Programs In Our Council

Program Overviews - Council Calendar - Cubs! - NYLT - OA - Wood Badge - High Adventure - Trail Signs Newsletter

Benefits of Being a Scout:

Scouting encourages friendships, skills development, and character building in supportive environments. Programs focus on physical, mental, and spiritual growth through outdoor experiences.
"A game with a purpose"

Summer Camp!

The Peak of Our Program!

Head over to our Summer Camp Portal to find out all about our program.
Register

Quick Links:

Join a unit today. Click below to find a unit near you.

Youth Based Programs Overview:

Hoosier Trails Council offers diverse programs including Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Venturing, and Exploring. These programs provide numerous opportunities for youth across south-central Indiana. Scouting programs offer a variety of opportunities for youth and adults to develop character, citizenship, and leadership skills, while engaging in outdoor activities and community service. These programs aim to prepare young people for lives of impact and purpose, guided by the values of the Scout Oath and Law.
Cub Scouting

Cub Scouting is a family-centered program designed for children in Kindergarten through fifth grade. Activities promote character development, citizenship, and personal fitness.

Scouting BSA

Scouts BSA provides young people opportunities for leadership and engagement in community service. Members work toward earning ranks, including the highest rank of Eagle Scout.

Venturing & Exploring Programs

Venturing supports teens aged 14-20 in character development and leadership preparation. Exploring offers youth real-world experiences and mentorship to explore careers and future opportunities.

Sea Scouting

Sea Scouting is a maritime program for boys and girls ages 14-20 providing a fun, safe environment for Scouts to learn, build friendships, and develop character while earning advancement. We are currently building this program out here at HTC.

Council Calendar

You can click on the events below to be taken straight to a registration page if the event is open to register. 

CUBS!

Our cub scouting program is filled with kids of all ages – from our young cubs to our young-at-heart adult leaders!

What's A Den?

A den is a small group of girls or boys in the same grade level who meet weekly.

Family Camp 2025

Many exciting adventures await including fishing, swimming, Target and Range activities, Scout Craft, Ecology, STEM, camping under the stars, and much more!

Our Cub Programming Year

A detailed list of what you can expect out of our cub program for 2025. Download the pdf and mark your calendars!

What's a Pack?

All dens, from Kindergarten – 5th grades make up a Pack. Once a month, the dens, with their families, come together for a Pack meeting, where the scouts show off their skills and are recognized for the badges they’ve earned.

Leadership Opportunities

NYLT

National Youth Leadership Training

  • In Hoosier Trails Council, NYLT provides participants with the knowledge and skills required to effectively lead a troop program. Overall, participants will walk away from course with greater confidence in their ability to communicate, teach, and solve problems. Our hope is that each participant takes what they learn and applies their new skills at the troop and district level. 

Order of the Arrow

Nischa Chuppecat Lodge

  • As Scouting’s National Honor Society, the Order of the Arrow is an integral part of the council’s program. Our service, activities, adventures, and training for youth and adults are models of quality leadership development and programming that enrich and help to extend Scouting to America’s youth.

Wood Badge

A Premier Adult Leadership Course

Lots of fun and transferable skills between your unit, your career and yourself! The Wood Badge course centers upon the concepts of servant leadership and leaving a legacy. The key elements are then taught with a clear focus on the “why, what and how.” The skills come alive during the two weekends as the participants put intro practice what is modeled during course. 

High Adventure

Jump In On Many Life Changing Opportunities

Lots of fun and transferable skills between your unit, your career and yourself! The Wood Badge course centers upon the concepts of servant leadership and leaving a legacy. The key elements are then taught with a clear focus on the “why, what and how.” The skills come alive during the two weekends as the participants put intro practice what is modeled during course. 

Our Next Course is July 7th-12, 2025

Why NYLT?

The NYLT course centers around the concepts of what a leader must BE, what they must KNOW, and what they must DO. The key elements are then taught with a clear focus on HOW TO. The skills come alive on course as the patrol goes on a Quest for the Meaning of Leadership. 

NYLT is an exciting, action-packed program designed to provide youth members with leadership skills and experience they can use in their home troops and in other situations demanding leadership of self and others.

How Much Fun? Watch This!

Who Can Attend?

To attend an NYLT course, a youth shall have the following qualifications by the beginning of the course:

  • Must be a registered member of a Scouting unit
  • Must have a current Scouting America Annual Health and Medical Record form parts A, B, and C
  • Scouts BSA members must be 13 years of age and fall within the maximum age allowance for their program registration. They must be ranked a First Class Scout or higher and have completed Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops.
  • Venturers and Sea Scouts must be at least 14, or 13 and have completed eighth grade, and fall within the maximum age allowance for their program. It is recommended that they have had at least one year of camping experience. While NYLT is not an outdoor skills course, it is important that each participant have basic camping and outdoor cooking experience.
  • A unit leader recommendation

Your Unit Benefits!

  • To have a unit truly youth-led, they must be trained on the same leadership methodology of Scouting which has been proven to work for over 100 years. NYLT offers this.
  • When all your leaders have been trained the same, it leads to higher functioning units, crews, and patrols. NYLT offers a consistent leadership method and application which significantly drops misalignment on how to lead units. 
  • Scoutmasters and Crew Advisors with NYLT trained youth leadership can and have transitioned more of the unit programming to the youth over a shorter period of time.
  • As youth leadership takes on more responsibilities of the unit, the adult leadership takes less. 
  • Less unit drama. (And who doesn’t want that?)

 

I’m an older Scout. Isn’t NYLT for newer, younger Scouts?

  • NYLT teaches leadership skills for life, not just Scouting. 
  • Many NYLT graduates have reported back how their NYLT training has given them an edge in life after they graduated high school.

"That was a BLAST!!!"

Patrol members coming off the backpacking adventure

OA

Nischa Chuppecat Lodge, Order of the Arrow

As Scouting’s National Honor Society, the Order of the Arrow is an integral part of the council’s program. Our service, activities, adventures, and training for youth and adults are models of quality leadership development and programming that enrich and help to extend Scouting to America’s youth.

The purpose of the Order of the Arrow is fourfold:

  • To recognize those Scout campers who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives and by such recognition cause other campers to conduct themselves in such a manner as to warrant recognition
  • To develop and maintain camping traditions and spirit
  • To promote Scout camping, which reaches its greatest effectiveness as a part of the unit’s camping program, both year-round and in the summer camp, as directed by the local council’s camping committee
  • To crystallize the Scout habit of helpfulness into a life purpose of leadership in cheerful service to others

Our OA Callouts Are Awesome!

 

Nischa Chuppecat Lodge & Chapter Leadership

    • Lodge Chief – Ian Norrington
    • VC Chapter Relations – Clark Moats
    • VC Administration – Brooke Barr
    • VC Inductions – Talia Gregory
    • VC Program – Elliott Holman
    • VC Communications – Open
    • Lodge Adviser | Dave Kipper
    • Lodge Staff Adviser | Kevin Trojan
    • Associate Adviser Administration | Doug Seaborne
    • Associate Adviser Communications | Andrew Norrington
    • Associate Advisor Program |Tony Zizak
    • Associate Advisor Inductions | Darren Norrington
    • Associate Advisor Chapter Relations | Thad Hatchett
Wood BADGE
Our Next Course: Weekend 1: 9/5-7 - - Weekend 2: 9/28-29
Our course in a combined council course with Buffalo Trace Council

Why Wood Badge?

Get Ready for an Epic Leadership Adventure! 🚀

Beyond the high-energy activities and team challenges, you’ll master these game-changing professional superpowers:

•Master Listening– Develop ninja-level communication skills that make people feel truly heard
•Conflict-Whispering – Transform tense situations into opportunities for growth and collaboration
•Change Champion – Lead transformations with confidence and inspire others to embrace new horizons
•Team Dynamics Decoder – Understand the secret sauce of how great teams evolve and thrive
•Coaching Wizard – Unleash potential in others through powerful mentoring techniques
•Leadership Chameleon – Adapt your style to perfectly match what your team needs
•Servant Leader Supreme – Master the art of leading by lifting others up
•Project Planning Pro – Turn big dreams into achievable reality with expert planning skills

…And that’s just the beginning of your leadership transformation journey! 🌟

Each skill comes packed with real-world examples and hands-on practice, so you’ll be ready to rock these new abilities in your workplace! đź’Ş

Plenty of Trasferable Skills! Watch Below

What is Wood Badge?

The Wood Badge course centers upon the concepts of servant leadership and leaving a legacy. The key elements are then taught with a clear focus on the “why, what and how.” The skills come alive during the two weekends as the participants put intro practice what is modeled during course.

Our 2024 WB Course with 8 full patrols!

Who Can Attend?

Participation in Wood Badge is open to all registered adult Leaders of Scouting America who have completed the prerequisites

  • Are a currently registered adult leader in Scouting America and active in a unit, district or council.
  • Are at least 21 years old. (Assistant Scoutmasters may be 18.)
  • Have completed “This is Scouting”, basic leader training, and the outdoor skills training programs appropriate for your Scouting position.
  • Submit a completed BSA Health & Medical Record form signed by a physician.
  • Register for our Wood Badge course with a deposit to reserve your place.

Scholarships Available

HTC Wood Badge Scholarship

BTC Wood Badge Scholarship

VFW Wood Badge Scholarship

AFI CIO Wood Badge

4 Councils Are Here!

Our 2025 Course is a combined course with Buffalo Trace Council.

Even though we co-council our course, we have scouters from 4 different councils on course. This promotes a very big scouting community and knowledge sharing you wouldn’t see on many other courses.

Wood Badge is an exciting, action-packed adult leadership program covered over the course of two weekends. Weekend 1 (Friday through Sunday) and Weekend 2 (Saturday and Sunday). Designed for councils to provide adult leader members with leadership skills and experience they can use in their Scouting positions and in other situations demanding leadership of self and others.

Our 2025 WB Staff. Scouting, representing the entire bottom half of Indiana!

"I Wish I Took This Sooner!"

Adult volunteer of over 15 years of scouting on 2024’s course

Visit our Facebook Page for pictures and updates

Our Next Course: Weekend 1: 9/5-7 - - Weekend 2: 9/28-29

What's It Like Staffing Wood Badge?

We drive the fun and we get it done. We are currently working hard to bring an amazing course this coming Fall. Our course director (Tony Zizak – center) is currently watching registration numbers while the SPL (Joe Keller – right) and scribe (Joe Day – left) are trying to figure out how to bring even more fun to course.

HTC High Adventure

Join us at JAMBO 2026!

Jamboree is more than a destination. It’s the adventure of lifetime. And there is simply nothing else like it on the planet.

What’s a Jamboree? It’s not camp. National Jamboree is 360-degrees of fun, friends and fellowship with hands-on adventure that takes you places you never thought you’d go and challenge you to try things you never thought you could.

It’s the beginning of your own heroes’ journey that will challenge you to go farther than you ever thought possible. You’ll reach deeper and lift yourself higher to become the best version of yourself.

The next National Jamboree will be held at Summit Bechtel Reserve from July 22-31, 2026.

High Adventure... It Changes You!

Hight Adventure events provide opportunities and challenges for youth and adults alike! You come back more confident and a lot better idea of just what you can do.

"Smaller" HA Ideas:

Local units will sometimes take on customized, smaller adventures rather than the big HA bases. Here are some things they have done:

  • Smokey Mountains Trip
  • Mt. Rushmore
  • Aqua Base in Kentucky
  • Yellowstone National Park
  • Alaska trip
  • White River Rafting

Philmont

Philmont Scout Ranch, Scouting America’s premier High Adventure™ base, challenges Scouts and Venturers with more than 214 square miles of rugged northern New Mexico wilderness. Backpacking treks, horseback cavalcades, and training and service programs offer young people many ways to experience this legendary country.

Northern Tier

Northern Tier is the premier high adventure for wilderness canoeing and winter camping offered by Scouting America, providing a unique experience in the rugged wilderness of the Great North American Canoe Country. Our programs are renowned for their challenging and rewarding wilderness canoeing and winter camping expeditions.

Florida Sea Base

Through Scouting America, Sea Base programs empower youth through ocean exploration, adventure, and education.  Youth participants can choose from 20 different adventure treks which include options for camping, conservation, coral restoration, fishing, marine education, ocean paddling, live aboard sailing, scuba diving, and snorkeling.

Summit

The Summit Bechtel Reserve (or “The Summit,” for short) is a unique Scouting facility with an expansive main property spanning over 10,000 acres. We offer a variety of Scouting adventures that are exclusive to our location. Nestled in the heart of West Virginia, The Summit is strategically positioned within an eight-hour drive of 60% of the US population.

Prepping For High Adventure:

Getting ready and being successful for any high adventure trip takes a formula of the following ingredients:

  • Fundraising
  • Resource availability
  • Physical capabilities of the group
  • Mental capabilities of the group
  • Time to ramp up

Contact the VP of Programs to get your adventure started

Trail Signs Newsletter

Trail Signs is published bi-monthly to broaden awareness of programming and to serve the families engaged with the Hoosier Trails Council.

December 2024 – January 2025

October – November 2024

August – September 2024

June – July 2024

April – May 2024

February – March 2024