May Merit Badge Leadership

Learning to lead is an important skill that will benefit you far beyond this hobby of rockhounding. As you learn from your youth leader, I hope you will be inspired to take the initiative to become a leader yourself.  As you develop and deepen your knowledge and skill gained through Future Rockhounds of America activities, assist in teaching your fellow youth members and in helping your youth leader to decide which activities to pursue with the group.


A junior member helping two pebble pups.

To earn your leadership badge, you must complete three of the following activities:

Activity 1.  Become a leader within your rock club's youth group and help decide what topics and activities your group will do this year and next year.

Activity 2. Organize a group display, take charge of organizing a group pebble pup display at your club show or at another venue.

Activity 3: Lead a show-and-tell session or presentation.  Lead a group show-and-tell session, presentation, or symposium to adult members of your club or to the group of pebble pups.

Activity 4. Plan and lead a field trip

Activity 5: Manage a youth activity booth at a local gem show. Either on your own or working with adult members of your club, help to decide on activities in a kids' activity both at your local gem show, and then help to run the booth during the show.

Activity 6: Oversee a newsletter column for a year in your club's newsletter.

Activity 7: Become a mentor to younger or less experienced members of your club, sharing your knowledge and experience with them in a specific project, such as how to build a collection.

Adult leader discussing how pebble pups should prepare a collection.

Learning about dinosaurs

Adult leader telling juniors and pebble pups how to work a diamond saw to cut geodes

April Merit Badge: Field Trips

The ultimate hands-on activity is a field trip.  Little can replace the thrill of discovering a precious gemstone or a fossil first-hand.   Also, a lapidary project has a lot more personal value and meaning if you collected the material yourself.  But before you start down the road, you need to know the laws of your state and rules governing proper behavior for collectors and respecting private property. You also need to consider what you'll be collecting and how you'll collect it and then make plans to gather together the proper equipment. 



Pebble Pup collecting fossil insects and plants at the Florissant Fossil Quarry

 To earn your field trip merit badge, you must complete three of the following activities:

Activity 1: Trip etiquette. Learn and demonstrate the knowledge of the AFMS Code of Ethics (Google this).

Activity 2: Field trip planning. Choose a locality for a field trip from a guidebook for from suggestions by adult members in your club.  Draw a map and directions to your site. List what you expect to find, then list the tools and supplies you'll need to collect and transport your finds home.

Activity 3: Going on a filed trip. (required to earn this badge): take a filed trip to a collecting locality.  Be sure to follow proper field trip etiquette during the trip, and have fun.  The club will soon post all field trip opportunities.  There will be a Junior/Pebble Pup field trip on June 11. Look at the previous post.

Activity 4: Record keeping. start And maintain a "field journal" of what you did and what you found during your field trips in a composition of spiral-bound notebook, three-ring  binder, or other record book or on the computer. Take notes while in the field and later write up a formal report including observations about the locality and specimens.  Pinpoint where you found your rocks, minerals, or fossils, so that others could locate the spot. If you have a camera, illustrate your field journal with photos, or provide drawing that may prove useful to others wishing to visit the site.

Activity 5: The indoor field trip. Organize a field trip to a college geology department or to a museum. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science is a good place to visit, so is the museum at the Colorado School of Mines.  They have a specimen of Veatchite.

A field trip leader is assisting pebble pups with questions

A field trip leader comes well prepared.  It is good to have knee pads if you will be searching on the ground for specimens

A group of Junior and Pebble Pup members exploring the landscape for peridot



Pebble Pup searching for gems

Pebble Pup collecting peridot

PEBBLE PUP / JUNIOR FIELDTRIP

JUNE 18, 2011

The trip to Leadville was a great success.  We had a relatively large group and everyone found really nice pyrite specimens.  The best place to look was on the gray areas of the old mine dump.

Directions: After driving three hours to Leadville, Hwy 24 will become Harrison Street.

Trip Meter

0.0 Intersection of Harrison and 5th street. Turn right (EAST) on 5th street and go 1.7 miles

1.7 Turn right on nearly invisible road. If I get there first I’ll put up a small sign. GPS N390 14.872’, W1060 15.673’

1.9 Park! GPS N390 14.806’, W1060 15.715’ This is the spot