When is Wood Badge?
This year the Black Hills Area Council Wood Badge Course CST4-695-25 will be held on two weekends in July & August of 2025. Participants must attend both weekends so make sure to put these dates on your calendar. 

WEEKEND 1 -  July 25th - 27th, 2025
WEEKEND 2 - August 9th - 10th, 2025

All participants will get more information about what to bring, times to arrive to camp each weekend at a later date closer to the course weekends. 

What is Wood Badge?

Wood Badge is an advanced, national leadership course open only to Scouting volunteers and professionals.

Scouters from Cub Scouting, Scouts BSA, Venturing, Sea Scouts, and Explorers, and district and council Scouters all are welcome and belong here.

What do we see on course?
We do many things on course, like:

Listening ~ Managing conflict ~ Leading change ~ Stages of team development ~ Coaching & Mentoring
Leadership for different stages ~ Servant leadership ~ Project planning & goal setting ~ And more!

These come to you in presentations, games, discussions, activities, and other methods.

Why do you want to go?
You want to participate in a Wood Badge course because of things you will learn and do. Here are some of the benefits:

Stronger units. You will make your Scouting unit — and your sons’ and daughters’ units — stronger.
What and why of Scouting. You will have a deeper understanding of what Scouting is and why we do it.
Experience. You will learn and experience things that will stay with you in Scouting and the rest of your life.
Fun. You will have fun and you will meet interesting people.
Other groups. You will make your other groups, like work, church, even family, stronger.

Here’s another summary of why to go. This was originally aimed particularly at Troop Leaders however all Scouters even in the Cub Scout program will grow by attending Wood Badge. So can you attend Wood Badge if you are not a unit leader - YES, the course was designed for Scout Leaders but it applies equally to all of us.
 

WOOD BADGE IS FOR EVERYONE. . . INCLUDING CUB SCOUT LEADERS!
How would you like to attend a training that takes you far beyond your Basic Leader Training? Would you like to build your skills in communication, conflict management and teaching methods? How about a leadership course that rivals many corporate level trainings?

Wood Badge is here for you. This is not just a Troop leader training but is designed for all Cub, Scout, and Venturing leaders. This course will help you better understand how all the Scouting programs tie together. It will provide you with many useful leadership tools to help enable our youth to have the best possible Scouting experience. There is no better time to attend a Wood Badge course and make a difference in your unit than when you are a Cub Scout Leader.

Tickets
Have you heard of “The Ticket” and wondered what it is? The ticket is a group of five goals you set for yourself to do after course, to improve your unit. You learn more about this on the course.
 

Purpose of Wood Badge
The purpose of Wood Badge is to develop skilled leaders who can strengthen Scouting units in achieving the mission of the Boy Scouts of America.

When we accomplish the mission of Scouting, we do it in the units. Therefore, the short form of the purpose is, the purpose of Wood Badge is to strengthen units.

Although the course is different today, what Baden-Powell said in 1919 still applies:

One of the purposes of Wood Badge training is to get Scouters to think about the practice of Scouting, to meet together, to exchange experiences, and to live together in the spirit of the Scout Oath.