Joanne Osmond

What sets Joanne Osmond apart is her continued commitment to youth in the community as evidence in her volunteer work.

Boy Scouts of America

Joanne has been an adult Scout Leader in the Boy Scouts of American since 1979 and currently serves as a Council Vice-President of Membership and a Cubmaster of her Church Pack. In 2010 she was the Wood badge Course Director for the record breaking Northeast Illinois Council course. She represents the local Council at the National Boy Scout Meeting. She is a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow. Joanne is on the Camp Inspection team which monitors Boy Scout camps in the Central Region and a member of the LDS Relations Committee. Joanne has held several Scouting positions including: Den Leader (1980 - 1982, 1982 - 1985), Cub Scout Trainer (1982 - 1992, 2001 - present), Director of Cub Scout Day Camp for Northeast Illinois Council (1986), Chairman Cub Scout PowWow (1985), National Cub Scout Committee (1983-1987), National Cub Scout Sports Programs (1983-1985); Unit Commissioner (2000 - 2007); Council Executive Board (2005 - present). Both of her sons are Eagle Scouts. Joanne Osmond has been, and still remains a driving force behind the success of the local Boy Scouts of America program. Her vision is to take the scouting opportunity scouts in underserved areas of the Council including communities that are primarily black and Hispanic. The programs established here gained attention from National BSA professions and continues to grow in numbers and quality.

As a Cubmaster she plans the Cub Scout meetings and coordinates the leaders in ensuring that all boys advance. She organizes events including Pinewood Derbies not only for her Pack but for other local Packs. She takes the boys to Day Camp for a week each summer and plans other hikes and field trips. Her primary objectives is to instill values and ethical decision making in all boys with a focus on character development, citizenship training, and mental and physical fitness.

What sets her apart from over 4,100 other registered adult volunteers in the Council is her leadership by example and her ability to serve as an outstanding role model to other women, youth, and adult volunteers throughout our diverse Scouting demographics in Lake and Cook Counties in Chicago. In the summer of 2011 she went backpacking in Northern Michigan for a week with a group of Venturers (boys and girls over age 14) teaching leadership skills. Whether it's working with the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, career education for high school-aged youth, or our non-traditional scout reach programs for special needs youth or at-risk areas, Joanne has a way of touching everyone's lives and giving them a vision of how Scouting can build character and ethical decision-making skills.

She is instrumental in assisting volunteers and staff in creating very unique programs to reach new markets, such as in-school programs for underprivileged youth and starting new units in Hispanic communities. Joanne commissioned a study by Boise State University to determine the viability of the program. The study not only confirmed that the program was meeting the objectives but was making a difference in the communities.

In 2006 Joanne wrote two training manuals for LDS Scout Leaders - "LDS Position Specific Cub Scout Training" and "LDS Position Specific EYOS Training". In 2010 with the Council Training Chairman, Felicia Brandt, Joanne created online Cub Scout Training for LDS Scout Leaders. In 2011 the manuals were updated and a new web site was developed to provide the information to all LDS Scout leaders. Daily

In 2005 Joanne Osmond was asked to serve as the NEIC Vice President for Cub Scouting. The Council Board reorganized in 2009 and the position was eliminated, she was then asked to serve as the Vice President for Membership. Joanne has continued to serve Scouting in the Northeast Illinois Council as Course Director for Wood Badge Course C-03-10. Michael Fries commented “I have had the honor to serve with Joanne on many Wood Badge Courses and she represents the highest qualities for Scouting. Joanne is the recipient of the Boy Scout’s coveted Silver Beaver Award.” In 2012, Joanne served as the Council representative to the BSA National meeting, served on the Executive Search Committee to select a new Council Executive, plus continues to serve as the Council VP of Membership.

School Board

Joanne has served on the Lake Villa Elementary School Board for over 20 years. She has served many roles including president while on the board but her passion is in policies and school governance. In 2011 her district was recognized as one of four in the state of Illinois for Excellence in School Governance.

She has served as an officer of the Lake Division of the IASB for 20 years and elected to serve her sixth year as the Director representing all Lake County School Districts on the state association board. She currently serves on the IASB Executive Committee and was recently selected to server on the executive search committee and the committee to rewrite the association’s policies. She is a frequent presenter at the IASB annual conference in Chicago and has presented at the National Association of School Boards Conference.

Joanne is her local Board representative to SEDOL’s (Special Education District of Lake County) Governing Board since 2005 and a member of SEDOL Executive Committee since 2007. She serves on several committees including Finance, Building (a new facility for profoundly handicapped), Technology, and Negotiations.