Giving a hoot at Woodbadge

Last weekend I attended the first session of Woodbadge. For those of you who don't know what Woodbadge is, it is leadership training for those who have positions in the Boy Scouts of America. The course is designed for you to learn about all aspects of scouting from Cubs through Venturing. Along the way you are taught various skills while having fun.

The first session is 3 days. You arrive on day one having no idea who you will be partnered up with, nor quite what to expect. After check-in you are led down a trail where you learn about cub scouting with the cub scout motto, law and handshake. After that you have gathering activities. These were things like bean bag toss, marshmallow sling-shot, knot tying, den elimination and marble attack/defense. This allowed for some bonding and getting to know some names while having fun.

After the gathering activities we were divided into Dens with a Den Chief. The Den Chief is your guide throughout Woodbadge. He/she is the one who will help you get the most out of your Woodbadge experience. I think you have to be a little crazy to be a Den Chief, but hey that's half the fun. Once divided into dens the fun really begins. We got some orientation into the scout uniform (it's actually more comfortable than it looks to tell you the truth) and the scout acronyms that are in constant use.

Next you get educated on Gilwell Field. This is a symbolic area representing the field where the first Woodbadge training was held. It is considered a hallowed place and is to be treated as such. It is there that flag ceremonies are held and where instruction is given on various historic flags. It's also the place where you get biased weather and sports reports.

For lunch on day one you have the Blue and Gold banquet. Our banquet had a royal theme (think knights and medieval times). It also does the crossing over ceremony where you go from a cub scout to a scout. It is here that you get your animal avatar and your den becomes a patrol. We have 6 patrols in our sessions (Beavers, Bobwhites, Eagles, Foxes, Owls {the best patrol IMHO}, and Bears). It is here that you learn the "Woodbadge Theme Song" "Back to Gilwell".

After the banquet we go into our first Troop meeting. Elections are held and patrol leaders, assistant patrol leaders, scribes, and chaplain aides are elected. The positions rotate each day so the elections allow for the transitions for the six days. I had the privilege of being the patrol leader the first day. There are two induction ceremonies that happen at this troop meeting. The first is for all participants of the course. We are inducted into troop one and get the neck kerchief for the troop (this after we made our own Woggles which are the sliders for the kerchief). The second induction was for the patrol leaders.

The rest of day one was spent in meetings with instruction and fun. At night we played the "Who-Me" game with our patrol. It was a good way to get to know one another better and helped solidify our patrol as a unit. The last part of the day was a campfire program put on by the staff. This was a good lesson in how to have fun and teach important principles. Then it was off to bed so that day two could be as fun as day one.

Day 2 kicked off with breakfast and then the flag ceremony at Gilwell Field. We then had a troop meeting where two games ensued. The first was called Zulu Toss where the members of the patrol are put into a circle formation and a set of tennis balls are introduced that have to be tossed around the circle in various patterns. It was obvious that I didn't sleep well the first night as my brain decided to take a few moments off and I was responsible for several disruptions to our tossing flow. The second game was called Front End Alignment. The patrol leaders were told to play a particular part in this game which was unknown to their patrol members. Some of them were told to be dictator like while others were to be more accommodating to their members. Both games taught lessons in teamwork and leadership.

We then had a presentation on inclusiveness. This was a great discussion on how we can be better at including others while still holding to the values we believe in. Not everyone is from the same ethnic, socioeconomic, religious, etc background in our session. This presentation allowed us to open up and discuss ways to make each other (and in turn the boys we serve) feel included and an integral part of our patrols and troop. Other lessons included team development (forming, storming, norming and performing) and communication. We then went to project planning as in the second session each patrol has a presentation to the troop. This was not easy as there are many logistics to consider, but I think that each patrol has a good idea and will do wonderful.

The highlight of the day had to be rocket building. These were made with 2 liter bottles, duct tape, cardboard, rocks and other materials. Of course the Owl rocket took the day as it soared higher than the rest (even the staff rocket which they tried to modify so they wouldn't lose :) ). After dinner and patrol meeting it was time for games once again.

The first game was a Jeopardy type game around our knowledge of various scouting items. Unfortunately the Owl patrol did not win this game (in fact we were eliminated from the final round because we had negative points). The Bear patrol did win the game by narrowly defeating the Fox patrol (I didn't think that bears could be slier than foxes, but in this case they were).

The second game was called the Game of Life. There were three scout leaders that ran this high energy game that had us laughing and being raucous. Of course there were rules that weren't explained very well and it took a while for the patrols to figure out how to do well. In fact it was teamwork that was needed in order to get the most points possible.

Day 3 began with breakfast and as we were the program patrol we got to do the flag ceremony. It's always an honor to raise the colors of our great country. After the ceremony we were instructed on how to hold an interfaith service. This was a great way to understand how to have people of different faiths come together and worship in a way that didn't preclude anyone nor dissuade anyone from participating. There was great discussion and many ways expressed so that everyone in a troop can feel included in a worship type setting.

After the interfaith service we went over the EDGE method of teaching. Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, and Enable. These four pieces make up an effective way to teach others in various areas. It is a powerful tool that can be added to one's repertoire and used appropriately.

From there we discussed conservation projects and the many ways we can help in our communities and environment. It gave me some great ideas that can be done with scout patrol I am the assistant scoutmaster for. We will also be doing a project in the second session and were informed as to what that project was and how we can make sure that it will benefit those who use the camp when we have left.

The last instruction we had was to watch the movie "October Sky" and review how different parts of the movie demonstrated the various principles we were taught over the past three days. It served as a good review of what we learned and what we can apply going forward.

The last thing we did was have a closing ceremony at Gilwell Field. The colors were retired and had some last minute instruction from the staff before helping to clean up (always remember to Leave No Trace) and head for home.

The three days of training were excellent. The homework we have before the second session has been started (I'll write more about that after the second session). I believe that everyone benefited from the first session and I can't wait to meet up again at the end of the month for session two.