Week Long Wood Badge

[schleining]

Not sure if a week long course would fly up here in the NW...

Our Council offers 2 courses a year, both are two weekends.. really comes out to 6.5 days (Thursday evening thru Sunday and Friday thru Sunday).

Camp Freedom!!!!

The best Summer Camp in the BSA!! I went there in '78, '79!! LOVED IT! Still have my Camp Freedom neckerchief and Minute man patch.

 

Jerry Schleining

Scoutmaster

Troop 664

Gresham, OR

[Soupmom]

Old Baldy Council, in So California, is offering a week long "wilderness" course Aug 21 - Aug 27, 2005. My husband & I are serving on staff. Our council holds Wood Badge every other year and has chosen to stick to the week long format.

 

go to: www.obcbsa.org for contact info and an application.

 

I realize that CA is about as far away as you can get, but you could always make it a family vacation and do all our amusement parks and hit the beaches. Just a thought.

 

For what it's worth, I was part of the first class in our Council to take the new course. I think that a week long course creates more intense teamwork and makes you think more outside the box because of limited project resources.

 

Go Bobwhites!!! W4-43-03

[BSAChaplain]

Forgive my ignorance, but Eamonn posted about a "Religious Observance course." Is this a Woodbadge course. Is there one on the West Coast.

 

I googled "woodbade religious observance" and came up with nothing but this posting. Does anyone have a link to such an event. Is this the same program that will be at Philmont (but I don't think that's a Woodbadge"

 

Thanks

[nldscout]

The Religious Observent Wood Badge is sponsored by the Northeast Region Jewish Committee on Scouting.

 

go to http://www.jewishscouting.org/nerjcs/ner-wb.html for info. Although the info on web is outdated its the same group sponsoring it for this year. This years course is I beleive NE-II-156.

[karen604]

Denver Area alternates by year week long and weekend. Two years ago I took the week long and loved it. I had a whole week to myself. No cell Phones (no recepption)no radio, no tv....it was great! It really gave me the opportunity to reflect on my life in scouting.

It truely cemented our patrol. I was on crutches at the time and received a lot of help. I volunteered to do most of the cooking in payback. Another patrol member had just finished chef's school but had a cold, as a result I had a 3-d cookbook. Our meals are still spoken of at WoodBadge breakfasts!

We spent the week making do and doing without. amazing how little you need. Our entire troop has finished their tickets. W5-61-01-03

My husband took the weekends last year and is still working his ticket (have good thoughts for him.) they lost about about 25% of the participants between the two weekends.

There was also a lot of one upsmanship going on with what shopping in between could do for you. He too made great friends. And I am glad that that worked in his schedule. He now understands Wood Badge!

[BSAChaplain]

Wilderness Wood Badge...is the only way to go.

 

I just got back from Old Baldy Council's Week-Long Wilderness Wood Badge, the course suggested by Soupmom. It was wonderful. (I'm from San Diego-Imperial Council)

 

We carried in everything but our water for the week. "No phones, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury."

 

I cannot image how a weekend course could ever achieve the same results. I'm glad that more Scouters are able to get the training, but I sure want to suggest that if you can go weeklong, do it!

 

Coincidentally, about halfway through the week, I discovered that Soupmom was my Troop Guide!

 

I used to be an OWL...now I'm going to work my ticket if I can.

W4-43-05

 

[Leigh]

I attended Wood Badge this past June at Camp Freedom in Dauphte, Germany - it was awesome! The week long course gave my patrol the opportunity to really bond and enjoy the entire experience. Next year's Wood Badge is going to be even better! The dates are June 16-June 23. You can fly into Frankfurt and take a train and there will be someone to pick you up. If anybody has any questions give me an e-mail: Leigh.Jackson@TAC-BSA.org

Council website: www.TAC-BSA.org

[StormingBuffalo]

Our course was in the two weekend format, separated by five weeks for our patrol meetings. I can't imagine taking an entire week for training, if for no other reason than losing five days versus two days of vacation from work. I would love to serve on the staff of Wood Badge in the future, and I also couldn't take off the full week (at least, not easily) as well as the addition days on the front and back of the week necessary for staff members.

 

As the parent of two young children, it's my choice not to lose a week of vacation that would be just family time, but again, people have different family situations, and I can also imagine if our children were already gone, my wife might relish the time to herself!

[Cubmaster Randy]

Atlanta Area Council has a week long course starting 10/16/2006 http://www.atlantabsa.org/docs/WB_2006_v1%5B1%5D.3c.pdf

[SueM]

I have a question about the week long courses...how do you have the time and materials needed to work on a patrol projects???

 

We run our local course over 2 weekends, with 3 weeks in between. They run from Friday morning through late Sunday afternoon for week one and Saturday - late Monday afternoon for week 2.

 

sue m.

[eagle-pete]

Sue

 

I can't speak for all courses, but in my course the Quartermaster had a large supply of materials which he brought to the course and we had plenty of "stuff" to put together our project. Much of the material we worked with needed to be glued, cut, carved, tied, or pieced together. With some ingenuity we were able to pull it off.

 

I am guessing that many courses have the same kind of Quartermaster supply for this purpose.

 

Eagle Pete

[SueM]

Eagle Pete,

 

But how did you have the time and ability to research your project?? At our course, we had to first develop the idea for it and have it approved by the SPL. The subject had to include all areas of scouting. Our project was the history of scouting uniforms and their were 4 of us in the patrol, so each of us took a specific branch of scouting and we researched how the uniforms looked over the years, got pictures and put together a big presentation board with it all. (I did Exploring & Varsity) We then had to present it to the troop with an approx. 15 minute lecture on the second weekend. We could have never done that without the time in between at home to do the research..

 

sue

[Greg Nelson]

I'm coming late to the posting party, but there *IS* a week-long Wood Badge course run at Philmont each year. The course takes place in late August, the week after the last Philmont treks finish.

 

Circle 10 Council out of Dallas runs the course. It is primarily for people from the council, but if it doesn't fill, they will open it up to outsiders a month or two before it runs. This year, the year I was there, we had three people from NYC, two from Denver, and one from Oklahoma.

 

In 2006, the SM is a great Scouter named Dick Dawson.

 

[eagle-pete]

Sue

 

Sorry it took so long to reply.

 

First, let me say that sounds like a really good project. Very interesting and I would love to have seen it. However, as you know, your patrol needs to work together and consider all aspects of your project. Time involved, resources available, time constraints for presentation, etc. It may not be practical to take on a project which is beyond the capabilities of your patrol.

 

Now I need to insert a disclaimer here: I am not on staff and have never had the opportunity to serve on staff. I may not be aware of all aspects of this part of the Wood Badge course.

 

Now that that's out of the way... My understanding about the patrol presentation is that there is no "right" or "wrong" way to develop the presentation. The point of it is to have something which your patrol works together on. There are goals, assignments, creation, and deadlines. The patrol has the challenge to utilize everyone's talents and abilities, and demonstrate leadership (and even the patrol method) and put together a project. Whether it's the coolest, most exciting, most complicated or unique, is all besides the point. If, for example, you chose to make something as simple as a paper airplane as your project and demonstrated leadership, communication, delegation, assignments, goal setting, etc., this would be a successful project. And, again, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Troup Guide would be key in helping to develop an appropriate patrol project.

 

The point I want to make is that even in a week-long course there is sufficient materials, time, and resources available to complete the patrol project. If your project requires internet access and there is none available, then the patrol may need to re-think that project design.

 

It is more about working together than about the final product. I don't know if that answers your question. I hope it helps.

 

Eagle Pete

[SueM]

Eagle Pete,

 

I think it's interesting to hear about how courses in other places are presented. Our course director and SPL set very high standards of expectations for us in everything we did, which is not a bad thing...they made us earn our beads, for sure!!

 

Though we donated our project board to the District to use at other events, I eventually gained custody of it and I take it with me when the boys do district events and put it up somewhere on display. We had fun putting it together. Did you know that there was once a boy scout doll???? That was one of the interesting finds that I came up with in my research!

 

sue m.