----- Original message -----
From: "admin@beesource.com"
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:10:37 -0600
Subject: Boy Scouts of America Beekeeping Merit Badge Update Dear Beesource Member,
I am taking the unusual step of emailing the members of Beesource forums
because I need to ask for your help on an important project. As you may be aware, Christopher Stowell, a Boy Scout and 14 year old
beekeeper from Oklahoma, recently led a campaign to reinstate the
Beekeeping Merit Badge.
BSA recently announced its response to Christopher's request, and the
news is mostly good. While BSA is not agreeing to reinstate the
Beekeeping Merit Badge, it is agreeing to incorporate beekeeping
activities into several different existing merit badges.
Emphasis of the importance of bees and beekeeping will be added to or
enhanced in eight existing merit badge pamphlets: Bird Study, Forestry,
Gardening, Nature, Plant Science, Pulp and Paper, Environmental Science,
and Insect Study. All of this will be accomplished by the end of 2015.
One of those badges, Environmental Science, is needed for a scout to
attain Eagle rank. Although the BSA is not reinstating a merit badge
specific to beekeeping, it is making changes that provide opportunities
to expose over 100,000 boys a year to the joys of beekeeping.
BSA is considering adding beekeeping projects, such as working with a
colony or harvesting honey, to one or more of those merit badges so that
interested scouts can earn advancement recognition for their beekeeping
activities. HOWEVER WE AS BEEKEEPERS NEED TO SUPPORT THIS EFFORT!
BSA does not want to add activities to the merit badges unless it is
sure that beekeepers will be there to teach the scouts. The beekeeping
community needs to demonstrate that it will provide mentors to boys who
want to learn about beekeeping.
RIGHT NOW, there are three things that you can do to help.
First, BSA has invited all associations and experts in the beekeeping
community who are interested in helping with this project to e-mail us
at merit.badge@scouting.org. Please put "bees" in the subject line.
Second, if you are interested in serving as a merit badge counselor,
contact your BSA local council to initiate the process.
http://www.scouting.org/localcouncillocator.aspx
Finally, if you are willing to be a mentor, please contact BSA directly
and let them know you are willing to be a mentor. BSA has requested that
interested beekeepers e-mail them at: merit.badge@scouting.org and
please put "Honey Bees" in the heading. Just write a few words letting
them know that you are willing to act as a mentor, and please give BSA a
way to contact you and let them know what states and counties you are
willing to mentor in.
If you have any ideas about this project, feel free to post them in the
forum on Beesource that is dedicated to the Beekeeping Merit Badge
Project (http://beesource.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=284). If you
have contacted BSA, please leave a post on Beesource. Showing your
support helps to draw attention to this project and helps to get other
people to act.
Thanks for your support,
Barry Birkey
Beesource.com
From: "admin@beesource.com"
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:10:37 -0600
Subject: Boy Scouts of America Beekeeping Merit Badge Update Dear Beesource Member,
I am taking the unusual step of emailing the members of Beesource forums
because I need to ask for your help on an important project. As you may be aware, Christopher Stowell, a Boy Scout and 14 year old
beekeeper from Oklahoma, recently led a campaign to reinstate the
Beekeeping Merit Badge.
BSA recently announced its response to Christopher's request, and the
news is mostly good. While BSA is not agreeing to reinstate the
Beekeeping Merit Badge, it is agreeing to incorporate beekeeping
activities into several different existing merit badges.
Emphasis of the importance of bees and beekeeping will be added to or
enhanced in eight existing merit badge pamphlets: Bird Study, Forestry,
Gardening, Nature, Plant Science, Pulp and Paper, Environmental Science,
and Insect Study. All of this will be accomplished by the end of 2015.
One of those badges, Environmental Science, is needed for a scout to
attain Eagle rank. Although the BSA is not reinstating a merit badge
specific to beekeeping, it is making changes that provide opportunities
to expose over 100,000 boys a year to the joys of beekeeping.
BSA is considering adding beekeeping projects, such as working with a
colony or harvesting honey, to one or more of those merit badges so that
interested scouts can earn advancement recognition for their beekeeping
activities. HOWEVER WE AS BEEKEEPERS NEED TO SUPPORT THIS EFFORT!
BSA does not want to add activities to the merit badges unless it is
sure that beekeepers will be there to teach the scouts. The beekeeping
community needs to demonstrate that it will provide mentors to boys who
want to learn about beekeeping.
RIGHT NOW, there are three things that you can do to help.
First, BSA has invited all associations and experts in the beekeeping
community who are interested in helping with this project to e-mail us
at merit.badge@scouting.org. Please put "bees" in the subject line.
Second, if you are interested in serving as a merit badge counselor,
contact your BSA local council to initiate the process.
http://www.scouting.org/localcouncillocator.aspx
Finally, if you are willing to be a mentor, please contact BSA directly
and let them know you are willing to be a mentor. BSA has requested that
interested beekeepers e-mail them at: merit.badge@scouting.org and
please put "Honey Bees" in the heading. Just write a few words letting
them know that you are willing to act as a mentor, and please give BSA a
way to contact you and let them know what states and counties you are
willing to mentor in.
If you have any ideas about this project, feel free to post them in the
forum on Beesource that is dedicated to the Beekeeping Merit Badge
Project (http://beesource.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=284). If you
have contacted BSA, please leave a post on Beesource. Showing your
support helps to draw attention to this project and helps to get other
people to act.
Thanks for your support,
Barry Birkey
Beesource.com
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