Volunteer and Leader Training
Training helps volunteers make the Scouting program more fun, more effective, and more rewarding for your youth, for your adults, and for YOU! Training helps us all get past the nervousness of performing a role for the first time, whether it’s leading a meeting or leading a camping trip or field trip program.
Many in-person training opportunities are offered throughout the Pine Burr Area Council and listed on our Training Calendar. Others are offered online in your My.Scouting.org account.
Youth Protection Training
BSA requires Youth Protection Training for all BSA registered adults. Adult Scouters must get a new certification from the BSA online YPT course every two years. The National BSA requirements for all activities are here. Youth Protection Training is available online through my.scouting.org.
The online course takes 1 to 1.5 hours to complete. You do not have to be a registered member to take the course, but if you are, be sure to have your BSA Person ID number ready before you start the course. Anyone who completes the course and the test will have an opportunity to print a YPT Certificate.
Position Trained Requirements
A Trained Leader is a registered adult. Youth Protection Training is a joining requirement for all registered adults and must be retaken every two years (some Councils require it to be retaken every year.
Adult leaders in units are considered “trained” and eligible to wear the official Trained emblem when they have completed Youth Protection Training and the training courses outlined in the linked document below.
Training Awards and Recognition
Most adult awards and recognitions have certificates, pins or medals, and a patch usually with a square knot embroidered on it in different colors. Adult leaders wear these square knot patches on their uniform over the left pocket. The order that they are worn is up to the individual. To learn more see the Guide to Awards and Insignia.
Square knots are rectangular representations of a variety of Scouting awards. Most of these awards are for adult volunteers, but there are some awarded to Scouts and Scouting professionals. The square knot itself isn’t the award; it is a convenient way to wear the award — usually a medal or a plaque — on your uniform. You don’t want to carry around a plaque, do you?
You can earn awards (and the representative knots) for service to Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Varsity Scouting, Sea Scouting or Venturing. You can earn awards for getting trained. There are awards for Eagle Scouts, Venturing Summit Award recipients and Quartermasters. There’s even a new award and knot — the Scouting Service Award.