The Chippewa Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America received a pretty impressive merit badge recently: The Eau Claire-based council, which serves more than 4,000 young people in 10 northwestern Wisconsin counties, got the highest score among 285 councils nationwide in the BSA’s annual Journey to Excellence program. The program measures councils on finance, membership, programming, service, and leadership. (We’re not sure if knot-tying is involved, but we suspect it might be.) Executive Director Matt Hill told WEAU-TV the award is a testament to volunteers. “We have a plan in place to make sure that we are serving our kids to the best of our ability,” he added. “So that our kids get a quality program that teaches stewardship and leadership and most importantly is still fun.”