About Wood Badge
Wood Badge is the premier adult training program for the Boy Scouts of America. It teaches contemporary leadership and team development skills in an outdoor setting. Leaders take these skills and define goals or requirements that are then carried out after the course, making their programs stronger. After completing these requirements, they earn their Wood Badge beads.
The course encompasses the key concepts of management from the leaders in the management field; therefore, this course can be helpful not only in your Scouting job, but also in your career. Some employers will pay the Wood Badge course fees. Click here to download a document explaining some of the management skills taught during the course and resources used to develop the course.
The Wood Badge course will be conducted during two, three day weekends. The Wood Badge program consists of two parts; practical training and application. Practical leadership experiences are gained in a camp setting where leadership and management skills are practiced and learned as a member of a Wood Badge patrol.
At the conclusion of the practical training, each participant has a minimum of four months and a maximum of eighteen months to complete the application phase (the ticket) and meet all goals that have been agreed upon between the participant and a ticket counselor. Recognition for the successful completion of Wood Badge (including the ticket) consists of the distinctive Wood Badge neckerchief, woggle, the Wood Badge – two wooden beads worn on a leather thong around the neck, and the certificate. This “Regalia” is recognized around the world as a symbol of training and leadership experience.
