Cemex Merit Badge Day 

Meet the bus at the parking lot where Applebee’s is located at 20090 Cortez Blvd, Brooksville at 8 am. The bus will depart for the quarry.

CEMEX will generously provide lunches for the scouts and adults who are in attendance. They will do the Publix sandwiches, chips, water, and fruit cup/applesauce once again. If anyone has dietary restrictions, please have them bring their lunch to ensure that they are safe.

We will transport the scouts back to the Applebee’s parking lot at 3 pm. The schedule for the day is as follows: 

May 29, 2026

Safety (9:00-9:30)

a. How PPE is worn and used, including a hard hat, safety glasses, earplugs, dust mask or respirator, self-rescue device and high-visibility vest (Distribute students PPE for tour)

b. Protecting hands and feet from impact, pinch, vibration, slipping and tripping/falling hazards

Concrete planter activity: mined products to make a planter (9:30-10:00) (Sheri Spivey)

Mine tour (10:15-11:30)  

Tasks required to explore, plan, permit, mine and process the resource mined at that site

Tour the plant and drive to lakes and pit and look for fossils OR see a blast.

Lunch (11:45-12:15) (Provided by Cemex)

Geology (12:30-1:15) -

What metals and minerals are recycled after their original use has ended

List 4 metals and 2 non-metals and find out how each can be recycled

Find out how recycling affects the sustainability of natural resources and how this idea is related to mining

Review of Florida Geology

If it’s not grown, it’s mined

Rocks and Minerals Lab 1:15-1:45) (Sheri Spivey)

Environmental impacts (1:45-2:30)

What is being done to help control environmental impacts

General permit requirements

Explain reclamation as it is used in mining and how mine reclamation pertains to Scouting’s no-trace principles (show examples)

What values society has about returning the land to the benefit of wildlife and people after mining has ended; discuss the transformation of the BSA Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve from a mine site to its current role

Post-event assessment and Survey (2:30-3:00)

Scouts return to off-site location for pick-up (3:00)