Merit Badge Counselor Listing

It’s important that Scouts are only utilizing approved merit badge counselors. In the past this list has been made available for download off of our website. To protect the contact information of our counselors and to provide the most up-to-date information, the council list of counselors must be requested by contacting the Council office at 605-342-2824.

1. Click here to download a copy of the New Adult Application, fill out and sign the application portion and sign the disclosure form. Turn in both forms to the Scout Service Center (144 North Street, Rapid City, SD 57701) or to the District Executive in person, by mail, or by email.  You can also turn it in at Roundtable (see step 5 below).
2. Click here to download a copy of the Merit Badge Counselor Application online. This information will be used to add you as a Merit Badge Counselor to the online database once your New Adult Application has been received with the $25 membership fee, processed, and the background check has been completed by the council office.The $25 membership fee must be paid annually and you must also review your list of merit badges and submit a new form to add or remove merit badges. 
3. Click here to completely read through the Merit Badge Counselor Instructor’s Guide. This guide will help new and potential merit badge counselors through their responsibilities in the role and will give them an understanding of the methods of counseling Scouts. It is intended as a short orientation course for new merit badge counselors before they begin working with Scouts.  It does NOT take the place of the official merit badge counselor training.
4. Click here to complete Youth Protection training online. This is a completely online training that will take about 20 to 40 minutes to complete. This is required for all counselors to complete every other year.
5. Attend a merit badge counselor training session.  These are sometimes held at Roundtable or you can check with the scout office to find out where the next session will be held.  Bring any forms or paperwork that needs to be turned in.  You cannot be added to the merit badge counselor list until you have attended this training and turned in all of the necessary forms.  NOTE: You only need to attend merit badge counselor training once.  However, you do have to be registered each year (part of rechartering) and you have to take the Youth Protection training every other year.  To see if your merit badge counselor training has been recorded, contact the Scout Service Center at 605-342-2824 or email info@blackhillsbsa.org.

Once you have received Merit Badge Counselor training, you may train others if you feel confident to do so.  It’s always best to coordinate with a member of the district or council training committee, but it’s not necessary.  The following three documents can assist you in your training.  The first and second item is a slide presentation of the points that should be covered in the training along with presenter notes.  The third is an official Attendance Record which needs to be filled out and turned in to the Scout Service Center.

1. Merit Badge Counselor orientation slide presentation
2. Merit Badge Counselor presenter’s notes (that go with the above slide presentation)
3. Official Training Attendance Record (Page 8)