Bemidji State Hosts Free Merit Badge Day for Young Girl Scouts

About 35 Daisy and Brownie Girl Scouts from the Lakes and Pines region bounced between six classrooms inside Hagg-Sauer Hall on March 28, completing requirements for storytelling, first aid, democracy, home scientist, gardener, and eco-camper badges in one free Saturday session at Bemidji State University.

The seventh annual Merit Badge Day was organized by BSU chemistry department chair Bob Quandt, who launched the program to bring university professors directly to younger scouts. "A few years back, I had the thought, 'Well, why don't I have Bemidji State University professors teach classes to the scouts,'" Quandt said. Increasing university awareness was an explicit goal from the start.

Daisies, scouts in grades K-1, and Brownies, scouts in grades 2-3, rotated through separate workshop stations led by BSU staff and local volunteers. The six-badge structure let scouts from the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin Lakes and Pines council complete a full badge day on campus rather than scheduling individual sessions across weeks.

Quandt, who grew up in Grand Forks and previously worked at Illinois State University before joining BSU, has kept the event running through most of its history. Only the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled, both due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seven editions over roughly eight years makes Merit Badge Day one of the more durable community-university partnerships in Beltrami County. The Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin Lakes and Pines, headquartered in Waite Park and serving girls across northern Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, administers the regional council that coordinates scout participation each year.