You will get information by email or mail from the course staff. Also, most of what you need to know is on this web site and especially on this page. Still, if you wonder about something that hasn't been explained or doesn't seem clear, you have ways to find out. Call or email the course director for your course, or email woodbadge@seattlebsa.org. For questions about payments and receipts and whether space is still available, call the Council office (206-725-5200) and ask for Melissa Ranken. Also, for most things, you can talk with anyone you know on the staff of your course or of some other course from the last few years, or anyone who has participated in one of those courses.

You will probably get a phone call or email from one of the staff members on the course. This person will be looking for questions to answer, so those calls will be a good chance. The person will also be confirming you understand what to bring and things like that.

Am I really signed up?

Soon after you sign up, you will get a letter or email from the course director. If you don't get that within two or three weeks after you signed up, call the course director or email mranken@seattlebsa.org (at the Council office).

When should I pay the rest of the registration fee?

You have to pay the full amount no later than 60 days before the first day of your course.

Although you aren't required to pay yet, we would appreciate your paying the rest of the registration fee now.

If you definitely are coming but can't pay the balance just yet, let your course director know.

What should I do NOW?

Fill in the Personal Resource Questionaire and send it in. You can fill it in as a Word document and email it or mail it to an address we will send you. It's also available as an Adobe PDF file. (There are no right answers on that questionaire -- we want the information to assist in placing you in the patrol that is best for you. If you don't have ANY of the skills or experiences it asks about, that is just FINE. You still belong on the course and will succeed and have fun.)

Get the medical form completed and mail that to the address we will give you. You must have the Boy Scouts of America "class 3" medical form, no matter how old you are. It is available from the BSA website through this link: http://www.scouting.org/forms/34412.pdf. It is also available at the Council Service Center. Moreover, you should receive the form from us in the mail. All participants, regardless of age, must provide this form in order to be on course. Please mail us a copy of this (we'll give you the address soon), and then -- just in case -- bring another copy with you to course. These forms are good for only one year; that means,

Get a uniform. If you don't have one, you can borrow one, but you may find you want one of your own after the course. More information is below on uniforms.

Answer the "20 Questions." You do not turn this in to anyone. It is just for you. Doing this will help you write your ticket during the course.

What "Training" Do I Need, and Why?

People participating in Wood Badge need to know what their Scouting jobs are, and how to do them. Wood Badge is not where you learn more about dens and crews and such. Wood Badge is leadership training. It assumes you already know the basics of your role, and it helps you build on that.

You need to have completed the regular training for your Scouting position. That means you need to be entitled to wear a "trained" patch on your uniform. To wear that patch, you need to take Fast Start training, and the other training explained on the Council web site at http://www.seattlebsa.org/sbsa_training/Adult%20Leader%20Training.htm (look in the far right column).

Wood Badge is not primarily intended to teach you about Varsity and Venturing and Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. You learn about your program in your Specific training. You should take that training before Wood Badge. (You should take that training even if you can't go to Wood Badge this year.) If you want to learn about other programs besides your own, consider taking the training for other programs.

If you don't know what training you should have, or if you have other questions about training, check with the course director. Also, your district training chair can probably help.

You Cannot Miss Any Part of Course

You must attend one full course, all day for all six days. The power of Wood Badge flows from its intensity. Momentum builds, preliminary concepts are expanded, and groups (called "dens" or "patrols") come together as teams. Those who miss part of the course hurt others as much as themselves. You cannot complete Wood Badge and get yourself properly trained if you arrive late (by more than a few minutes) or miss any part. You have to be at camp ready to start by 7:30 a.m. (yes, in the morning) and you will be there the whole time. You just can't leave for awhile. That may sound harsh now, but when you finish the program, it will make sense.

Wood Badge is a high-level, experiential training program for adult scouters. It blends contemporary leadership theory and the outdoors to demonstrate how we can build strong "teams" at every level of scouting. Because each segment of the course builds upon what went before, and because demonstrating the "feel" of team development is so critical, course participants cannot miss any part of the two-weekend course. If you can't attend all of every day, then participate in a different course. There is nothing you can skip, and no way to make up anything. (If you have to be a few minutes late the first day, call the course director to see whether that can't be arranged.)

Sessions, Meetings, etc.

The course has two weekends, and you need to participate in all of both sessions. See above. Also, your "patrol" will have a meeting or maybe two meetings between the two weekends. Usually people meet for dinner, or on a Saturday morning or afternoon. That's up to your team, though. Bring your calendar with you to course.

What Happens When I Get There?

Be at camp ready to start by 7:30 a.m. on the first day of each weekend. We know that is early, but the six days of Wood Badge are very full days. You just can't come late. (You will finish about 5:00 p.m. or so on the third day of each weekend.)

When you arrive, you check in. You'll have your medical form in case the copy you mailed got lost. You'll be shown where things are and where you will be sleeping, and you'll meet some of the staff and other participants. The course program starts just about immediately. You will get back to your sleeping area that night about bedtime.

Have your equipment packed compactly. Probably we will have a truck take your things to your sleeping area, but you want as few pieces as possible. You don't have to use a backpack, but pack as if your things had to fit in one. Try to get everything into a backpack or something similar and a daypack.

You will also need a daypack or something like that to carry things, because you won't have a chance to go get anything. The daypack should have a sit pad, water, any medicine you will want during the day, rain gear, warmer clothes for the evening, flashlight and extra batteries and bulb, sunscreen, bug repellant, pen, whatever you will want. There is no pack inspection, of course, but if you want anything during the day and evening, it needs to be in that daypack.

You will probably be sleeping in a three-sided cabin (called an Adirondack) or in one of the semi-permanent tents the camps use. They are pretty comfortable.

Tickets

The Wood Badge "ticket" is a set of goals you set for yourself. While on course, you will learn how to write your "ticket." After course, you have 18 months to finish "working your ticket," but we urge you to finish within six or nine months. Once you finish working your ticket, then you have finished Wood Badge and have earned your official set of "beads" -- the wooden beads are the recognized world-wide symbol of Wood Badge -- and your Wood Badge neckerchief and woggle. Tell your troop guide when you finish, discuss it with him or her, and then arrange a time and place for your course director to present the "regalia."

The ticket will be five goals you decide to achieve in order to reinforce what you have learned and to contribute to Scouting in your primary position. The goals will all relate to one "vision" you have for your primary position. In achieving each goal, you will use skills presented on course. The goals are based on your own values and vision. (That is one reason you should complete the "precourse assignment," which helps you set out a vision.)

Do not try to write your ticket until you learn more about it on course. You should start thinking about it, though. What are some things you would like to get done in Scouting?

What To Bring

What to Bring (28K PDF document). This is a useful list that will let you get started. You will get more information as it gets closer to time for course.

Uniforms

All participants (and staff) will be in full, correct uniforms. Wear the uniform for your Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Varsity, Venturing, or district or council position. People used to be asked to "strip" the uniform, but not now. Please leave on the square knots you earned and anything else that is proper. Remove any unofficial insignia. Since you will be in uniform most of the day for three days each weekend, you might want more than one uniform, or at least more than one shirt. Some people borrow a shirt.

Remember that to be in uniform, you need not only the shirt, but also a BSA belt, uniform trousers or shorts or skirt or culotte, and uniform socks. If you wear shorts, you may wear long or short socks. If you want to wear a hat, we ask that you wear the official baseball-type hat for your program. Don't bring a neckerchief or slide, though, because you'll get those on course.

It is true that Venturing crews select their own uniforms. We do request, though, that Venturing people on course wear the green uniform shirt and gray slacks or shorts.

Depending on the weather, we might be in activity uniforms some of the time. You might want to bring Scouting t-shirts or polo shirts for that. You will probably be able to buy a course t-shirt or polo shirt too.

How To Get There

What Does the Course Number Mean?

Here is the course numbering system used in the Western Region of Boy Scouts of America. Councils in other parts of the country may use different systems. You do not need to know this, but some people find it interesting.

The E tells you the course is done over two weekends. If a course number has no E, that means it is a week-long course.

The numeral 1 tells you the course is in Area 1 of the region. (We are in Area 1 of the Western Region of BSA.)

The 609 tells you the course is sponsored by council #609, which is Chief Seattle Council. If you are interested, Mt. Baker Council, just north of us, is #606, and Pacific Harbors Council, just south of us, is #612.

The 1 or 2 after the council number tells you the course is the first or second course in our council that year. The number is usually assigned based on the timing of the course -- the first one to be held is 1, the next is 2. Our April-May course will be 1, and the September course will be 2.

You may see references to WE1-609-08, without the specific 1 or 2. That would refer to either course or to both courses combined.

After the course

We have some information that may interest you after you finish the course. Also, you will work your ticket after course, thus finishing Wood Badge and earning your beads.

Wood Badge

Chief Seattle Council

Boy Scouts of America

Information for People Going to Wood Badge

How Do I Find Out More?