This is the first of the three-part ‘train-the-trainer’ continuum. Fundamentals of Training is designed to help Scouts and Scouters, regardless of their experience, identify effective training methods for a variety of purposes. The course will also help those who might have trained for other organizations learn Scouting America’s training techniques, and it will help freshen up the skills of current Scouting America trainers.
While the Trainer’s EDGE is a required course for Wood Badge and NYLT staffs, it is also helpful for others with training or presentation responsibilities in their unit, district, or council to enhance their skills and feel more comfortable in these roles.
Wood Badge is advanced leadership training for Cub Scout, Scouts BSA and Venturing adult leaders at the unit, district, council, and professional levels. It is taught by living the experience of a Scouts BSA Troop, utilizing the patrol method, over two weekends. Wood Badge is about learning and developing Leadership skills, rather than basic Scouting skills – skills that can be used in Scouting and all facets of life. By using a variety of learning techniques, including lectures, demonstrations, group discussions, and hands on exercises, participants will learn contemporary leadership skills and tools needed to provide the youth members of their units with the highest scouting experience. A Wood Badge course teaches leadership skills by focusing on five key areas: Living the Values, Growing, Connecting, Guiding and Empowering.
Keep outdoor activities and camping alive all 12 months of the year! Our Train the Trainer program will provide you with the knowledge and materials to share knowledge and skills learned to conduct cold weather activities and camping within your units. Learn about Cold Weather Travel, Sleep Systems, Equipment and Tents, Cooking and Nutrition, Snow Shoes, Cross Country Skiing and Outdoor Cold Weather Games.
This course teaches prevention, assessment, and treatment skills for an ill or injured person when medical care is at least an hour away. All four high-adventure bases require at least one person per trek (two per trek at Philmont Scout Ranch) to be current in Wilderness First Aid.
This knowledge is not just for the backcountry, though. Wilderness First Aid training is also relevant in urban areas during natural disasters or mass casualty events when emergency services might be strained.
The merit badge counselor is a key player in the Boy Scout advancement program. Whatever your area of expertise or interest—whether it is a special craft or hobby (basketry, leatherwork, coin collecting), a profession (veterinary medicine, aviation, engineering), or perhaps a life skill (cooking, personal management, communications)—as a merit badge counselor, you can play a vital role in stirring a young man’s curiosity about that particular topic. By serving as a merit badge counselor, you offer your time, knowledge, and other resources so that Scouts can explore a topic of interest.
Building upon this foundation, the Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Venturing, and Sea Scout programs all include outdoor stewardship, care for the environment, and Leave No Trace as part of their programs. Outdoor ethics is not just for youth. Adult volunteers are encouraged to seek training in basic outdoor skills and even take specialized courses to learn Leave No Trace skills. Many councils have Outdoor Ethics advocates who provide leadership to their local units in learning and practicing good outdoor ethics.
Instilling values in young people and preparing them to make moral and ethical choices throughout their lifetime is the mission of the Boy Scouts of America. Leave No Trace helps reinforce that mission, and reminds us to respect the rights of other users of the outdoors as well as future generations. Appreciation for our natural environment and a knowledge of the interrelationships of nature bolster our respect and reverence toward the environment and nature.Leave No Trace is an awareness and an attitude rather than a set of rules. It applies in your backyard or local park as much as in the backcountry. We should all practice Leave No Trace in our thinking and actions–wherever we go.
