Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge

Complete the Merit Badge Without Leaving Your House!

Free!*

* Normal Long distance charges apply.

Update: July 2020

: I don't currently have any merit badge sessions scheduled. About 30 scouts in 4 states earned this badge in April through June. If you are a scout and want to work with me on the badge, send me an e-mail. I can work with you individually, or with a small group. If I work with you individually, you will need to have a parent on the phone line during our sessions. If we have a small group, we will need another registered BSA leader to assist (who will mostly sit back and listen). This can be an adult leader of any troop, pack, or crew, or a registered merit badge counselor for another merit badge. Important: If you e-mail me, you must send a copy of the e-mail ("CC") to your parent. If you forget to do this, I won't be able to reply, and I'll need to delete your e-mail!

I am currently counseling the Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge by telephone conference call. Your counselor will be me, Richard Clem. To comply with BSA rules, I will have another registered adult leader assisting with all of the conference call sessions. We will have 3 conference call sessions, on Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, Central Time. If you register now, you will start with part 3 on June 2, then part 1 on June 9, and then part 2 on June 16.

There is no cost other than normal long-distance phone charges (you will need to dial a phone number in Iowa to be connected). Get your parent's permission and/or use a phone line with unlimited long distance. Most cell phone plans include free long distance calling, but most landline phones will incur a charge. Check first!

I am a registered merit badge counselor in the Northern Star Council of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. I think I can sign off for scouts in other councils, but that's ultimately up to your own unit and council. So if you are from another council, check first with your local leaders to make sure it's OK. If you want to look over the material before you register, here are the links for everything you will need to do your "homework" and call in:

How to Register

To register for this merit badge, enter the information below, and then click submit. I will contact you by e-mail, and send a copy to the parent/unit leader addresses you enter. (If a parent is registering, just enter the same address both places. The second parent/unit leader address is optional, and you can just leave it blank.) I will let you know that you are registered, or that you are on the waiting list for the next session.

I also need to get a signed blue card from your scoutmaster. There are a few ways to do this. The easiest way is to ask your scoutmaster to connect me with you on Scoutbook, so that I can sign requirements electronically. You or your scoutmaster can also e-mail me an electronic copy of the blue card to clem.law@usa.net. (Remember, if you send an e-mail, be sure to copy your unit leader and/or parent.) You can mail it to me by snail mail to: Richard Clem, 1616 N. Victoria St., St. Paul, MN 55117. If all else fails, just have your scoutmaster send me an e-mail saying that it's OK for you to start working on the merit badge, and we'll figure it out later. Your scoutmaster can also connect me with you on Scoutbook, and I can sign off requirements there.

Note: 99% of scouts will be able to complete all of the requirements for this merit badge at home. However, there is one requirement that can't be done virtually, because it requires a "visit" to a place listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In most cases, a "visit" might be impossible right now. Fortunately, unless you have been living under a rock, it's almost certain that you have visited one of these places recently. (In fact, if you were living under a rock, the rock might be on the National Register of Historic Places.) Therefore, I suspect that 100% of scouts will be able to meet this requirement. If it turns out to be impossible, you can still get a "partial," and complete that requirement later. This is one of the first requirements you will do, so you'll know right away if you can complete the merit badge.

Online registration is closed. If you are intersted in signing up for a future session, please read the instructions above about e-mailing.

We will have 3 telephone conference call counseling sessions, and you can complete the entire merit badge. Try to attend all of the sessions, but if you need to miss one, we can probably make it up. Please Be Prepared for each session. You will have "homework" to do before each session. The homework will probably take about one hour, and each session will be about 30 minutes long.

Getting Ready for the Merit Badge Sessions

There will be three sessions for this merit badge. They will be on Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Central Time. There is work you need to do before each session. The preparation will probably take you about one hour for each session. If it's taking much longer than that, please talk to me or to a parent. The one exception is before the second session. You will need to watch the TV news for 5 nights in a row, so that will take you 2.5 hours. But it's 2.5 hours of watching TV, so I think you can handle that.

As soon as you are registered, you should start doing your "homework" for the first session. You will find the instructions at this link for part 1. For the following weeks, this is the link for part 2, and this is the link for part 3. Please start as soon as possible. Note: Not all scouts will start with part 1. Some will start with part 2, and some will start with part 3. I'll send an e-mail reminder letting you know which one to start with.

About Your Counselor

Richard P. Clem is a registered merit badge counselor in the BSA Northern Star Council, and an assistant scoutmaster of Troop 461 in Maplewood, Minnesota. He is an attorney and continuing legal education (CLE) provider in Minnesota. He has been in private practice in the Twin Cities for about 30 years. He has a J.D., cum laude, from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul and a B.A. in History from the University of Minnesota. His reported cases include: Asociacion Nacional de Pescadores a Pequena Escala o Artesanales de Colombia v. Dow Quimica de Colombia, 988 F.2d 559, rehearing denied, 5 F.3d 530 (5th Cir. 1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1041 (1994); LaMott v. Apple Valley Health Care Center, 465 N.W.2d 585 (Minn. Ct. App. 1991); Abo el Ela v. State, 468 N.W.2d 580 (Minn. Ct. App. 1991).

You cane visit his websites at RichardClem.com, w0is.com, and OneTubeRadio.com.

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Copyright 2020, Richard P. Clem.
Attorney Richard P. Clem is responsible for the content of this page.

Richard P. Clem, Attorney
PO Box 14957
Minneapolis, MN 55414
USA
Phone: +1-612-378-7751
e-mail: clem.law@usa.net
Minnesota Attorney Registration Number 0192648

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