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This past weekend, 6 members of the Lansing Scouting community completed the class portion of a course in Advanced Leadership and Team Building, as the first steps towards earning their Wood Badge. Michael Coles, Sheldon Craig, Don Hradisky, Marc Stammer, Rick Vaughan and Michael Ziegler each hold leadership positions with either Cub Scout Pack 48 or Boy Scout Troop 48, and were seeking to improve upon their skills and renew their dedication to scouting. Lansing was also represented on the course staff, with John Comisi serving as a Troop Guide.

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Front row (left to right): Michael Coles, John Comisi. Back row (left to right): Sheldon Craig, Rick Vaughn, Don Hradisky, Marc Stammer, Michael Ziegler

This year’s course, designated NE-III-169, was held at Camp Barton, in Trumansburg, NY on Aug. 26–28, and at Camp Tuscarora, in Windsor, NY on Sept. 16-8. The course was attended by 35 scout leaders from all over the region. The course includes two weekends of presentation and instruction, including a patrol project, in a camp setting. After the class dates, each participant must design an individual service project, or “ticket”, to be completed in the next 18 months.

The Wood Badge course was developed by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the World Scouting Movement. The first course was held in 1919, at Gilwell Park near London, England. When their training was finished, Baden-Powell gave each man a simple wooden bead taken from a necklace he had found in a Zulu chieftain’s deserted hut, when on campaign in South Africa in 1888. The Scoutmasters’ training course was a great success and continued to be held year-after-year. At the end of each course the wooden beads were used to recognize the completion of training. When the original beads ran out, new ones were whittled to maintain the tradition established by Baden-Powell. Because of these beads, the course came to be known as the Wood Badge Course. It continues to this day in England and around the world as the advanced training course for leaders in Scouting. Wood Badge training was officially inaugurated in the United States in 1948. Since then, it has developed into a key motivating force in the training of volunteer leaders in the Boy Scouts of America.

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