Thank you for your interest in Wood Badge! Robert Baden-Powell began Wood Badge training in 1919 as a way to ensure that the leaders of Scout troops were properly trained. Since then, Wood Badge has been held worldwide, providing advanced leadership training to thousands of Scout leaders. But you might be wondering, “Why should I attend Wood Badge?” By taking Wood Badge, you will acquire valuable tools such as listening, communicating, conflict management, project planning, and leading change. You will learn to better understand and appreciate diversity and differences in our society. Learn skills that will make you a better Scout leader. Units with trained leaders are able to deliver an improved program and a more meaningful experience for our youth in Cub Scouting, Scouts BSA, Sea Scouting, Venturing, and Explorering. The skills learned at Wood Badge will not only help your Scouting unit excel, but will also benefit your personal and professional lives. 

Attending Wood Badge was an amazing personal experience. I developed lasting friendships with the Scouters who attended the course with me. The personal and professional skills I learned at Wood Badge continue to help my Scouts, Scouting units, and my professional work. Having the opportunity to staff Wood Badge has helped me to grow, learn, and share the spirit of Scouting with many Scouters. As we celebrate the 102^nd anniversary of Wood Badge, I look forward to an exciting and fun-filled course. 

Join us at Pipsico Scout Reservation April 30 – May 2, 2021 and May 22 – 23, 2021 for the 2021 Wood Badge course. Consider bringing along a friend to share in the fun. I will guarantee you will have a great time, will make friends, will be challenged, and will have lots of fun doing it. 

If you have any questions or would like to talk to me, feel free to call 757-617-7440 or email 2020twb@gmail.com.

If you have read the information below and are ready to register, then go to the online Wood Badge registration page. Please read and follow the instructions carefully and fill out all information, particularly if you are intending to make a $100 deposit to hold your place in the course.

The 2021 Wood Badge course will be held at Pipsico Scout Reservation on April 30 – May 2, 2021 and May 22 – 23, 2021.

Cost for the Course is $270.00 if you pay not later than February 27, 2021. This fee includes meals for the first weekend and closing luncheon, course materials, hat, and T-Shirt. Space is limited to the first 48 individuals. The full fee is due not later than April 9, 2021.  Wood Badge is a high energy and challenging leadership program delivered according to national BSA standards. Read more in the Scoutmaster’s Welcome letter to find out all the details and how to join a great Scouting tradition.

The course is open to all Scouters, regardless of position or program. Older youth 18 and older may attend as long as the appropriate Youth Protection guidelines are followed. Youth must be registered, but do not need to be registered in an adult leadership role. 

Wood Badge, simply stated, is “Leadership for Scouting, Leadership for America.”  It is a 5-day, hands-on, full bore, intense learning experience using contemporary leadership concepts utilized in corporate America and leading government organizations that are relevant to Scouting’s values-based movement. Participants apply skills they learn through their shared participation as a member of a successful, working, high-performance team. 

A former Wood Badge Scoutmaster has more reasons! Listen below. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmNvFjOpGnQ

Today’s Wood Badge is for all volunteers in the Scouting movement regardless of position or program – Cub Scouting, Scouts BSA, Sea Scouting, Exploring, and Venturing, as well as for all district and council volunteers. Although many attendees are Scouts BSA program volunteers, that trend is changing rapidly! Nearly 40% of the attendees at the last several courses were Cub Scouters and Venturing Advisors.

There are NO tenure requirements to attend Wood Badge. The only “qualification” is the desire to learn and have fun. Learning leadership and planning skills as early as possible only improves your ability to deliver the Scouting program in the most effective ways. In fact, national BSA goals are to have every volunteer attend Wood Badge within two years of first becoming a volunteer – regardless of program. The only minimum requirement is that you have completed position-specific training for your primary registered position and, for Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters, Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills. All other participants are encouraged to attend Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills, but it is not required. If you are unsure about whether you meet the training requirements, contact the Wood Badge Course Director.

Attendance at Wood Badge only requires that you have basic camping skills. The first weekend is primarily spent indoors in a classroom setting, sleeping in platform tents and cots provided at the camp.  For the first weekend, you will only need your personal items, a sleeping bag, some mosquito screening so you can sleep comfortably, and your full Scout uniform. The Wood Badge staff will provide a Class B shirt, hats, and all meals for the first weekend.  We are glad to make any special arrangements to meet your special needs. The second weekend does require you to do some basic tent camping and cook a few simple meals with your patrol in a designated site in Camp Lions using Leave No Trace principles. You will camp with your assigned patrol and, if you are not very experienced, we will ensure that you will have plenty of experienced patrol members to help you have a great time. The object of Wood Badge is not to learn camping skills (that is available to you in other Scouting training programs), but to learn leadership and team development! Weather permitting, we will schedule many of our sessions outdoors so you can experience and enjoy the nature and unique environment of Pipsico Scout Reservation.

Some of the leadership and team development concepts you will learn in Wood Badge are directly from some of the leadership “gurus” of the corporate world, and you may have been exposed to them – in a more sterile corporate, academic, or government environment.  In Wood Badge, you not only learn about them, but you will live, reinforce, and apply—in real time—those concepts for five days in a safe environment within the special context of delivering the promise of Scouting to our youth. Most participants find the live challenge of having to apply these concepts with their fellow Scout leaders to be what makes Wood Badge such a unique experience. Bottom line: Anybody can sit through a lecture about leadership. Getting up from that lecture and immediately applying what you have learned is something entirely different and ultimately more rewarding!

One of the greatest traditions of Wood Badge is the “ticket.”  During the first few days of the course, each participant is required to develop a personal Vision with emphasis on their work in Scouting. From this Vision, each person creates several personal goals—related to his/her Scouting job—to achieve during the next 18 months following the course, that will enable utilization of his/her newly learned leadership skills. The goals should be challenging and, if needed, the staff will help guide you. The goals are flexible and can apply not only to your current position but any area of Scouting that is your interest.

The entire experience is focused on learning through practice. The staff is there to support and guide. Participants work together toward common goals in small teams.  The environment is positive and supportive; designed to encourage practice, exploration, and personal growth.

Scholarships in an amount up to one-half of the course fee are available. Scholarship amounts awarded are based on expressed financial need only. Contact the Course Director for more information about how to apply. Be sure to talk to your unit committee about its policy on supporting unit volunteers with their course fees as part of the unit budget.

After experiencing Wood Badge, Bryan of Bryan On Scouting said, “Wood Badge lives up to the hype. For new Scouters, it’ll jump-start your Scouting career faster than you can say ‘Be Prepared.’  And the many BSA veterans on my course told me it recharged their Scouting batteries more than they ever dreamed.” Read the rest of his blog post here.

Bryan wrote this about his experience at Wood Badge in Scouting magazine:

“NO UMBRELLA-TOPPED drinks served poolside. No quality time with your Kindle.  No seaweed body wraps, no room service, no hot-stone massages. Is Wood Badge a stress-free vacation? No. But for a vacation that tests your limits, gives meaning to your time spent in Scouting and makes your job as a leader easier, just say yes to Scouting¹s pre-eminent training course for adults. Your deluxe six-day, all-inclusive Wood Badge experience comes with decades of Scouting knowledge, a skilled and helpful staff and a guided tour through the entire Scouting program from Tiger Cubs to Venturing. And the price? Less than a single night’s cost that fancy resort with the pool.”

Read the rest of article here.