Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge Clinic

Join us for the Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge Clinic at the Spring Family Camping Weekend at Camp Oh-Da-Ko-Ta on Saturday, May 3, 2025.  The clinic will begin at 9:30 am.  Lunch is included with your registration.

Please do the following in advance of the May 3, 2025 clinic:

Get a blue card from your Scoutmaster – the Guide to Advancement requires your Scoutmaster approve you taking the badge in advance.

Requirement 5:  Watch the national evening news for five days in a row or read the main stories in a national media organization (e.g., a newspaper or news website) for five days in a row.

Discuss the national issues that you learned about with your counselor. Choose one issue and explain how it affects you, your family, and community.

[Note:  It’s a national issue. That means, for purposes of the badge, we don’t care if a Tot Lot was completed across from the elementary school and that would not satisfy the requirement.  On the other hand, we do care if policy announced by Congress or the President will impact the country.]

Requirement 6:  With your counselor’s approval, choose a speech of national historical importance. Explain:

a. Who the author was – i.e. who wrote the speech?

b. What the historical context was – i.e. why was speaker in this particular place at this particular time?  None of the speeches that will qualify involve a streetcorner prophet.

c. What difficulties the nation faced that the author wished to discuss – i.e., the speaker had a purpose in addressing the group he/she addresses to try to solve something – what was it?

d. What the author said – i.e., what position did the author advocate on the national issue?

e. Why the speech is important to the nation’s history. – i.e., why should we as a nation still care about what was said?  Did it motivate change and if so, what was that change?  Was it complete change or do we have further to go to achieve the speaker’s goal?

f.  Choose a sentence or two from the speech that has significant meaning to you, and tell your counselor why.  For this, you’ll need to read the sentences and tell us why it has meaning to you.

Be prepared to present this to the group.  Make sure this is your work—I’ve seen the websites that try to simplify this.

Speeches are your choice – there are hundreds that can qualify.  Some examples:

• Lincoln --Gettysburg Address
• Reagan – Address @ Brandenburg Gate “Tear Down this Wall”
• MLK - I Have a Dream
• Patrick Henry—Give me Liberty or Give Me Death

Requirement 7:  Do TWO of the following – NOT ONE, BUT TWO:

1. Visit a place that is listed as a National Historic Landmark or that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Tell your counselor what you learned about the landmark or site and what you found interesting about it.  If you don’t know or need to find one:  National Register Database and Research - National Register of Historic Places (U.S. National Park Service); you’ll be surprised what may be in your town.
2. Tour your state capitol building or the U.S. Capitol. Tell your counselor what you learned about the capitol, its function, and the history.
3. Tour a federal facility. Explain to your counselor what you saw there and what you learned about its function in the local community and how it serves this nation.
4. Choose a national monument that interests you. Using books, brochures, the Internet (with your parent or guardian's permission), and other resources, find out more about the monument. Tell your counselor what you learned, and explain why the monument is important to this country's citizens.

If you have done one of these already, like a tour of the Capitol in Madison through school, great.  Now go through the list and choose a second one, because the badge requires that you do two of the four…come with one, walk away with a partial…