Aviation
Mechanics of flight, aircraft operations, airport operations, and aviation careers — including hands-on model flight and a discovery flight.
Scouting America · Los Padres Council · Troop 308
Merit Badge Counselor
I am a registered Merit Badge Counselor and Assistant Scoutmaster with Troop 308 in San Luis Obispo, CA. These pages are a working reference for me as a counselor and a clear, honest guide for Scouts (and their parents) who are considering one of the badges I counsel.
Every page includes the official requirements, links to the free Scouting America merit badge pamphlet, curated videos and resources from the Scouting America Digital Resource Guide, and my own session plan. Requirements are the canonical text — always cross-check with the current requirements on scouting.org before you start.
Badges I Counsel
Robotics
Design, build, program, and test a robot. Explore safety, the robotics industry, competitions, and careers.
Programming
Write, debug, and demonstrate programs in three different languages / environments. Cover history, IP, and careers.
Artificial Intelligence
New for 2026. Define AI and automation, explore ethics, deepfakes, and prompt engineering. Complete a project or teach a lesson on AI.
Engineering
Investigate how things are engineered, meet with an engineer, design and build a project, and study the engineer's code of ethics.
Inventing
Learn about inventors, intellectual property, and the invention process — then design, build, and test your own prototype.
Game Design
Analyze games across media, learn design terms, and design, prototype, and blind-test your own original game.
Space Exploration
History and purpose of space exploration, rocket principles, model-rocket build and launch, and designing an inhabited base.
Capstone Projects
Two optional capstone projects that span multiple badges. Scouts who take one of these on leave with a serious build and evidence across two or three badges at once.
Telemetry Rocket — Mission Control Build
Scouts design, build, launch, and analyze a model rocket carrying a live telemetry payload (LILYGO T-Beam Supreme flight computer, Heltec LoRa ground receiver). The build turns the Space Exploration badge into a full mission-control experience and gives Aviation, Engineering, and AI Scouts real flight data to work with — the AI badge project requirement is satisfied by using an AI coding assistant, under counselor supervision, to write and debug the telemetry firmware in six small, testable stages.
AI-Built Game — From Design Doc to Playable Build
Scouts design an original game on paper, prove the core loop works in at least three playtests, write a clean instruction sheet, then use an AI coding assistant (with the counselor in the room) to turn it into a playable digital build. The Scout directs the AI, logs every prompt and accepted change, and writes a short reflection on what the AI did well and where they took over. Covers the full Game Design badge and satisfies the Artificial Intelligence badge's project requirement with responsible, supervised AI use.
Patrol Box 2.0 — Systems Engineering of Troop Gear
Scouts run the full systems-engineering loop on a real piece of patrol equipment — typically a chuck box, cook-kit caddy, or gear sled. They interview the patrol about pain points, write needs and requirements, trade two or three concepts, sketch and CAD the chosen design, build a working prototype, and verify it on a troop campout. The deliverable is the gear itself plus a one-page systems-engineering worksheet that doubles as the Engineering req 5 write-up and the Inventing req 5/6/7 prototype-and-notebook track.
Troop 308 Toolbox Invention — Patent-Ready Notebook
Scouts pick one real, small problem the troop has — lost mess kits, slow dish line, tangled ropes, dropped flashlights — and take an invention from need statement through USPTO prior-art search, sketches, clay/cardboard model, working prototype, and on-campout test. The deliverable is a dated, page-numbered inventor's notebook that another counselor could read without explanation, plus the working prototype itself. Covers every Inventing requirement and overlaps cleanly with Engineering req 5/6.
Reusable Rocket Recovery System — Inventing Add-On
An Inventing capstone designed to bolt onto the Telemetry Rocket project. The Scout invents an improved recovery system for a model rocket — better streamer/chute deployment, a tougher shock-cord mounting, a swappable fin can, or a rapid-reload payload bay — runs a USPTO prior-art search, prototypes, and tests across multiple flights on the same launch day as the Telemetry Rocket. Together with the Telemetry Rocket capstone this becomes a legitimate three-badge hero project: Space Exploration + Engineering + Inventing.
Adaptive Scouting Gear — Inventing for an Adaptive Scout
The Scout identifies one specific Scout — in their own patrol, another troop, or an adaptive-needs unit they've met — with a real mobility, grip, vision, or hearing challenge. They invent and build one piece of adapted gear for one specific outdoor activity (cooking, knot tying, fire building, camp cleanup, hiking). The project covers every Inventing requirement, has the strongest Scout-Oath-and-Law tie-in of any capstone, and naturally produces a story the Scout can tell at a board of review.
Scheduling & Time Commitment
My default cadence is a weekly 60–90 minute meeting. A straight single-badge counselor track takes roughly 4–8 hours of counselor time spread over 3–6 weeks, depending on the badge. Capstone projects take longer but cover multiple badges at once.
| Track | Meetings | Hours | Calendar time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single badge (short) Aviation, Game Design, Programming | 3–4 × 60–90 min | 4–6 h | 3–5 weeks |
| Single badge (project-heavy) Engineering, Inventing, Robotics, Space Exploration | 5–7 × 60–90 min | 6–10 h | 6–10 weeks |
| New AI badge | 3–4 × 60–90 min + project | 5–8 h | 4–6 weeks |
| Telemetry Rocket capstone Space Exploration + AI + Engineering + Aviation + Programming | 8 × 90 min + 1 launch day | ~14 h | 8–10 weeks |
| AI-Built Game capstone Game Design + AI + Programming + Inventing | 7 × 90 min + blind test | ~11 h | 7–8 weeks |
| Patrol Box 2.0 capstone Engineering + Inventing (+ optional Programming, AI) | 6 × 90 min + shop day + campout | ~12 h | 6–8 weeks |
| Troop Toolbox Invention capstone Inventing + Engineering | 5 × 90 min + campout | ~9 h | 5–6 weeks |
| Reusable Rocket Recovery capstone Inventing + Space Exploration + Engineering — pairs with Telemetry Rocket | 4 × 90 min + paired launch day | ~8 h | 4 weeks (concurrent) |
| Adaptive Scouting Gear capstone Inventing + Engineering — human-centered | 6 × 90 min + 2 user visits | ~11 h | 6–7 weeks |
Shorter intensives (summer camp week, merit-badge day) work for the short-track badges but generally do not fit the capstones — they need a build cycle with time between sessions for parts to arrive and playtests to happen. Exact per-capstone schedules are on the capstone pages below.
How to Work With Me on a Badge
- Talk to your Scoutmaster first and get a signed blue card (or make a Scoutbook connection) for the specific badge before we meet.
- Read the official requirements on the badge page linked above. Skim the pamphlet. If the badge has a project requirement, come with an idea — even a rough one.
- We meet with your parent or guardian present, or in a group with at least two Scouts and two registered adults, following Scouting America's Guide to Safe Scouting at all times.
- Bring a notebook. For Robotics, Inventing, and Game Design the notebook is literally a requirement, and for every other badge it is still the best way to finish faster.
If you're a counselor, Scoutmaster, or parent with suggestions or corrections for any of the badge pages, please get in touch via the contact page.