Per our council:
21ST CENTURY WOOD BADGE
Wood Badge is leadership training for all Scout Leaders who are involved in the programs of the Boy Scouts of America – Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Varsity Scouting, and Venturing, as well as council and district leaders, and professionals. This new contemporary training program focuses on leadership and “people” skills, and not Scoutcraft or outdoor skills. Participants will learn techniques to make them better leaders, and also how to lead groups to achieve objectives. The 21st Century Wood Badge incorporates the best of nearly a century of Scouting experience in addition to drawing upon the most current leadership models used by corporate America, academic circles, and successful outdoor leadership organizations throughout the country. Skills developed from Wood Badge training will help a volunteer leader do a better job in any BSA program or at any level of involvement.
But what is it really? I mean… what do the leaders who take this course get out of it?
For a couple of years now, Buffalo Eagle has sung the praises in our troop of one of his all time favorite training events. Wood Badge. He eagerly speaks of his weekends spent among other men and women who unleashed their inner 12 year old boys. Yes, women can have them too. Who knew? In addition to the fun he had, he boasts of how much he enjoyed fulfilling the requirements of his tickets, all that he learned, and how it helped him know how to guide the boys with leadership development.
Many of us in the troop have committed to do it, though some of us just haven’t had the opportunity to pull it together. Yet. I’m in that latter group. But I WILL do it. This past Thursday, my husband got a last second opportunity to attend over the weekend and we cleared every obsticle from his path to make it happen.
Let me tell you, for a man who doesn’t generally sing out loud… he won’t shut up with the songs he proudly learned. He was down right gleeful when he came in last night from an exhaustingly fun weekend. His joy at showing me everything he did this weekend honestly reminded me of when my sons have come in excited (rare as that is) about school. He is truly ramped up and ready to take on anything scouts can give him.
Now that I’ve seen what he (as scribe for his patrol) can write, I’ll likely add him here to add some blogs of his own so watch out! He gets just as excited about scouting as Buffalo Eagle… and me. And I’d be willing to bet… you!
Troop 483 Blog 
