LYNNWOOD—When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and upended daily life, many teenagers searched for ways to fill long, uncertain days at home. For Skyler McKay, 18, what began as a way to stay busy, became a yearslong pursuit that would place him among a tiny fraction of Scouts in history.
The recent Mountlake Terrace High School graduate has earned 142 merit badges — one more than are currently offered through Scouting America, formerly the Boy Scouts of America. His total includes the Medicine Merit Badge, which he completed before it was discontinued and replaced by the Health Care Professions Merit Badge.
For McKay, merit badges have never been about collecting patches.
Each one, he said, represents an opportunity to learn a new skill, explore a potential career path or discover a lifelong hobby.
“To me, every merit badge is a gateway into a hobby or possibly even a career,” McKay said.
His first merit badge was Cooking, which required him to learn kitchen safety, food preparation and meal planning. Other badges taught lessons that reached far beyond the classroom or campsite.
The Personal Management Merit Badge, for example, helped him develop skills in budgeting and time management.
In working toward his Lifesaving Merit Badge, McKay successfully performed three rescues while employed as a lifeguard at the Lynnwood Recreation Center. He later lost that job because of city budget cuts, but the experience reinforced the practical value of the skills he learned through Scouting.
McKay’s journey toward earning every merit badge began at a much more modest pace.
When the pandemic arrived in 2020, Scouting America began offering virtual merit badge classes. With schools operating remotely and limited amounts of assigned work, McKay found himself with more free time than he had ever experienced.
“My one hour a day of homework that they [the school district] were allowed to give took me like maybe five, 10 minutes. And then I had nothing else to do. So, I started taking more merit badge classes, and I got up to, I think it was about 80 before my scout master challenged me to a hundred. Before I got there, I was like, I’m over halfway now. Why don’t I just try and get them all,” Skyler McKay told the Lynnwood Times. “What really just became like something to fill my time just kind of became a goal to achieve and accomplish at the very end.”
Some badges proved far more challenging than others.
The Bugling Merit Badge remains one of the least-earned badges because it requires Scouts to learn and perform specific pieces of music on a bugle. Another badge that often appears near the bottom of completion lists is Scuba Diving, largely because of the cost involved. To earn the badge, Scouts must become certified through the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, commonly known as PADI.
McKay completed his scuba certification at Camp Emerald Bay on Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles. Today, he is certified to dive up to 60 feet underwater.
The certification opened the door to a skill he plans to use for years to come.
His next goal, he said, is earning a dry suit certification so he can dive more comfortably in the cold waters of Puget Sound.
“I don’t handle cold very well,” he joked.
Looking back, McKay estimates he spent hundreds of hours pursuing merit badges, though he said the commitment is easier to measure in days — or even weeks.
Some badges can be completed relatively quickly. The Fingerprinting Merit Badge, for example, can be earned in about 30 minutes. Others require significantly more time and dedication.
The Backpacking Merit Badge was among the last badges McKay completed because Troop 49 does not typically organize multi-day backpacking excursions. Another local troop, Troop 312 in Edmonds, stepped in to help him finish the requirements.
“I have had several merit badges that counselors from that troop have gone out of their way to help me achieve,” said Skyler McKay.
Of all the badges he earned, McKay said the most difficult was Surveying. Because of pandemic restrictions, he completed much of the coursework virtually. While he described the instructor as “extremely knowledgeable,” he found the technical subject matter challenging to grasp through a computer screen.
Beyond practical skills, the merit badge journey introduced McKay to hobbies and interests that continue to shape his life. He developed collections of coins and stamps and gained a deeper appreciation for photography and videography. The Stamp Collecting Merit Badge, in particular, left a lasting impression.
“Seeing how a hobby that many people enjoy, and is very popular, how detailed it can be. Even on the surface, it may look just sort of like, you know, when we think of stamps, we think of the things that, you know, you put on a note card, and you never see it again. But there’s a lot of detail that goes into the artwork of stamps, and the history behind them, too, is also impressive,” said Skyler McKay. “You’ll find the messages hidden in the stamps, too. They all tell a story.”
McKay’s Scouting journey began long before his pursuit of merit badges.
He joined Cub Scouts in first grade and spent five years in the program before crossing over into Scouts BSA in 2018. Within a month, he had earned his first merit badge.
While merit badges helped him build skills and confidence, McKay said one of the organization’s greatest strengths is its emphasis on community and leadership.
Unlike many youth organizations, Scout troops are largely youth-led, requiring members to learn leadership skills through experience.
“You come in having little to no idea how leadership works so you have to learn and grow together and help each other advance,” said Skyler McKay.
The lessons McKay values most, however, extend beyond leadership or outdoor skills.
He said helping others has become a guiding principle in his life.
“I want nothing more than to use my knowledge and expertise in any area that I have to help make someone else have a better day or have a better experience at something,” said Skyler McKay. “In life, we can’t necessarily do everything on our own. Even the strongest person can’t do everything by themselves. It requires other people to help. And for the longest time, earlier in my life, I didn’t have anybody. I was on my own. And I hate that more than anything, for people to feel like they have no one.”
That commitment to service has defined much of McKay’s work in and out of Scouting.
As part of his Eagle Scout project, he organized a toy drive for children entering foster care. The effort ultimately delivered 1,500 toys to young people facing difficult circumstances. Attached to each toy was a handwritten letter of encouragement.
According to McKay, “words can mean more to a child in foster care than an object ever could.”
Over the years, he has also helped build Little Free Libraries, constructed bridges across muddy sections of local dog parks, restored community trails, built wooden storage bins for Nourishing Network and created outdoor visitation covers for PAWS during the pandemic so people could safely interact with animals.
While community service remains his primary motivation, McKay said he hopes one day to receive the Vigil Honor through the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s national honor society.
Outside of Scouting, McKay enjoys reading, playing video games and teaching Taekwondo. He is a third-degree black belt and particularly enjoys history and science courses, especially astronomy.
This year, he graduated from Mountlake Terrace High School and plans to attend Edmonds College, where he will study cybersecurity.
McKay is one of roughly 60 Scouts in Troop 49, an active troop that regularly organizes camping trips, hikes, biking excursions and canoe outings throughout the year.
“We’re an active troop. We’ve got at least two or three activities we do every month, knowing that there’s no way any of the scouts are going to attend everything all the time. So you pick and choose. You do what you’re most interested in and what works into your schedule,” said Skyler’s mother, Lisa McKay, committee chair for Troop 49.
Parents are encouraged to participate as much as they are able, she said.
“Parents can be as involved or as uninvolved as they want to be. We encourage parents to be involved. Scouts generally tend to get more out of the program if the parent is at least somewhat engaged. But that doesn’t mean they have to be in a leadership position,” said Lisa McKay.
As committee chair, McKay said she and other committee members oversee troop operations and help ensure activities are conducted safely.
“The joke in the troops is sort of the committee chair is the person responsible for keeping the troop out of the news for doing something stupid,” said Lisa McKay.
Watching her son’s accomplishments over the years has come as little surprise.
Lisa McKay described Skyler as an “amazing kid” who has always pursued his goals with determination.
His latest achievement is one few Scouts will ever match. While an estimated 4% to 8% of Scouts earn the rank of Eagle Scout, earning every available merit badge is extraordinarily rare. Fewer than 1,000 Scouts in history have accomplished the feat — less than 0.001% of all participants.
For McKay, the accomplishment is less about the number stitched onto a sash and more about the experiences, skills and relationships gained along the way.
What started as a way to fill spare hours during a pandemic ultimately became a journey measured not just in merit badges, but in lessons that will last a lifetime.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
