last thing, when you send me back the merit badge registration file, please include your cell phone number, so that I can call you with any last minute changes that I might have to be make.
Please get back to me by this Friday morning with your merit badge registration requests.
Thanks,
Jon Hess – Scoutmaster, Troop 540