Camp Royaneh offers a unique merit badge program. Merit badges meet generally for an hour and a half a day for five days (Monday – Friday). Scouts learn in an interactive teaching environment with the same group of Scouts and Counselor throughout the week.

We attempt to make the merit badge both fun and exciting. An inspired Scout can earn two to four merit badges in a week. Many Scoutmasters prefer Scouts in their troop, especially the younger ones, to have an open session to explore all areas and activities in camp. There is plenty of time for a Scout to get what he wants out of Camp Royaneh.

We encourage Scout leaders to drop in on any of the merit badge sessions and lend a hand. Please remember that it is best to give any corrections or suggestions to the counselor after the session has ended.

There are various camp-wide events throughout the week, when everything stops for the entire unit to come and participate as a group. Two evenings a week are devoted exclusively to troop development. Troop campfires are an excellent time for Scouts to spend time with staff outside of merit badge counseling. Planning campfires and practicing troop yells is encouraged before camp. A troop yell will come in handy in the Dining Hall.

Scheduling
In prior years, Royaneh has varied its schedule from a very rigid class structure with set times to totally open scheduling. What we have learned from this experience is no two Scouts are alike, so there is no one way of scheduling that is going to work in every case. Some Scouts need a rigid schedule while others flourish in a more open system. As a result Royaneh uses a hybrid system with set times for merit badge sessions in the morning and early afternoon, and a more open program in the later afternoon and evening.

There are some badges that have limited resources or are affected by environmental conditions (such as Small-boat Sailing, where the wind tends to blow only in the late morning and afternoon) that must adhere to a strict schedule. Some of the badges we offer only as drop in, which means they can be taken only during open program time.

All of Royaneh’s merit badges, with a few exceptions, run on a four-day schedule with Friday open for make ups. This allows Scouts the chance to participate in activities that might cause them to miss a merit badge session and still complete the badge. Refer to the Merit Badge Schedule on the resources page to see a brief description of all the notes and oddities of each badge see the Merit Badge Info form.