New at Olmsted in 2025!

What’s gone live in 2025?

It’s not just a new program schedule format this year. In addition to our yearly rotation of merit badges and activities, we’ve made some other changes for summer 2025!

Below are notable changes:

• The biggest change is Thursday morning! Rather than regularly scheduled Merit Badge program, the morning is open. We’ll have open activities at many of our program areas – so if you haven’t had a chance to go boating or swimming at Aquatics or make to the ranges to take aim with Archery, Rifle, or Shotgun, this will be the time to do that. Troops will also have the chance to go on hikes. During the average day, Scouts are so busy they don’t have a chance to get out and hike to Viewing Rock or splash around at the Swimming Hole. Units will be able to go on hikes and spend time with each other. It should be noted that Climbing, ATV, and the new Osprey Older Scout Program will still be running as normally scheduled during this time, as these are multi-camp shared programs. For the rest, take a break from the hectic day to day of badges and have some fun on Thursday morning!
• Also, with that, we’ve streamlined Open Program and reapportioned previous time in the afternoons to be able to offer more structured badges and activities. Now, select areas offer Open Program the third block in the morning, the third block in the afternoon, and we still have plenty of fun activities in the evenings.
• The blocks have also changed. Since all badges will now have 4 sessions – morning and afternoon -, the afternoon blocks will now be 50 minutes, rather than the previous 60 minutes. We’ve also moved up Evening Program to allow for more after program time in the evenings so units can get settled, have more of a chance to take showers, and wind down from the day.
• And on top of all of that, there’s some new Merit Badges! One of the ones we’re most excited about for this summer is Cooking. While this is operated by the Scoutcraft staff, it will be in an entirely new Cooking area. Be on the lookout for it!
• Salesmanship is also being added to Handicraft as the host area, but will be taught at the nearby Trading Post.
• Culture Craft is also moving to a new home up the hill. Be sure to check out the map.
• You may also notice that the program area formerly known as Shooting Sports is now named Range and Target Activities. You can still find all your favorites – Archery, Rifle Shooting, and Shotgun Shooting – here, but with the new name to reflect the updated terminology from National Scouting America. You’ll also notice that we’re trying something a little different with Archery’s format. Rather than having two sections, each with a part in the morning and a part in the afternoon, we’re now operating four sections – each during single blocks and with smaller class sizes.
• By popular demand, we have added a section of Robotics at the Tech Center.
• In order to have the best experience for participants in Mile Swim, those wanting to challenge themselves with this event will need to sign up online before camp – just as they do for any of their scheduled badges and activities.
• If you haven’t heard yet, the Goshen camp fee is all-inclusive. This means that there are no longer class fees for badges and activities like Shotgun, Space Exploration, and ATV. It also means that there is no fee for Open Shotgun Shoot and that any kits you need for badges like Basketry, Leatherwork, and Wood Carving will be provided in class. You won’t need to purchase them from the Trading Post.

Check out the full list of new for 2025 badges and activities below and be sure to check out the full program schedule in the Downloads section to start picking out your favorites for the summer!