Welcome to Cornhusker Council Wood Badge Course 5-324-26-1!

Wood Badge is the premier adult training in Scouting America. In Wood Badge you experience the scouting program, learn leadership skills, and practice teamwork in the patrol method, all while living the values of scouting.

Created by Lord Baden-Powell at Gilwell Park in England, today Wood Badge is offered around the world. Across the two weekends of Wood Badge, you begin your experience as a Cub Scout and cross over to a Scouts BSA Troop, gaining the perspective of a youth and deepening your understanding of the Scouting America program. While portions of the course take place camping, the focus is not outdoor skills and scoutcraft, but rather on leadership and team building. You learn both the theory of leadership and the tools of leadership in ways that not only strengthen your contribution to scouting, but also to your personal and professional life. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself applying lessons learned in Wood Badge to improve the communication and team effectiveness in your day-job as well!

Past participants explain why you should take Wood Badge: https://youtu.be/MEPvnpMLBA0 

Objectives of Wood Badge

• Enable you to view Scouting globally, as a family of interrelated, values-based programs that provide age-appropriate activities.
• Help you recognize contemporary leadership concepts that map to the scouting movement. 
• Apply the skills learned as a member of a successful working team, both in and out of scouting. Revitalize your commitment to and recharge your enthusiasm for Scouting by participating in a shared, inspirational experience.

Practical Phase

The practical phase consists of five days of instruction across two weekends. During these two weekends you will become a member of a group, participate in presentations, learn skills, become an effective team, and have a great time doing it. The course is accessible to adults across the full range of ages, experience, and abilities. The following themes are covered in the practical phase:

• Living the Values—personifying the values; setting the example
• Growing—knowing and growing yourself first with a commitment to continuous improvement and lifelong learning
• Connecting—with other people
• Guiding—focusing on enabling and developing others
• Empowering—ultimately helping other people to become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, and more likely, themselves, “to serve and to lead.”

Example session topics include vision, values, listening, managing conversations, leading change, the stages of team development, coaching & mentoring, servant leadership, and project planning. 

Application Phase

After completion of the two weekends, you will work on your “ticket”, which are five goals you develop for yourself during the course. You have 18 months to complete your ticket, during which you put into practice the leadership skills you have just learned. Upon completion of the Wood Badge ticket, as certified by a ticket counselor and the Scout Executive, you will be presented with the Wood Badge neckerchief, woggle, and beads.

Participation Requirements

• Registered as an adult member of Scouting America, including current Safeguarding Youth Training
• Scouting America’s Annual Health and Medical Record parts A, B, and C (which requires a physical)
• A complete official Scouting America uniform appropriate to Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, or Venturing consisting of all of the following parts
  • uniform shirt
  • uniform pants, shorts, or skirt
  • uniform belt
  • uniform socks