Scouts learn horsemanship skills as part of summerlong merit badge academy
SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — It was not Zane Bajuszik’s first experience being around horses at Slippery Rock University’s Storm Harbor Equestrian Center on Thursday, Aug. 7, but it was certainly his first time riding one.
“My father-in-law lives up here and he’s got horses,” said Brady Bajuszik, Zane’s father. “He goes for buggy rides. He’ll take my two daughters with him too and we’ll go for a buggy ride up and down the road.”
Zane was one of the Scouts participating in horsemanship classes as part of Moraine Trails Council’s 2025 Bucoco Summer Merit Badge Program. Classes for the badge took place over two separate days, with Thursday serving as the riding portion. More than a dozen Scouts participated.
Brady Bajuszik said his son usually goes to a summer camp in Virginia, but picked up a handful of badges from the Moraine Trails academy.
“It’s all about having different opportunities and experiencing different things. He likes it, being a Scout,” he said.
The Scouts met at 9 a.m. Thursday to begin learning from academy program assistant Hannah Ogoreuc about how to properly care for horses.
Then, around 10 a.m., the Scouts mounted up and began to learn how to get their horse to start, stop, turn, trot and back up. Scouts took turns riding and leading the horses through an outdoor arena before heading into the center to take their test.
Denise Miller, one of the parents, made the drive from Natrona Heights in Allegheny County to attend the horsemanship classes for her son.
“This is not our home council, but they have been so friendly and so welcoming,” Miller said.
Her son, JB Hood, has a lofty goal: to collect every merit badge. She said he collected four from the Moraine Trails academy this summer: robotics, archery, digital technology and horsemanship.
“This is number 39, and we have 100 to go,” Miller said. “They’re always saying, ‘You’re going too fast,’ and he says, ‘Eagle is not my goal.’”
She added that Scouting America is considering adding new merit badges, which will make her son’s goal even harder to reach. His most desired badge, however, is nuclear science.
“He wants nuclear science really bad because his dad has the old version,” Miller said. “He says, ‘If I had my choice, I’d do it right before my Eagle,’ and I have to remind him it doesn’t always work that way.”
While it was their first year attending the Moraine Trails academy, she said they are already looking forward to returning next year.
Thursday’s horsemanship classes were also the last for this year’s academy, which offered more than a dozen badges between June and August.
Joe Groves, program specialist for Moraine Trails Council, said his goal when designing this year’s academy was to offer a wide range of badge opportunities, from citizenship badges to aviation.
“For the robotics badge, we actually got a robotics professor to come in and teach the Scouts. We have a partnership with Moraine State Park to let anyone under 16 fish for their fishing badge. For our space exploration badge, we had Scout executive Ray Tennent launch some model rockets,” Groves said.
The merit badge academy started as an alternative to summer camp, Groves said. The council last had a summer camp in 2019, and began running the academy annually after COVID-19 restrictions lifted.
Groves said the goal of the academy aligns with the goal of the council and Scouting America altogether: building skills in Scouts to set them up for the future.
“In our program and through our council, we look to help kids develop necessary leadership, survival and career skills,” he said. “A lot of the badges let them explore careers and see if something is a good fit.”
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Dylan Waugaman practices tying a knot during classroom work on Day One of the young Scouts getting their horsemanship merit badge at Camp Bucoco in Slippery Rock on Tuesday, Aug. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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AJ Kaiser practices mounting a during classroom work on Day One of young Scouts getting their horsemanship merit badge at Camp Bucoco in Slippery Rock on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Dylan Waugaman practices mounting a during classroom work on Day One of young Scouts getting their horsemanship merit badge at Camp Bucoco in Slippery Rock on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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AJ Kaiser practices tying a knot during classroom work on Day One of the young Scouts getting their horsemanship merit badge at Camp Bucoco in Slippery Rock on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Dylan Waugaman, left, practices with his brother, David, tying a knot during classroom work on Day One of the young Scouts getting their horsemanship merit badge at Camp Bucoco in Slippery Rock on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Dylan Waugaman practices tying a knot during classroom work on Day One of the young Scouts getting their horsemanship merit badge at Camp Bucoco in Slippery Rock on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Dylan Waugaman sits on the horse and guides it as his brother, David, leads the horse as they practice as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Zoe Crumb sits on the horse and guides it as her sister, Keira, leads the horse as she practices as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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David Waugaman guides the horse for practice turns as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Zoe Crumb sits on the horse and guides it as her sister, Keira, leads the horse as she practices as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Matthew Yonker points as the horse turns as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Dylan Waugaman sits on the horse and guides it as his brother, David, leads the horse as they practice as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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AJ Kaiser scrapes the dirt from the horse’s hoof with the help of student worker Emma Werling as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Zoe Crumb sits on the horse and guides it as her sister, Keira, leads the horse as she practices as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Matthew Yonker grooms the horse before it is riddent as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Matthew Yonker grooms the horse before it is ridden as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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AJ Kaiser brushes his horse’s tail as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Matthew Yonker sits on the horse and guides it as Will Sheffield leads the horse as she practices as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Zoe Crumb sits on the horse and guides it as she practices as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Dylan Waugaman sits on the horse and guides it as his brother, David, leads the horse as they practice as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Zoe Crumb sits on the horse and guides it as her sister, Keira, leads the horse as she practices as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Zoe Crumb mounts her horse on the first attempt as young Scouts work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Scouts line up to get help mounting their horses as they work on getting their horsemanship merit badge at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center in Slippery Rock on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
