The Greater St. Louis Area Council for the Boys Scouts of America will host its annual University of Scouting event at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Vadalabene Center (VC) on Saturday, Jan. 26. More than 500 scouts and 300 adults are expected to attend and receive training for all levels of scouting.
The University of Scouting is designed to provide knowledge about many areas of the Boy Scouts of America and its programs. “University of Scouting is a day-long event that offers the widest variety of training opportunities, in all program areas, all in one place,” said Chad Deschane, chancellor of the event. “Offering more than 130 classes, attendees will find just about anything to do with scouting.
“This year’s theme is “Every Scout Deserves a Trained Leader,” and focuses on the participants, whether they are a scout, an adult leader, serve on a council committee or are parents.”
A welcome ceremony begins the agenda at 8:15 a.m. A vendor fair in the VC south mezzanine will be available. Among the wide variety of courses offered are leadership training, special needs scouting, STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) topics, teaching and training, scouting skills and merit badges. The class schedule is available at scoutingevent.com.
According to Deschane, SIUE fit their organizational needs. “We chose the campus due to three factors - the size and space needs are large, the location is central to our geographic area and our council has had many successful STEM events at the University,” he said.
The council will also use classrooms in Peck Hall, Science East and Alumni Hall in addition to the VC.
For more information about the Boy Scouts of America, visit scouting.org. To contact the Greater St. Louis Area Council, call 314-361-0600 or visit stlbsa.org.