Matt Lindbo started Scouting late, but he sure made up for lost time.
Lindbo, 19, a senior at Redwood Valley High School in Redwood Falls pulled off a feat that's rarely been accomplished since the Boy Scouts of America was founded 109 years ago.
He earned every possible merit badge: 137 of them, from archery to wilderness survival. It takes three sashes to hold all of Lindbo's badges.
"I looked at getting every merit badge kind of like getting a state title in sports," Lindbo said. "I'm not a big athlete. So for me, that was my all-time high."
Lindbo joined Cub Scouts in the first grade, a year later than other kids in his school. And right from the start he was a goal-setter. His Cub Scout pack sold popcorn to raise money, and Lindbo decided he'd sell $500 worth. He made his goal and raised it every year. By the time he was in Boy Scouts, he was setting records by selling nearly $10,000 worth of popcorn a year.
"Let's just say I'm tired of popcorn," he said with a laugh.
When Lindbo started in Boy Scouts at 12, he said he wanted to earn every merit badge.
"Everyone kind of looked at me like I was crazy," he said. He became an Eagle Scout as he turned 16, which requires 21 merit badges, and kept earning more. As he turned 17, he had 48 badges and needed 89 more to get them all — and he had only a year to do it; Boy Scouts age out of the program at 18.
