Boy Scouts to earn new Merit Badge with help from RLC Mining and Industrial Department

INA, Ill. (Sept. 4, 2014) - One group of Boy Scouts will be the first in the state to earn the new Mining in Society Merit Badge this weekend with the help of Knight Hawk Coal Mine, the Illinois Mining Institute, and the Rend Lake College Mining and Industrial Department.

Local scouts from the Egyptian and Kaskaskia districts will meet at RLC from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 6 to get some hands-on experience with coal mining. The new merit badge, developed in part by Dr. Joseph Hirschi, is aimed to teach the boys about different career opportunities. Don McBride, RLC Mining Technology Instructor, said he’s looking forward to the event.

“Dr. Hirschi will be doing the inaugural event here on the morning of Sept. 6, and then the Boy Scouts will start working with me and several other guest speakers in the simulation mine and on other topics,” said McBride. “I’m excited to be a part of something like this that is both educational and fun for the young men in the area who may be interested in the coal mining industry.”

Over the last five years, Hirschi has been a member of the Boy Scouts Content Development Team, working to establish this merit badge with specific requirements. Some of those requirements include locating five mining enterprises in the state or region, discussing hazards a miner may encounter while in an active mine and protective measures they could use, and reviewing dangers someone might encounter at an abandoned mine, among many others.

“I’ve been involved with Boy Scouts since I was a little boy, going through it myself and for the last 30 plus years as an adult volunteer leader. Scouting has always been my hobby,” said Hirschi. “I went to school and got a degree in mining engineering, and I joined the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration. As a professional group, we wanted to bring back the mining merit badge.”

The Boy Scouts of America officially approved the badge in February, making this workshop the first of its kind in the area. Hirschi said he’s hoping the merit badges will spark interest and encourage the scouts to look into coal mining as a potential career path in the future.

“There won’t just be speakers; this will be a hands-on workshop where the boys will look at maps and rocks, go through a simulation mine, build a wall and crib for roof support, and a lot of other tasks,” said Hirschi. “We have a fairly significant labor shortage in the mining industry. These new merit badges are one way of exposing the scouts to different career opportunities and we wanted mining to be one of those industries they were exposed to. In an area like ours, where mining is common, it’s a good fit.”

There will be a second day of the workshop, set for 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., Sept. 20, wherein the scouts will leave from RLC and travel to one of Knight Hawk Coal Company's mines to get up close and personal with an actual coal mine. There, they will receive tours and meet professionals in the industry.

For more information about the Mining in Society Merit Badge, contact Dr. Joseph Hirschi at 618-751-0364 or jhirschi77@hotmail.com.