White Stag Leadership Development Program

{{Infobox Organization
|name = White Stag Leadership Development Program
|image = White stag lgo 146px.png
|image_border =
|size = 146px
|caption = Logo of the White Stag Leadership Development program, derived from the badge of the [[4th World Scout Jamboree|1933 World Scout Jamboree]] and the [[white stag]] of [[Hungarian mythology]]
|map =
|msize =
|mcaption =
|abbreviation =
|motto =
|formation = June 8, 1959
|extinction =
|type =
|status = [[501(c)3]] Non-profit
|purpose = Youth development
|headquarters = [[Presidio of Monterey]] Scout Lodge
|location = [[Monterey, California]]
|region_served = California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona
|membership = 250
|language =
|leader_title = President
|leader_name = Steve Cardinalli
|main_organ = White Stag Leadership Development Academy
|parent_organization =
|affiliations = [[Boy Scouting (Boy Scouts of America)]]
|num_staff =
|num_volunteers = 60
|budget = USD$45,000
|website = http://www.whitestag.org
|remarks =
}}

The '''White Stag Leadership Development Program''' is a non-profit organization founded on the [[Monterey Peninsula]], [[California]], in 1958 by Dr. [[Béla H. Bánáthy]]. The program when founded was a pioneer in teaching leadership to youth which it defines in part as comprising eleven specific [[leadership]] competencies. These competencies were later adapted by the National Council of the [[Boy Scouts of America]] and introduced into both adult [[Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)|Wood Badge]] and [[National Youth Leadership Training|junior leader training]]. These two programs had primarily focused on teaching [[Scoutcraft]] skills, and the change to teaching leadership was a marked cultural shift for how both adults and youth were trained in the skills of Scouting. The White Stag leadership competencies remained a key part of both training programs from 1974 through 2003.

The youth-run White Stag program continues to prepare and produce two week-long summer camps for other youth age 11-17 each summer using hands-on learning methods to teach the eleven leadership competencies. Since its inception, it has operated continuously for more than 50 years entirely on a voluntary basis, with an estimated 20,000 youth having attended its camps.<ref name="twenty-thousand">{{cite web
| url = http://www.whitestag.org/index.html |title = Twenty Thousand Youth and Fifty Years |author = White Stag Leadership Development Academy| date = 2008-05-14 |accessdate = 2008-07-30 }}</ref>

{{tocleft}}

== Rationale for developing leadership in youth ==

The White Stag program's origins are in Boy Scouting. [[Lord Baden-Powell]] established the principles of training junior leaders in the book ''Scouting for Boys.'' He said that the Scoutmaster should select "a party of six to eight youth or bright boys, and carefully instruct them in the details of peace-Scouting."<ref>{{cite book | last = Baden-Powell | first = Robert | title = Scouting For Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson LTD | date = 1908/1957 | location = London | pages = 342–343 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0486457192}}</ref>

Since the late 1950s, the Boy Scouts of America has repeatedly stated that the primary job of the Scoutmaster is to "train and guide boy leaders to run their troop."<ref>{{cite book | title = Scoutmaster's Handbook | publisher = Boy Scouts of America | year = 1959 | location = New Brunswick, N.J.| pages = 31 }}</ref> In his master's thesis, Bánáthy wrote:

{{cquote|Adults coming to a leadership development program are entering into a behavioral situation with deeply and rigidly established patterns which are difficult to change...

As leadership development efforts on the adult level often have been proved to be belated, leadership development should have started during the formative years of youth. It is during these years that opportunity is available for a long-term development of leadership behavior.<ref name="Bánáthy1963" />}}

Bánáthy formulated the White Stag program to address the needs of youth from 11 to 17 years of age. He did this when defining leadership was still in its infancy and before researchers had clearly identified the specific needs of youth for leadership education.

=== Needs of youth for leadership education ===

A number of researchers have identified needs of youth for specific kinds of formative experiences. In a well-regarded study,<ref>{{cite book | title=State youth policy: Helping all youth to grow up fully prepared and fully engaged | author=Ferber, T. and Pittman, K., and Marshall, T. | year=2002 | publisher=The Forum for Youth Investment, Impact Strategies, Inc., Washington, D.C. |url=http://www.forumforyouthinvestment.org/node/106| isbn=1-931902-11-9}}</ref> Ferber, Pittman, and Marshall described five developmental priorities for youth. These were ''learning'' (developing positive basic and applied academic attitudes, skills, and behaviors), ''thriving'' (developing physically healthy attitudes, skills, and behaviors), connecting (developing positive social attitudes, skills, and behaviors), ''working'' (developing positive vocational attitudes, skills, and behaviors), and ''leading'' (developing positive civic attitudes, skills, and behaviors).

Other studies<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nasetalliance.org/youthdev/research.htm|title=Youth Development & Youth Leadership|accessdate=2008-09-08|year=2005}}</ref> have identified areas that help youth acquire the attitudes, skills, and knowledge required to be effective in society. These areas are strong relationships with adults; training in mediation, conflict resolution, team dynamics, and project management; new roles and responsibilities based on experiences and resources that provide opportunity for growth, teamwork and peer networking; and opportunities to practice communication, negotiation, and refusal skills.

The White Stag Leadership Development Program's methods address all of these areas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitestag.org/skills/index.html|title=The Eleven Skills of Leadership|accessdate=2009-01-19}}</ref> Based in the outdoors, it requires youth to learn and study specific skills of leadership. The youth, led and mentored by adults, work together with other youth they have never met, forming new relationships and learning to connect and cooperate. They learn basic group membership skills required in work life, like communication and planning, and plan and implement their leadership skills in their home community.<ref name="sb106">{{cite web|url=http://www.whitestag.org/follow/sb106.htm|title=Evaluation Instruments|accessdate=2009-01-19}}</ref>

They learn and practice problem-solving and counseling skills, how groups form and grow, and planning skills. They learn and rehearse various kinds of communications skills, how to represent their group&mdash;both with and without the group's input&mdash;and how to work effectively with others.<ref name="sb106"/>

=== Other youth leadership organizations ===

There are a number of youth organizations in the United States that provide programs to develop leadership in youth. However, they define leadership in widely varying ways and offer leadership programs with a variety of aims. These include:

[[Boys & Girls Clubs of America]] The Boys and Girls Club offers two small group leadership development clubs, the Torch Club and the Keystone Club, targeting youth 11-13 and 14-18 respectively. "Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence."<ref> {{cite web|url=http://www.bgca.org/whoweare/ |title=Boys Girls Club of America Who we are |accessdate=2008-08-29 }}</ref>

[[Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation]] "HOBY’s flagship program, the Leadership Seminar, is designed for high school sophomores to recognize their leadership talents and apply them in becoming effective, ethical leaders in their home, schools, workplace and community."<ref> {{cite web|url=http://www.hobyreverb.org/events |title=Events HOBY Reverb|accessdate=2008-08-29 }}</ref>

[[National Youth Leadership Council]] NYLC provides academic-based programs and camps in the Wichita and Manhattan Kansas area to "help children develop a strong sense of character and achieve their unique potential, thereby infusing our communities with a more confident and capable group of future leaders."<ref> {{cite web|url=http://www.youthleadershipfoundation.org/AboutUs/ |title=About Us|accessdate=2008-08-29 }}</ref>

Youth Leadership Foundation <ref>[http://www.ylf.helpingkids.org Youth Leadership Foundation]</ref> Located in Washington, D.C., YLF's purpose is to "hone basic reading, writing, and comprehension skills to enable students to perform at grade-level or better."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ylf.helpingkids.org/mission.htm |title=Our Mission|accessdate=2008-08-29 }}</ref>

[[National Youth Leadership Forum]] NYLF provides career-related programs in eight cities across the United States focused on law, medicine, and national security. Their programs typically cost $2000, excluding travel, and target "the nation’s highest-achieving high school and university students."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nylf.org/overview.cfm |title=NYLF Overview|accessdate=2008-08-29}}</ref>

Youth Leadership Foundation Inc.<ref>[http://www.ylfinc.org Youth Leadership Foundation Inc.]</ref> YLF Inc., located in Florida, puts on two three-day conferences to teach students "basic elements of leadership needed in the maintenance of a free society...basic concepts of the free enterprise systems...develop an awareness of those special aspects of leadership applicable to our national institutions...and develop leadership skill to enable students attending conferences to become citizens and the future leaders of their community."<ref>{{cite web |title = About The Conferences | url = http://www.ylfinc.org/about_Conference.cfm | accessdate =2008-08-29}}</ref>

None of these programs appear to have either defined or teach a specific set of leadership competencies. White Stag Leadership Development is distinctive because the youth plan and implement a leadership program for other youth, the multi-phase, multi-year organizational structure, of how it defines leadership, and the specific nature of its leadership competencies.

== Organization and administration ==

The White Stag program is currently presented by two related non-profit groups in two different summer camps each year.

In '''Northern California''', the non-profit White Stag Association<ref>[http://www.whitestagcrew122 White Stag Crew 122]</ref> sponsors three [[Venturing]] Crews, a [[Learning for Life]] group, and a [[Boy Scout]] Troop that plan and produce the summer camp program in Northern California, usually at Camp John Mensinger or Camp Hi-Sierra in the [[Sierra Nevada Mountains]]. The youth and adult members of the Camp Mensinger program are registered in Venturing Crews in the [[San Francisco Bay Area Council|San Francisco Bay Area]], [[Mount Diablo Silverado Council|Mount Diablo Silverado]], and the [[Greater Yosemite Council|Greater Yosemite]] Councils. All youth staff are active members of Scout Troops or [[Venture (Boy Scouts of America)|Venturing Crews]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nunn-gage.net/whitestag/page2.htm|title=White Stag Leadership Development Venture Crew 122|accessdate=2009-01-19}}</ref>

In '''Central California''', the non-profit White Stag Leadership Development Academy<ref>[http://whitestag.org/about/program/white_stag_leadership_development_academy.htm White Stag Leadership Academy]</ref> sponsors a [[Learning for Life]] group, a [[Venturing]] Crew, and a [[Boy Scout]] Troop in the [[Monterey Bay Area Council]]. These youth plan and put on a program each summer in Central California. For the first time in 2009 they are planning to present two camps, one at [[Scouting in California#Los Padres Council|Rancho Alegre]] in the [[Santa Barbara]] area, and the second at [[Mount Diablo Silverado Council#Camps|Camp Lindblad]] in the [[Santa Cruz Mountains]]. Most youth staff participants are currently members of Boy Scout or Girl Scout Troops. If a youth is not active in another Scouting unit, they are registered, depending on their age, in one of the units.

Both programs adhere to the Youth Protection Standards of the [[Boy Scouts of America]], including background checks of all adult leaders. The White Stag Academy also conducts random [...] screening of its adult program leaders. Both have drawn participants from other states, including Washington, Oregon, Virginia, and Arizona.

=== Program phases and levels ===

Based on Béla Bánáthy's original work, the program is still organized into six development levels<ref name="phases">{{cite web
| url = http://www.whitestagcrew122.org/ |title = Program Phases |date = 2004-03-12 |accessdate = 2008-07-16
}}</ref>. These are tailored to the needs of youth at specific ages and maturity levels. These levels are:<ref>{{cite web | title = Organizational Structure | url = http://www.whitestag.org/follow/sb104.htm | date = | accessdate = 2008-09-02 | author = White Stag Leadership Academy}}</ref>

{| border="0"|+ '''Program Phase Structure'''
|-
| align="right" bgcolor="#CFFAD5" | '''Phase'''
| bgcolor="#CFFAD5" | '''Phase 1 &mdash; Patrol Member Development'''
| bgcolor="#CFFAD5" | '''Phase 2 &mdash; Patrol Leader Development'''
| bgcolor="#CFFAD5" | '''Phase 3 &mdash; Troop Leader Development'''
|-
| '''Level'''
| '''Level 1'''
| '''Level 2'''
| '''Level 3'''
|-
| valign="top"|'''Purpose: Teaches skills required for&mdash;'''
| participating effectively in small groups.
| leading small groups.
| leader of a leadership team.
|-
| valign="top"|'''Candidate Participants'''
| * For youth ages 11-12 (or have completed 5th grade)†<br />* Participants learn basic camping and patrol member skills<br />* Experience how to be a member of a small group<br />* Includes a one-night backpacking trip
| * For youth ages 12-14†<br />* Participants learn the skills of a leader of a small group<br />* Participants take turns acting as small group (patrol) leaders<br />* Includes a two-night backpacking trip
| * For youth ages 14-17†<br />* Participants learn leadership of two or more small groups<br />* Participants take turns acting as small group (patrol) leaders<br />* One participant is chosen by youth staff each day to lead the entire troop<br />* Includes a three-night backpacking trip
|-
| '''Level'''
| '''Level 4'''
| '''Level 5'''
| '''Level 6'''
|-
| valign="top"|'''Youth Staff Qualifications'''
| * For youth age 14-15†<br />* Senior Patrol Leaders<br />* Assistant Senior Patrol Leaders<br />* Patrol Leaders<br />* Quartermaster, Evaluation
| * For youth age 15-16†<br />* Senior Patrol Leaders<br />* Assistant Senior Patrol Leaders<br />* Patrol Counselors<br />* Quartermaster, Evaluation
| * For youth age 16-20†<br />* Senior Patrol Counselor<br />* Assistant Senior Patrol Counselors<br />* Patrol Counselors<br />* Quartermaster, Evaluation
|-
|valign="top"| '''Level'''
| '''Level 7'''<br />Phase Advisers (age 21+) <br /><br />Assistant Phase Advisers (age 18+)
| '''Level 8'''<br />Phase Advisers (age 21+) <br /><br />Assistant Phase Advisers (age 18+)
| '''Level 9'''<br />Phase Advisers (age 21+) <br /><br />Assistant Phase Advisers (age 18+)
|-
| valign="top"|'''Adult Staff'''
| colspan="3" bgcolor="#CFFAD5" align="center" | '''Post Advisers | Program Directors | Administrative | Operational Committees'''
|-
|valign="top"| '''Program & Support Staff'''
| align="center" colspan="3" | The Post Adviser must meet BSA Scout and Venturing Program requirements. Committees are composed of interested parents and alumni of all ages who fulfill critical support roles including registration, treasury, commissary, quartermaster, evaluation, medical and so forth, during the year and at summer camp.
|}

† The age levels are not absolute, but for guidance in placing participants in the phase most suitable to their needs.

The youth staff develop each summer camp's program during the preceding nine months in a series of leadership development training and planning events. They are ultimately responsible for the entire leadership program's content.

== Program Aims ==

The aims are the personal attributes that the program strives to help participants improve as they participate in the program. The White Stag program has four specific aims<ref name="a_design" /> that are closely aligned with the aims of the Boy Scouts of America.<ref name="bs-aims">{{cite web
| url = http://www.scouting.org/Media/FactSheets/02-503.aspx
| title = What Is Boy Scouting?
| author = Boy Scouts of America
| year = 2008
| accessdate = 2008-07-23
}}</ref> with the addition of leadership development.

'''Leadership Development'''

We inspire individuals to engage life as an ongoing adventure, to challenge themselves, and to lead others to pursue excellence.

'''Character Development'''

We encourage people to do what is right, no matter what, and to serve themselves and others.

'''Personal Fitness'''

We encourage individuals to accept physical and mental challenges, to surpass their own expectations, expand their knowledge, skills and abilities, and strive for continuous personal improvement.

'''Citizenship Training'''

We help individuals to develop a positive attitude, influence those around them, join in and shape their community.

== Program Values ==

The program has defined a set of values that govern how the program is implemented. They include:<ref name="principles">{{cite book |title = Rationale |author = Bill Roberts |year = 1974 }}</ref>

=== Leadership competencies ===

In his research for his master's thesis, Béla identified 80 characteristics of leadership<ref name="a_design">{{cite book
| title = A Design for Leadership Development in Scouting
| author = Béla Bánáthy
| publisher = Monterey Bay Area Council
| year = 1963
| pages = 25–29
}}</ref>. He condensed these into eleven leadership competencies which he then proposed be taught in a systematic process using six developmental levels tailored to the various needs of youth as they mature. These competencies are:<ref name="worldref" />

'''Getting and Giving Information'''

This competency enables a learner to develop an understanding of the types of communication, including verbal, written and non-verbal; identify Getting and Giving Information as one of the major techniques of establishing a group; acquire knowledge of receiving, retrieving, and giving information and the problems of interpreting; gain experience at communicating within the group to accomplish a task; develop an attitude of evaluating the ability of the group in terms of getting and giving information to both accomplish a task and maintain the group.

'''Understanding Group Needs and Characteristics'''

This competency enables a learner to Recognize understanding the needs and characteristics of group members as a major technique for building group unity and identity; recognize and differentiate between values, norms, needs, and characteristics; gain knowledge of the relationship between planning activities, group performance, and individual needs and characteristics.

'''Knowing and Understanding Group Resources'''

This competency enables a learner to recognize knowledge and use of group resources as a major technique in bringing a group together and creating commitment to common goals; recognize that resources are theoretically limitless, and that the leader's (and group's) ability to recognize and utilized diverse resources tremendously affects what the group can accomplish; involve more people in active leadership by giving each a part according to his or her resources; evaluate the impact the availability of resources has on doing a job and maintaining the group.

'''Controlling the Group'''

This competency enables a learner to recognize how his own behavior influences and controls others; distinguish between controlling group performance and setting the example; identify control as a function of the group, or of a facilitator, and the advantages and disadvantages of each having that responsibility; identify different techniques for controlling group performance and their suitability in different situations; deploy group resources to the best interests of the group while encouraging personal growth; evaluate leadership performance in terms of group performance.

'''Counseling'''

This competency enables the learner to gain knowledge of the principles of counseling; gractice some simple techniques to be used in ordinary situations; develop an awareness of counseling as a function of leaders; grow personally in areas of problem solving and decision making; help others to increased ability to solve problems and make decisions.

'''Setting the Example'''

This competency enables the learner to list three positive results a leader who sets a good example can obtain; see that Setting an Example is an important part of Controlling Group Performance; recognize the leader's responsibility for setting the example; list seven ways a leader can set a good example.

'''Planning'''

This competency enables the learner to identify problem-solving as one of they key techniques in developing the group's capability; gain knowledge of a definite technique for problem-solving and planning; understand the value of problem-solving in group commitment to the task and to group unity.

'''Evaluation'''

This competency enables the learner to use evaluation as a technique to maintain group integrity while improving job performance; describe what is meant by "getting the job done" and "maintaining the group;" analyze a situation for improvement; avoid conflicts between getting the job done and maintaining the group; develop an attitude of constant (informal and formal) evaluation; use a variety of strategies for evaluation purposes.

'''Sharing Leadership'''

This competency enables the learner to develop a concept of leadership for a group which permits different functions of leadership being shared or distributed among group members according to the situation and member's strengths; gain knowledge of the forces acting on the leader and the group, and inherent in the situation which makes for appropriateness of leadership styles; distinguish between situations in which certain styles of leadership are appropriate; relate styles of leadership to the twin factors of getting the job done and maintaining group integrity and morale; develop attitudes of using appropriate styles of leadership to fit needs of the group to meet situations and accomplish short-and long-range goals.

'''Representing the Group'''

This competency enables the learner to understand Representing the Group as the process by which other groups identify his group; identify some of the questions a representative must ask of himself before proceeding without prior group consensus or input; develop an attitude of faithful representation of the entire group; assess whether or not a decision can be agreed to without further group decision-making.

'''Manager of Learning'''

This competency enables the learner to identify Manager of Learning as a principle technique of instruction; list key instructional strategies for effectively communicating information; emphasize the learner in the learning process.

=== Outdoor learning ===

The outdoors environment provides a context for learning that is physically demanding and entirely different from that experienced everyday at home and in school. The outdoors stimulates new ways of thinking and approaching both task- and group-related problems. As participants learn they can exceed what they perceive to be their physical limits, they find their mental capacity also grows. We use the physical environment to tire the individual and open their minds to new ways of thinking. We do nothing indoors that can be done outdoors and encourage physical fitness through outdoor activities. Using the outdoors avoids the negative association of a standard classroom environment.

In addition, the program utilizes [[Scoutcraft]] skills to provide opportunities to practice leadership skills. Bánáthy commented:

{{cquote|...the leadership development process of White Stag takes place on the territory of Scout crafting. For example, a very first planning function that the leaders-in-training are to accomplish is related to the setting up of a camp site for their group.... The learning goal here is to learn how to analyze the task, how to plan and organize for the task, how to go about accomplishing it by using all the potentials of group, how to execute the plan, how to evaluate performance, how to correct, etc.<ref name="Bánáthy1963" />}}

=== Evaluation attitude ===

In his master's thesis, Bánáthy wrote:

{{cquote|Growth in leadership and improvement of leadership performance are dependent upon the leader's willingness to change, his ability to define the kind of change he needs and the experience of the particular change desired.

In this sequence, the leader's ability to define the kind of change he needs is predicated upon his competency to evaluate. Changes or learning in the desired direction can be brought about only by a continuous self-analysis and evaluation of goals and achievements. Learning to evaluate and analyze becomes, therefor, an objective of great significance.<ref name="Bánáthy1963" />}}

=== Spirit and traditions ===

One of the distinctive characteristics of the program is a body of ceremonies, traditions, songs, code, and spirit-related activities. These include a re-telling of the White Stag Legend<ref name="legend">{{cite web
| url = http://www.whitestag.org/about/legend/legend_print.html
| title = The White Stag Legend
| author = John Chiorini
| year = 1979
| accessdate = 2008-07-30
}}</ref> based on the [[white stag]] of [[Hungarian mythology]].

Béla wrote,

{{cquote|The name of this leadership development design is WHITE STAG; it is also referred to as the White Stag method of leadership development.

At the time of the initiation of this leadership developmental process a stylized emblem of a white stag was designed as the program symbol. This symbol was used as the badge of the [[4th World Scout Jamboree|Fourth World Jamboree]] held in Hungary. <ref name="Bánáthy1963" />}}

The White Stag Legend is used to inspire in the participants a desire for reflection, continuous self-improvement, and pursuit of higher aims and goals. The spirit and tradition activities are used to communicate specific vision and values that include characteristics of servant leadership, compassion, enthusiasm, kindness, and selflessness.

Since its inception, the White Stag program has evolved several ceremonies that use the symbolism of the White Stag to recognize individuals' progress and levels of achievement. They include Baden-Powell's farewell speech from the Fourth World Jamboree, and a recitation of the White Stag legend. These ceremonies are used to communicate the program's vision, values, and ethics. The program has also developed a number of [[tradition]]s, for example, [[woggle]]s, waist ropes, staves, berets, and patrol names.

The participant ceremonies typically include a initiatory neckerchief ceremony, a legend ceremony, a graduation neckerchief ceremony, and a final tri-phase graduation ceremony at the end of summer camp. The youth and adult staff may also participate in additional ceremonies at various times during the year. All of these borrow themes from the [[white stag]] of [[Hungarian mythology]].

=== Patrol method ===

Baden-Powell wrote:

{{cquote|The Patrol System is the one essential feature in which Scout training differs from that of all other organizations, and where the System is properly applied, it is absolutely bound to bring success. It cannot help itself! The formation of the boys into Patrols of from six to eight and training them as separate units each under its own responsible leader is the key to a good Troop. The Patrol is the unit of Scouting always, whether for work or for play, for discipline or for duty.<ref name="Baden">{{Cite journal
| author = Baden-Powell, Robert
| year = 1943
| publisher = The National Council Boy Scouts of Canada
| title = Aids to Scoutmastership a Guidebook for Scoutmasters on the Theory of Scout Training
| pages = 16
}}</ref>}}

=== Hands-on learning ===

The White Stag program emphasizes use of [[experiential learning]] activities in the context of [[outdoor education]]. These help participants retain what they learn about leadership generally and the eleven leadership competencies specifically. For example, participant teams can be challenged to build foot bridges, complete a hike, build a Tyrolean Traverse, cook a meal, or other practical challenges.<ref name="bkparam">{{cite book
| title = Parameters of a New Design in Leadership Development
| publisher = The Leadership Development Project
| author = Béla Bánáthy
| year = 1963
| pages = 1–19
}}</ref>

=== Hurdle method ===

Bánáthy defined the Hurdle Method as:

{{cquote|...an approach used as an application technique in leadership development. The hurdle is a means to teach what was previously called the "leadership set" which is a readiness to be ready for and be able to act in a situation for which one is not ready. Unexpected tasks or problems are put before the leader and his group for which they have to organize themselves quickly and efficiently in order to find a solution or to accomplish the task. <ref name="Bánáthy1963" />}}

The hurdle method is closely linked to hands-on learning.

=== Direct approach ===

Bánáthy asserted that:

{{cquote|In conventional...leadership training programs, leadership learnings have not usually been defined as specific learning objectives, but as a by-product of other learnings or activities. This ''indirect'' way of training for leadership is what the White Stag Method challenges and transforms into the ''direct approach.''

The Direct Approach to leadership development is conceived as one having a specific terminal behavior defined as leadership learning objectives...<ref name="Bánáthy1963" /> }}

Bánáthy went on to define specific leadership behaviors and learnings, including the ''leadership competencies''.

=== Manager of Learning ===

Bánáthy initially defined Manager of Learning in part as the ''Project Approach'':

{{cquote|First, the leader-in-training is confronted with a leadership situation in which he is to act as a leader. In his attempt to act as a leader, he will internalize the need to have available some knowledges [sic], skills or techniques.

Second, having internalized the need for learning because of the attempted action, the trainee enters a period of teaching or exposure...designed to teach skills, techniques and knowledges [sic] needed to cope with the situation...

Finally, having received instruction and having had proper practice, the leader-in-training engages again in an actual leadership performance, during which he will have a chance to compare his performance exhibited before nd after the instruction.<ref name="Bánáthy1963" />}}

=== Infinity principal ===

According to Bánáthy, leadership development must be ongoing:

{{cquote|Leadership behavior cannot be developed during a few weeks, not even during several months. Essential leadership knowledge can be learned in some weeks; it will take months to learn leadership skills; it requires years to shape leadership behavior."<ref name="Bánáthy1963" />}}

{{cquote|The White Stag badge denotes an ever ongoing, a becoming process. In the case of the White Stag leadership development program it means the long-term process of leadership development and the never-ending process of ''becoming a person'', with a special emphasis on using difficult situations as opportunities for growth.<ref name="Bánáthy1963" />

...leadership development will no longer be perceived as a single training course or as a one-shot event, but s a ''continuous'' sequence of closely chained and highly structured learning and experience-building opportunities, as an infinite challenge to change, as the nevelr-ending process of becoming a leader.<ref name="Bánáthy1963" />

The infinity principle of growth in leadership is what the White Stag symbolizes in this leadership development process.<ref name="Bánáthy1963" />}}

=== Uniforming ===

A uniform displaying the White Stag logo is a visible reminder of the program's founding vision articulated by Baden-Powell at the conclusion of the [[4th World Scout Jamboree|1933 World Jamboree]]. The uniform reminds the individual wearing it of their commitment to the program's values. It instills self-esteem in the person and pride in the program. It eliminates class and socio-economic distinctions. Wearing a uniform improves member's behavior and lessens the impact on a person's personal wardrobe.

== Financial support ==

White Stag is a 501(c)3 non-profit and financially self-supporting. All participants, including youth and adult staff, pay fees to participate. Fees for participants attending the week-long summer camp at Rancho Alegre are $265 in 2008-09.

== History ==

White Stag traces its direct roots to 1933 and [[Gödöllö]], Hungary, and the [[4th World Scout Jamboree|Fourth World Scout Jamboree]] which three of its founders attended.

=== Origins in Hungary ===
{{see|Béla H. Bánáthy}}
[[Image:--HungaryGodollo1933.jpg|thumb|140px|Participant badge of the 1933 World Scout Jamboree]]

At the [[4th World Scout Jamboree|1933 World Scout Jamboree]], a 14 year old Scout was kneeling by his campfire when three uniformed men rode up on horseback: Count [[Paul Teleki]], the Chief Scout of Hungary and the Chief of Staff for the jamboree; General Kisbarnaki Ferenc Farkas, a general staff officer of the [[Military of Hungary|Royal Hungarian Army]]; and [[Robert Baden-Powell|Baden-Powell]], the British hero of the [[Boer War]] and Chief Scout of the World. The men introduced themselves to the Scout and inspected his camp. They complimented him on a job well done and rode on.<ref name="wshistory">{{cite web | title= White Stag History Since 1933 | url=http://whitestag.org/history/history.html |year= 1997|accessdate=2008-09-05|author=Alan Miyamoto, Fran Peterson}}</ref><ref name="pinebhb">{{cite web | title=Béla's Story: Scouting in Hungary, 1925-1937 |url=http://www.pinetreeweb.com/bhb.htm| author=Lew Orans| accessdate=2008-08-15| date=1996-12-14}}</ref>

Bánáthy also briefly met Joseph Szentkiralyi, another Hungarian Scout. Elsewhere during the Jamboree, Hungarian [[Sea Scouts|Sea Scouter]] Paul Ferenc Sujan's camp was visited by Baden-Powell, who asked to taste some of his soup. American Maury Tripp attended the Jamboree from Saratoga, California. These three Scouts would later play an instrumental role in Bánáthy's life. At the conclusion of the Jamboree, these four young men were moved by the farewell speech of [[Robert Baden-Powell|Baden-Powell]], in which he challenged them:

{{cquote|Each one of you wears the badge of the White Stag of Hungary. I want you to treasure that badge when you go from here and to remember that, like the Golden Arrow, it also has its message and its meaning for you.

The Hungarian hunters of old pursued the miraculous Stag, not because they expected to kill it, but because it led them on in the joy of the chase to new trails and fresh adventures, and so to capture happiness. You may look on that White Stag as the pure spirit of Scouting, springing forward and upward, ever leading you onward and upward to leap over difficulties, to face new adventures in your active pursuit of the higher aims of Scouting—aims which bring you happiness.

These aims are to do your duty wholeheartedly to God, to your country, and to your fellow man by carrying out the Scout Law. In that way you will, each one of you, help to bring about God's kingdom upon earth—the reign of peace and goodwill.

Therefore, before leaving you, I ask you Scouts this question—Will you do your best to make friendship with others and peace in the world? <ref name="au-revior">{{cite web
| url = http://www.pinetreeweb.com/1933-wj4-news47.htm
| title = Au Revoir" — Not Goodbye!
| author = Lew Orans
| date= 1998-10-02
| accessdate = 2008-07-16
}}</ref>}}

This challenge and the myth of the White Stag it cites grew to become a source of inspiration to Bánáthy. He wrote,

{{cquote|The highlight of the Jamboree for me was meeting Baden-Powell, the Chief Scout of the World. One day, he visited our camp with the Chief Scout of Hungary, Count Paul Teleki (who later became our Prime Minister), and the chief of the camp staff, `Vitez' Kisbarnaki Ferenc Farkas, a general staff officer of the Hungarian Royal Army. A few years later he became the commander of the Royal Ludovika Akademia, (when I was a student there). In the 1940s, he became the Chief Scout of Hungary. (I was serving on his staff as head of national junior leadership training.)<ref name="wshistory" />}}

In 1933, Bánáthy attended the regional patrol leader training week and in 1934 and 1935, the national spring leadership camp at [[List of districts in Budapest|Harshegy]], [[Budapest]]. In 1934, he was awarded the best notebook prize of the national training camp and in 1935, he was invited to serve on the junior staff of the camp.<ref name="pinebhb" /> The legend of the White Stag becomes an enduring symbol of challenge and opportunity for many others over the ensuing decades.

During [[World War II]], Bánáthy was a junior officer of the [[Military of Hungary|Royal Hungarian Army]]. He became a faculty member of the Hungarian Royal Academy, served on the National Council of the [[Magyar Cserkészszövetség|Hungarian Scout Association]], and became the voluntary national director for youth leadership development. Barely escaping Hungary at the end of World War II, Bánáthy arrived after considerably personal trials in June 1951 at [[Monterey]], [[California]] to teach at at the [[Defense Language Institute|Army Language School]].

Joseph Szentkiralyi also barely survived World War II. He and his family had previously arrived in the United States during 1939, where Joe worked in New York City. At the start of World War II, they were deported back to Hungary. Because he spoke English, Joe was assigned to watch over the crew members of the first American [[B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17 bomber]] to crash land in Hungary. When the crew told him sensitive information, he was ordered to reveal the information to his superiors. Citing the [[Geneva Convention]], he refused. The authorities prepared to [[Court Martial]] him, and Joe fled. During a time of frequent Allied aerial bombing raids, he hid where he figured no one would look for him: in the upper floors of apartment buildings. During one bombing raid a {{convert|500|lb|kg}} bomb crashed through and landed on the floor above him. Fortunately it did not explode.<ref name="wshistory" />

Unlike Bánáthy, Szentkiralyi and his family did not escape the [[Siege of Budapest]] that began on 26 December 1944. For the next 45 days, they endured constant artillery bombardment and street-by-street tank and infantry battles between the Germans, the remnants of the Royal Hungarian Army, and the attacking Ukrainian and Russian forces. Joe, along with others, risked their lives by leaving the bomb shelters to butcher frozen horse carcasses in the streets in order to PReVENT starvation&mdash;one of many challenges they faced in order to help keep their families alive. At the end, daily rations consisted of melted snow, horse meat, and 150 grams of bread. Eighty percent of Budapest's buildings were destroyed or damaged during the siege. About 40,000 civilians died during the battle. When the Russians finally claimed victory, they initiated an orgy of violence, including mass [...], wholesale theft of anything they could lay their hands on, and random executions.<ref name="wshistory" />

Having survived the war, Joe was able to use his English language skills and found work for the American Embassy in Budapest as a translator. However, this put him in a vulnerable position as the Communists hardened their grip on power. He read the news bulletins sent via diplomatic channels to the American press attaché and knew that the western nations were unable to prevent Russian's domination of Central Europe. Because he had lived in the United States and spoke English, he knew he would fall under suspicion. People he knew began to disappear, including a friend who worked at the U.S. Embassy. Within a few days he found a note on his desk that read, "You are next." With American assistance, he immediately fled Hungary for Switzerland. He and his family returned to New York City for a few months, and Joe applied for a position as a Hungarian instructor at the [[Defense Language Institute|Army Language School]]. He was hired in the summer of 1948 and Joe founded their Hungarian Department.<ref name="wshistory" />

Starting in 1951, almost 25 years afterward, four Scouts who had attended the 1933 Fourth World Jamboree were brought back together. Joseph Szentkiralyi (which he had Anglicized as St. Clair) met Bánáthy again. In 1956, they were joined by Hungarian Paul Ferenc Sujan. In Monterey, through their Scouting contacts, they met F. Maurice Tripp.

=== Growth in the United States ===

Bánáthy had developed a passion for the idea of leadership development in boys. In Monterey, he became Chairman of the Leadership Training Committee of the [[Monterey Bay Area Council]]. He sought and received support for his concept of a leadership camp for boys with the Council Executive and Executive Board.

Bánáthy informally recruited one patrol of boys, including his own sons, and took them to summer camp in 1957 to test his idea. John Chiorini, a 17-year-old Eagle Scout, was working on the waterfront. "Béla came through camp with a patrol of six or seven boys and commandeered me to teach a class on camp craft. He said he was trying out some new ideas with this patrol," Chiorini reported "Béla listened intently as I presented and then he came up after and gave me some tips on teaching. He was a mentor to me from that point on."<ref name="founders" />

During the summer of 1958, Béla recruited two patrols of boys to take part.<ref name="a_report" /> Chiorini was recruited to serve as Senior Patrol Leader. There wasn't much discussion of leadership competencies to start. Bánáthy seemed to have an internal sense of direction which not everyone understood. Chiorini said, "White Stag was all about creating an environment in which youth led youth. At the time, Scouting was not necessarily a boy-led program. I remember it was very clear in Béla’s mind what a boy-led Scouting program looked like. There was no question about who was in charge in White Stag. The boys were."<ref name="founders" /> Fran Peterson, a local Scouter who served on the National Engineering Service for the Boy Scouts of America, along with St. Clair, Sujan, and Tripp, helped Bánáthy develop the White Stag program. Some of them remained active With It into the 1970s.

Borrowing on his experience at the 1933 [[World Jamboree]], Bánáthy based the program's spirit and traditions on the [[white stag]] of [[Hungarian mythology]]. On June 8, 1959, at an adult staff meeting attended by Béla Bánáthy, Jack Stone, Bill White, Paul Holbrook, Ralph Herring, Fran Petersen, and Staff Advisor Bill Lidderdale, they "officially adopted ''White Stag'' as the name for junior leaders training events."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitestag.org/history/adult_staff_meeting%208_june_59.htm|title=Adult Staff Meeting|date=1956-06-08|accessdate=2008-10-21}}</ref> "Lord Baden-Powell was my personal idol and I long felt a commitment to give back to Scouting what I had received," Béla said.<ref name="herald">{{cite article | title=Special Leadership Camps Held at Pico Blanco | author = Helene H. Parsons | publisher = Monterey Peninsula Herald | date = 1977-09-04}}</ref>

During August 1959, the first full-scale program was put on. Bánáthy served as Scoutmaster, Fran Petersen was Assistant Scoutmaster, along with eight other adult staff and 13 youth staff. The training troop consisted of 39 trainees from 24 troops. In the first two years of the program, emphasis was placed on training Patrol Leaders.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.whitestag.org/history/history.html | title = White Stag History Since 1933 | publisher=White Stag Leadership Academy}}</ref> Béla said, "I saw in these principles an opportunity to develop the White Stag program for my three Boy Scout sons as well as show my gratitude to this country and Scouting."<ref name="herald" />

During the same year, Bánáthy continued his research on leadership and learned that the U.S. Army's Human Resources Research Office (HumRRO) at the [[Presidio of Monterey, California|Presidio of Monterey]] was conducting research into the leadership characteristics of non-commissioned officers. Bánáthy contacted research psychologist Paul Hood, Task Leader of Task NCO (Non-commissioned Officer), and began a fruitful collaboration. A HumRRO publication titled, ''A Guide for the Infantry Squad Leader&ndash;What the Beginning Squad Leader Should Know About Human Relations'' articulated a core set of leadership competencies.<ref>{{cite book | title=Leadership Climate for Trainee Leaders: The Army AIT Platoon | publisher=Human Resources Research Office, George Washington University, Alexandria, Virginia| author =Paul D. Hood| year=1963| url=http://www.stormingmedia.us/26/2698/0269826.html}}</ref> Bánáthy found Hood's research enumerated characteristics of leadership that strongly validated his vision and direction. With Hood's active encouragement, he decided to incorporate these leadership skills into White Stag.

In 1960, the adult staff announced that they would expand the program to offer an additional phase of leadership development for boys 14-17 years old, to train "junior trainers and impart leadership skills."<ref name="wshistory" /> This phase was christened ''Troop Leadership Development''.

=== National Council takes notice ===

[[Image:White stag founders 1968 fort ord.jpg|thumb|237px|Joe St. Clair, Fran Peterson, Maury Tripp, and [[Béla H. Bánáthy]] at the White Stag Leadership Development Program [[Indaba]] held at Fort Ord, California, during November, 1962. These four men played instrumental roles in developing the experimental [[Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)|Wood Badge]] course #25-2, held at Fort Ord in January and February 1968.]]
With the interest and support of the Monterey Bay Area Council executive staff and board, the program was continually tested and improved. Two men with connections on the National Council, Fran Peterson (a member of the National Council's Engineering Service) and F. Maurice Tripp (a research scientist and member of the National Boy Scout Training Committee), brought the White Stag program to the National Council's attention. In 1962, Tripp formed and chaired an advisory board of educators, psychologists, management specialists, and members of the Scout professional staff.

During 1962-63, Bánáthy focused his research and formalized it as his Master's Thesis at San Jose State University. The Monterey Bay Area Council published an abbreviated version of it titled ''A Design for Leadership Development in Scouting.''<ref name="Bánáthy1963">{{Cite journal
| author = Bánáthy, Béla
| year = 1963
| title = Parameters of a New Design in Leadership Development, A Project Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Education, San Jose State College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
}}</ref><ref name="wbhistory" /> Responding to wide-spread interest, Dr. Tripp gave a talk in 1963 at the Fifty-third Annual Meeting of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America on ''Development of Leadership in Boy Leaders of Boys''.<ref>{{cite article |title = Excerpts from Talks Given at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the National Council |author = Maurice Tripp |date = May 23-24, 1963 |publisher = Boy Scouts of America, New York, NY}}</ref> In August 1963, a patrol of Scouts from the [[Pacific Skyline Council|San Mateo County Council]] and a few boys from the [[Circle Ten Council]] in [[Dallas]] attended White Stag summer camp at the [[Monterey Bay Area Council|Pico Blanco Boy Scout Reservation]]. The program was observed and evaluated by Ken Wells (national director of Research) and John Larson (staff researcher). Wells had a long history with Wood Badge, beginning as a participant in the second [[Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)|United States Wood Badge]] course in 1948. They were impressed by what they saw and experienced.<ref name="wshistory">{{cite web |title = A History of the White Stag Leadership Development Program |url = http://www.pinetreeweb.com/staghist.htm |author= Joe St. Clair, Brian Phelps, Béla Bánáthy| year = 1996 | accessdate=2008-08-03}}</ref>

In January 1964, Tripp organized a meeting at [[Asilomar Conference Grounds|Asilomar]] in [[Pacific Grove]], California to assess the success of the previous summer's pilot-test. The purpose of the meeting was to acquaint the national council leadership with the new design for junior leader training and to plan how to effectively incorporate the teaching of leadership skills within Scouting.<ref name="wshistory" />

From the '''National Council''', attendees were [[Ellsworth H. Augustus|Ellsworth Augustus]] (National Council President), Marshall Monroe (Assistant National Scout Executive), Bill Lawrence (National Director of Volunteer Training), [[Herold C. Hunt]] (National Council Vice President and a Professor of Education at Harvard), Ken Wells (Director of Research Service), Jack Rhey (National Director of Professional Training), Bob Perin (National Training Representative), and Walt Whidden (Region 12 Executive). Representatives from the '''Monterey Bay Area Council''' were Tom Moore (Monterey Bay Area Council Executive), Dale Hirt (President of the Monterey Bay Area Council), John Barr (Chairman of the Department of Education at San Jose State University), Joe St. Clair (Chairman, Hungarian Department at the Army Language School on the Presidio and Training Committee Chairman), Fran Peterson (member of the White Stag Advisory Board, Scoutmaster in Chular, California, and member of the National Council's Engineering Service), Ralph Herring (member of the White Stag Committee), Ferris Bagley (a retired businessman with an interest in leadership development), Béla Bánáthy (Director of White Stag and Director of the East Europe and Middle East Division of the Army Language School), Paul Hood (Research Scientist at U.S. Army's Human Resources Research Office), Judson Stull (a White Stag Committee member and local attorney), and F. Maurice Tripp (Chairman, White Stag Advisory Committee, and member of the National Boy Scout Committee).

The National Council was, according to Larson, "snowed by Bánáthy's language. They didn't get what he was talking about." But one national board member did. [[Herold C. Hunt|Herold Hunt]], a Professor of Education at Harvard, prevailed on the board to take a longer look. The Research Service was tasked with conducting the necessary research. John W. Larson, a staff researcher for the National Council, traveled to California and observed the program's annual [[Indaba]] at the [[Presidio of Monterey]]. Larson and Bob Perin conducted a thorough study, interviewing participants, parents, and leaders. They distributed questionnaires to program participants, reviewed the White Stag literature, and observed the program in action. They also conducted a statistical analysis of troops taking part in White Stag and compared them to non-participating units. In December 1965, Chief Scout Executive [[Joseph Brunton]] received the ''White Stag Report''. It stated that offering leadership development to youth was a unique opportunity for Scouting to provide a practical benefit to youth and would add substantial support to Scouting's character development goals. It recommended that Wood Badge should be used to experiment with the leadership development principles of White Stag.

The National Council leadership approved adapting the White Stag leadership competencies for nationwide use. Dr. John W. Larson, by now Director of Boy Scout Leader Training for the National Council, adapted the White Stag leadership development competencies and wrote the first syllabus for the adult [[Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)|Wood Badge]] program.<ref name="threefires">{{cite web |url = http://www.threefirescouncil.org/Training/WB/tfc_wb_history.html |title = History of Wood Badge Training in the Three Fires Council |author = Three Fires Council |date = 2007-03-04 |accessdate = 2008-08-01 }}</ref> Shifting from teaching primarily [[Scoutcraft]] skills to leadership competencies was a paradigm shift, changing the assumptions, concepts, practices, and values underlying how adults were trained in the skills of Scouting.<ref name="jlt-guide">{{cite web |url = http://pinetreeweb.com/TLD-1974.htm |title = Historical Background of Leadership Development: Troop Leader Development, 1974 |author = Lew Orans |date = 1997-04-12 |accessdate = 2008-07-22 }}</ref>.

At the end of the August 1964 summer camp, Béla Bánáthy and Fran Peterson announced that White Stag would begin in 1965 to offer a third phase of leadership development for boys age 11-13, called "Patrol Member Development." This was a revolutionary step, for it made it possible for all boys 11-17 years old to learn leadership skills appropriate to their maturity, capabilities, and needs, and as they grew to re-cycle through the program in another phase and acquire increased skills.

=== World Scouting publishes paper ===

The World Organization of the Scout Movement published the results of the Boy Scouts of America's research and testing of the White Stag approach to leadership development. [[Béla H. Bánáthy|Béla Bánáthy]] wrote a monograph ''Leadership Development: World Scouting Reference Paper No. 1'', which he presented in 1969 to a meeting of the World Scout Conference in Helsinki, Finland.<ref name="worldref">{{cite web | title = Leadership Development - World Scouting Reference Papers, No. 1.
| url = http://pinetreeweb.com/learning.htm | author = Béla H. Bánáthy | month = May | year = 1969 | publisher = Boy Scouts World Bureau | accessdate = 2008-07-05}}</ref> He advocated leadership development By design in Scouting based on the leadership competencies of White Stag.

In 1968, [[Salvador Fernández Beltrán]], Deputy Secretary of the [[World Organization of the Scout Movement]], visited camp during the summer program at Pico Blanco Scout Reservation. Leaders of the [[Asociación de Scouts de México, A.C.|Mexican Scout]] movement asked Bánáthy to guide them in the adaptation of the White Stag program concept. Bánáthy was appointed to the Interamerican Scout Committee and participated in three Interamerican Train the Trainer events in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. He guided their national training teams in designing leadership development by design programs.

=== Adapted for use in U.S. Wood Badge ===
{{see|Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)}}

In 1967, the National Boy Scouts of America began to test a revised Wood Badge program utilizing the White Stag leadership competencies. Two of the project members, Ken Wells and Bob Perin, had participated in the second United States Wood Badge course in 1948. Despite their long experience in Wood Badge, they saw the benefit of adding leadership skills development to Wood Badge.<ref name="wbhistory">{{cite book |title=A History of Wood Badge in the United States|asin=B0013ENRE8|publisher=Boy Scouts of America|year=1990}}</ref>

"The [[Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)|Wood Badge]] program first was laboratory tested at the [[Schiff Scout Reservation]] in New Jersey and at [[Philmont Scout Ranch|Philmont]] in New Mexico in 1967. Modified versions of the White Stag leadership competencies were an essential part of [[Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)|Wood Badge]]. Following the program's revision it was field tested in five councils during 1968."<ref name="a_report">{{cite book
| title = Report on a Leadership Development Experiment |author = Béla Bánáthy |publisher = Monterey Bay Area Council |year = 1964 }}</ref>. Among these was an experimental Wood Badge course in Monterey in 1968. Joe St. Clair served as Scoutmaster, Bánáthy was course director, and Fran Petersen was Senior Patrol Leader. John Larson, National Director of Education, was also present. In a unique application not since reproduced, all attendees were asked to bring their entire troop to a single week of summer camp, allowing the Wood Badge staff who also attended to use the summer camp as an application for Wood Badge.<ref name="founders">{{cite web| url=http://www.whitestag.org/history/founders/white-stag-founders.htm| title=The Four Founders of White Stag|author=Bill Roberts|accessdate=2008-10-05|year=2005}}</ref>

Funding for continuing the experiment in leadership development by design and evaluating its results were obtained by the Boy Scouts from the [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]] during 1969, who underwrote continued tests of the junior leader instructor training program at the [[Philmont Scout Ranch]] in New Mexico and the [[Schiff Scout Reservation]] in New Jersey.<ref name="tld1974">{{cite book | title=Troop Leadership Development Staff Guide | publisher=Boy Scouts of America | year=1974}}</ref>

{{cquote|They "requested that this program be evaluated by an outside source; hence the Management Analysis Center of Cambridge, Mass., was contracted to make an independent analysis of this experience by interviewing participants, staff members, and parents to determine Scouts' attitudes toward understanding the different aspects of leadership before and after they had completed this program."

"In their report, the Management Analysis Center indicated that the educational methods being used in leadership development are consistent with both the current state of knowledge concerning the conditions under which people learn most effectively and within the current practice in the best leadership development programs available to managers in both public and private organizations."<ref name="tld1974" /> }}

In January 1967, Bánáthy worked with John Larson and Bob Perin to write a new Wood Badge staff guide focusing on leadership. In May 1967, staff from councils who would attend the initial course met at Philmont to plan the program, and on June 17, 1967, the first experimental Wood Badge course was offered at Philmont. One month later, the Circle Ten Council in Dallas presented its first new Wood Badge course. In September 1967, six councils were approved to pilot-test the new Wood Badge program in 1968: [[Monterey Bay Area Council]], [[Piedmont Council]], [[Scouting in Tennessee#Middle Tennessee Council|Middle Tennessee]], [[Del-Mar-Va Council|Del-Mar-Va]], and [[Scouting in New York#Hiawatha Seaway Council|Hiawatha]] (formerly Onondago) and [[Circle Ten Council]]. In Monterey, Béla was Course Director, Joe St. Clair served as Scoutmaster, and Fran Petersen was Senior Patrol Leader.<ref name="wbhistory" />

The Wood Badge course was further pilot-tested in 1971 at [[Philmont Scout Ranch|Philmont]], the five test councils, and in every national region excepting Region 8.<ref name="scouting_pryce">{{Cite news|year=1972 |periodical=Scouting Magazine |title = Miracle on Maxwell Mesa |publisher=Boy Scouts of America|first= [...] |last=Pryce |publication-date= Jan/Feb 1972|page=6}}</ref><ref name="wbhistory" /> In 1972, after nearly five years of testing and experimentation, the official Wood Badge program nation-wide incorporated for the first time teaching leadership skills over Scoutcraft skills. The leadership competencies remained an essential part of [[Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)|Wood Badge]] through the 1990s,<ref name="wood">{{cite web |url = http://www.woodbadge.org/BoyScout/wblsskill.htm |title = The Leadership Skills Presented at Wood Badge |author = Mike Bernard |date = 2002-11-22 |accessdate = 2008-07-23 }}</ref> when there was a shift in emphasis to unit meetings using the troop camping activity as a delivery model.

In 2003, the [[Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)|Wood Badge]] program, re-christened as ''Wood Badge for the 21st Century'', was initially designed to incorporate a [[leadership|participatory leadership]] model originally based on [[situational leadership]].<ref name="wb_home">{{cite web | title = The Wood Badge Home Page | url = http://www.woodbadge.org/BoyScout/wblsskill.htm | author = Lew Orans | date = May 19, 2004 | accessdate = 2008-07-23}}</ref><ref name="wood-badge">{{cite web |url = http://www.scouting.org/Media/FactSheets/02-539.aspx |title = Wood Badge |author = Boy Scouts of America |accessdate = 2008-07-16 }}</ref>. Due to the costs of royalty fees, the program was then modified to emphasize the stages of team development based on the principles described by [[Bruce Tuckman]] in 1965 as [[forming-storming-norming-performing]]. Thus ''Wood Badge for the 21st Century'', at one time based on the White Stag leadership competencies conceived of during the 1960s and 1970s, was 30 years later updated and based on generic group leadership concepts from the 1960s.

=== Modified for use in junior leader training ===

Pilot-testing and experimentation continued for three more years, and an experimental junior leader training program was begun in 1969. This later became [[National Youth Leadership Training|Troop Leader Development]], containing modified versions of the leadership competencies which were included in the final ''Troop Leadership Development Staff Guide'', written by John W. Larson.<ref name="tld1974" />

{{cquote|Back in the 1950's the armed forces of the United States became concerned about the quality of leadership among noncommissioned officers. Experiments were carried out in noncommissioned officer schools at Fort Hood in California.<ref name="tasknco">In fact, the testing took place at Ft. Ord, California, not Fort Hood, Texas.</ref> Several Scouters from the Monterey Bay Area Council learned of this program and designed a junior leadership training experience using some of the competencies or skills of leadership identified in this Army training, and it was known as the "White Stag" program.<ref>Bánáthy learned of the U.S. Army's interest in leadership development while writing his Masters Thesis during 1959, the second year of the program and after he initiated testing of the White Stag program. He contacted The Human Resources Research Office task force leader, Dr. Paul Hood, which coincidentally was headquartered at the Army Language School were Bánáthy taught. They began a long and fruitful collaboration. Hood later encouraged Bánáthy to join him at the Far West Laboratory in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Bánáthy subsequently worked for 20 years.</ref>}}

In 1973, this new junior leader training program was implemented nationwide, marking the organization's shift from emphasizing [[Scoutcraft]] skills in training to teaching leadership skills, and giving credit to White Stag for its origins.<ref name="tld1974" /> It was later renamed Troop Leader Training Confrence and then Junor Leader training Conference.<ref name="bsawbhistory">{{cite book |title=A History of Wood Badge in the United States|asin=B0013ENRE8|publisher=Boy Scouts of America|year=1990}}</ref>}}

The program incorporated for the first time eleven specific competencies of leadership. Prior junior leader training programs had focused primarily on [[Scoutcraft]] skills. The primary difference between the national JLT program and the White Stag program was the removal of the spirit and traditions associated with the [[white stag]] of [[Hungarian mythology]] and changes to terminology used to refer to the leadership competencies.

In 1993, another revision was issued titled ''Junior Leader Training Conference.'' The leadership competencies introduced in the 1974 TLD program were dramatically changed, including deleting a great deal of material previously described as Manager of Learning and re-naming it Effective Teaching. This change moved the focus from the learner to the teacher, contradicting Bánáthy's focus on the learner that he found so essential to his concept of youth leadership development in his master's thesis.<ref name="Bánáthy1963" />

Until 2004, the ''Junior Leader Training Conference Staff Guide'' continued to present modified versions of the eleven leadership competencies conceived by Béla Bánáthy and still being presented by the White Stag program.<ref name="jlt_conf">{{cite book |title = Junior Leader Training Conference Staff Guide (#34533A) |author = Boy Scouts of America | publisher=Boy Scouts of America | isbn=0-8395-4533-9| date = 1995-2003}}</ref> After Wood Badge was updated in 2003, parallel changes were subsequently implemented that affected junior leader training. A junior leadership training Task Force was assembled during 2003-04 and undertook revisions to that program to bring it closer in alignment to the Wood Badge program. Their efforts resulted in the [[National Youth Leadership Training]] (NYLT) program. The new manual emphasizes that it is ''national'' program and strongly discourages any variation from the minute-by-minute agenda. NYLT uses eleven specific mnemonics to help participants remember course content, and strives to mirror the patterns of troop meetings.<ref name="nylt_guide">{{cite book |title = National Youth Leadership Training Staff Guide Syllabus (#34490) | isbn=0-8395-4490-1|author = Boy Scouts of America | publisher=Boy Scouts of America | year = 2004 }}</ref> It utilizes video and Microsoft PowerPoint slides, requiring computers and video projectors to communicate much of the essential content.

=== Recent history ===

The White Stag program continued to present the Monterey Bay Area Council's official junior leader training program through the early 1970s, and again from 1994 to 2004. In 1975, Bill Roberts, the Phase III Director, invited the first Explorer girls age 14-18 to take part in the program and adult women to serve on adult staff, becoming the first coeducational leadership development program in the Boy Scouts of America.<ref name="wshistory" /> When Bánáthy learned of girls' new role in the program, he says it was long overdue. Committed to training youth of all ages in a manner reflecting the real world, where both sexes must work together, the next year White Stag invited girls age 11-13 to participate as well.<ref name="wshistory" />

The co-ed program did not sit well with the Monterey Bay Area Council, and they elected to replace White Stag with the nationally-mandated adaptation of White Stag, as contained in the 1974 syllabus ''Troop Leadership Development Staff Guide.'' The adult volunteer leaders of White Stag moved the program to Santa Cruz and rented Skylark Ranch Resident Camp from the Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County for two years. In subsequent years, they moved the summer program to [[Pacific Skyline Council|San Mateo County Council]]'s Camp Cutter in the [[Santa Cruz Mountains]], and later, at different times, to [[Marin Council| Marin Council's Camp Marin-Sierra]] and [[Greater Yosemite Council|Yosemite Council's Camp Mensinger]] in the California [[Sierra Nevada Mountains]]. They stopped attracting youth from the Monterey Bay Area as well.

In 1993, the [[Monterey Bay Area Council]]'s Council Junior Leader Training Chairman Steve Cardinalli offered to run the Council's junior leader training program using the White Stag methods. This proposal was readily accepted by the Council Executive. White Stag adult alumni of the now [[San Francisco Bay Area]]-based program who lived in the [[Monterey Peninsula]] area recruited a youth staff who planned and presented the White Stag program at [[Monterey Bay Area Council|Pico Blanco Boy Scout Reservation]] in 1994. This Monterey-based program continued to present the council's junior leader training program until 2005, when a new Council Executive decided once again to adopt the National Youth Leadership Training program. The adult leadership of the Monterey White Stag group moved the program to Camp Cutter in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Participation each year has continued to increase, with 133 candidate participants attending in 2008, up from 70 in 2006.<ref name="wshistory" />

During 2004, White Stag Program Director Steve Cardinalli and former Director John Connelly founded a comparable program for the Girl Scouts of California's Central Coast Council. It had three phases and nine levels, identical to the White Stag program. It was held at Cutter Boy Scout Reservation for two years. The Girl Scouts then assumed leadership of the program and renamed it Artimus (after the Goddess of women in childbirth), and have continued to run it as a resident camp for girls 10-17 each summer.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gsomb.org/files/gsccc_realignment_news1.pdf|format=PDF|title= Girl Scouts of California's Central Coast Realignment News| date=2007-03|accessdate=2008-10-05}}</ref>

Both the Northern and Central California White Stag organizations continue to develop and present week-long summer camps for youth by youth, led by a corps of volunteer adults, observing their 50th anniversary in 2008.

==Other White Stag programs==
In 1967, Rex Hatch from the Indianapolis Council attended a pilot test of the JLT program at Philmont. He returned to Ohio to found a junior leader training program based on the White Stag principles. These became two junior leader training programs in the [[Scouting in Indiana|Crossroads of America Council]] in [[Indianapolis]], [[Indiana]] and the [[Scouting in Indiana|Hoosier Trails Council]] in [[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington]], [[Indiana]], who continue to use the name ''White Stag''. These programs are not affiliated with the White Stag Leadership Development Program in California. The two Indiana councils' programs now utilize the national council's [[National Youth Leadership Training]] curriculum.<ref>{{cite web|title =White stag Information |url=http://hoosiertrailsbsa.org/whitestag.htm | publisher=Hoosier Trails Council, Boy Scouts of America| accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Training Course Descriptions | url=http://www.crossroadsbsa.org/FunctionsofScouting/Training/CourseDescriptions/tabid/136/Default.aspx#whitestag | publisher=Crossroads of America Council, Boy Scouts of America|accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== See also ==

* [[White stag]]
* [[Béla A. Bánáthy]]
* [[Magyar Cserkészszövetség]]
* [[4th World Scout Jamboree]]

== External links ==
* [http://whitestag.org/ White Stag Leadership Development]
* [http://whitestag.org/program/white_stag_leadership_development_academy.htm White Stag Leadership Academy]
* [http://www.whitestagcrew122.org/ White Stag Crew 122]

{{Scoutingportal}}

[[Category:Outdoor education]]
[[Category:Scouting]]
[[Category:Youth organizations based in California]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in California]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1958]]
[[Category:Youth organizations]]
[[Category:Scout leader training]]
[[Category:Youth organizations based in the United States]]

[[hu:White_Stag]]