A 19-year-old boy from Minnesota just became one of the few people in the 109-year history of the Boy Scouts of America to earn every possible merit badge.
Matt Lindbo from Redwood Falls made it his full-time job to get all the badges. He now has so many that he needs three sashes to show them all off.
“I saw getting every merit badge as something like winning a state championship in sports,” Matt said. “I’m not very good at sports. So for me, that was the best day of my life.”
When Matt was 12, he got his first badge. He was so proud of it that he decided to get all of them. Even when it came to doing some of the tasks, like selling popcorn, he made them harder. Matt wanted to earn $500 for the popcorn during his first year as a Cub Scout. By the time he moved up to the Boy Scouts, he was making $10,000 a year.
A 19-year-old boy from Minnesota just became one of the few people in the 109-year history of the Boy Scouts of America to earn every possible merit badge.
Matt Lindbo from Redwood Falls made it his full-time job to get all the badges. He now has so many that he needs three sashes to show them all off.
“I saw getting every merit badge as something like winning a state championship in sports,” Matt said. “I’m not very good at sports. So for me, that was the best day of my life.”
When Matt was 12, he got his first badge. He was so proud of it that he decided to get all of them. Even when it came to doing some of the tasks, like selling popcorn, he made them harder. Matt wanted to earn $500 for the popcorn during his first year as a Cub Scout. By the time he moved up to the Boy Scouts, he was making $10,000 a year.
Matt needed 21 merits to become an Eagle Scout at 16, but he already had 48 by the time he was 17, so he decided to go for the most. To do this, Matt had to earn almost twice as much in one year as he had in his whole life up to that point.
Matt said, “People kind of looked at me like I was crazy.” “I looked at my mom and said, ‘I’m only 89 days away. I think I can.”
Matt’s last badge was in woodworking, and he got it just before he turned 18. He was number 350 out of 100 million people to reach that goal.
His scoutmaster, Patrick Rohland, said, “He doesn’t give up.” “Once he makes up his mind about something, you can’t change it. It just gets done.”
Matt is a scout leader for both Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts right now, and he wants to go into law enforcement. He plans to study at Minnesota West Community and Technical College to get the training he needs.