Boy Scouts at Camp Manatoc learned a valuable business lesson this summer – you can earn money while fishing, swimming, and going to archery practice. And how did these Scouts do this? Through the Great Trail Council’s Entrepreneurship Merit Badge career program. With the support of a $10,000 grant from The Burton D. Morgan Foundation, Scouts were able to earn an Entrepreneurship Merit Badge by starting a small business at camp. Some of the businesses included pizza delivery to tents after hours, an ice cream stand, firewood delivery, and a bait shop at the lake. The Entrepreneurship Merit Badge career program, according to Mike Jones, Scout Executive of the Great Trail Council, “is an opportunity for Scouts to develop self-confidence and experience entrepreneurship at an early age, to add practical experience to the theoretical skills and to provide youth with state-of-the-art knowledge from local business people.” This is the fourth year that the Foundation has supported Great Trail Council’s Entrepreneurship Merit Badge Program. And as Mike Jones went on to say, “Our Scouts quickly discovered that a successful business takes hard work, not just a good idea.”

Back to Venture Adventure Contents