Col. James T. Hatfield Merit Badge Challenge

Merit Badge Challenge is a Council wide event that helps to pair Scouts with counselors and industry professionals to give them the opportunity to earn various Merit Badges. Scouts gather over the course of 2 or 3 Saturdays, depending on the location, to work on the completion of multiple merit badges. Each of the venues offer a variety of merit badge options and they try to have a little bit of fun in the process.

North at Fairfield High School

The schedule of merit badges for this event can be found under the attachments on this page.
Registration to enter the Scouts’ information will open on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. **This is only for units who are adding their Scouts' information. It is NOT for merit badge registration.**
Merit Badge selection will open on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026 at 6:00 PM.
Registration will close on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.

Dates: Jan. 17 and Feb. 21, 2026

Located at 8800 Holden BLVD, Fairfield, Ohio 45014

The North-Fairfield HS event will consist of 2 Saturdays with 4 class periods each Saturday. Class sessions will be 90 minutes long. If you have 1 session time, your total time in classroom is 3 hours.

East at Grant Career Center

The schedule of merit badges for this event will be published as soon as we get the counselors confirmed.
Registration to enter the Scouts’ information will open on Friday, December 19, 2025.**This is only for units who are adding their Scouts' information. It is NOT for merit badge registration.**
Merit Badge selection will open on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026 at 6:00 PM.
Registration will close on Wednesday, February 4, 2026.

Feb. 7 & 21, March 7, 2026

Located at 718 W. Plane St., Bethel, Ohio 

The East-Grant Career Center event consists of 3 Saturday mornings, Feb. 7th, Feb. 21st and March 7, 2026. Each Saturday there are 3 sessions each with a duration of 1 hour and 15 minutes, A-8:30am-9:45am; B-10:00am-11:15am; C-11:30am-12:45pm. Scouts will take the same badges and keep the same schedule all 3 Saturdays.

NKY at Scott High School

March 7th & 28th, 2026

5400 Old Taylor Mill Rd, Taylor Mill, KY 41015

The NKY-Scott HS event is still trying to confirm their dates, but they will be 2 Saturdays in March. Their class session times are 80 minutes, so if you have 1 session, your total time on the classroom would be 2 hours, 40 minutes.

Refund Policy:

Due to the high demand of this event and many of the classes, there will be no refunds issued if multiple registrations were created. Individuals or groups that cancel a program reservation 30 days prior to the date of the event will receive a refund of fees paid, less a 20% administrative charge. No refunds will be issued after the 30-day cancellation deadline. Fees are transferable to a previously unregistered scout.

Questions? Please contact Michelle Byrne at michelle.byrne@scouting.org.