If you are at the Mid-America Trucking Show on Saturday, you may see a lot of Boy Scout uniforms.

Trucker Buddy International and the Boy Scouts' Lincoln Heritage Council have teamed up to host a program at the event in Louisville, Ky., to help Scouts earn their Truck Transportation and Traffic Safety merit badges.

More than 200 Scouts, parents and Scouting leaders have registered to attend the merit badge classes and afterward will take a tour of the show floor, where they can see trucks with new technology, trailers, transmissions, engines and tires.

The Scouts will be given instruction from Matt Slovack, a Don Hummer Transportation driver, Trucker Buddy Ambassador and certified Scouting instructor on both merit badges. His instruction stresses traffic safety and broadens their understanding and appreciation of the trucking industry. Slovack has trained hundreds of Scouts on truck and traffic safety using his truck as an educational tool.

 “This fits perfectly with our mission to improve the image of our industry and encourage young students to excel," says Randy Schwartzenburg, Trucker Buddy executive director. "Bringing Boy Scouts to the truck show introduces them to the industry and some may decide to one day become part of it. We hope that the information they learn at the event will one day become a factor in preventing accidents and possibly saving lives.”

As I learned in this blog post last year, the Truck Transportation merit badge  is considered a “rare” merit badge. Among other things, the requirements for the badge ask Scouts to:

• list the major truck lines serving their town

• describe the difference between gasoline and diesel engines

• name government agencies that work closely with the trucking industry

• Define terms such as bill of lading, logbook and intermodal

• Visit a truck terminal

• Learn about career opportunities in the field of truck transportation

Kudos to Trucker Buddy's efforts to make this badge less rare!

If you're not familiar with Trucker Buddy, you should check it out. Trucker Buddy International is an independent, non-profit 501(c) (3) organization, which helps to educate and mentor schoolchildren via a pen pal relationship between professional truck drivers and children in grades K-8 as supervised by their teachers.