Venturing - BSA

A Unique Opportunity for Older Youth

Existing Explorer Program

• Effective 1 August 1998, “Exploring” as we knew it went away

• Career Posts now fall under Learning For Life

• Non-career Posts were converted to Venturing Crews and now make up the new Venturing Division within BSA

What Is Venturing?

• Is a youth development program of the BSA for young men and women who are 14 (and have completed the eighth grade) through 20 years of age

• Can be all male, all female or coed

• Models the European version where Scouting has been based upon distinct age group divisions for years

What is Venturing

• Members are called Venturers

• Venturing units are crews (Venture patrol in the troop with a patrol leader)

• Venturing adults are advisors

• Youth leader is president

• Crews can select one of five interest areas

Five Interest Areas

• Outdoor

• Sports

• Arts and Hobbies

• Youth Ministry

• Sea Scouting

Uniform

• Wear the traditional green uniform shirt with green shoulder loops and a Venturing BSA strip over the right pocket

• May adopt the official charcoal gray casual pants or backpacking style short

• Each crew determines its uniform based on the crew’s activities

Venturing Advancement Program

• Bronze Award

• Gold Award

• Silver Award

• Ranger Award

• Eagle Award

Bronze Award

• Entry level award

• Can be earned in each of five different interest areas

• Requires both learning skills and teaching them to others

Gold Award

• Replaces the old Explorer G.O.L.D. award

• Recognizes accomplishment in the six areas - leadership, service, community/family, outdoor, fitness, and citizenship

• Requires at least 12 months of active participation

• Requires a Board of Review

Silver Award• Provides a path to personal development

and requires– proficiency in emergency preparedness– participation in Ethics in Action– completion of Venturing Leadership Skills

Course– earn Gold Award and at least one Bronze

Award

• Requires a Board of Review

Ranger Award

• Identifies Venturer as an elite outdoorsman, skilled in a variety of outdoor sports and interests

• Must complete eight challenging core requirements and four outdoor interest or sports electives

Ranger Core Requirements

• First Aid Wilderness Survival

• Emergency Preparedness Communications• Leave No Trace Cooking• Navigation Conservation

Ranger Electives• Backpacking Cave Exploring• Project COPE Cycling/Mountain Biking• Ecology First Aid• Fishing Equestrian• Hunting Lifesaver• Mountaineering Outdoor Living History• Physical Fitness Plants and Wildlife• Scuba Shooting Sports• Watercraft Winter Sports

Eagle Award

• Venturers who enter the crew as First Class Scouts or who are dual registered in a troop may continue to work on their Eagle Award until age 18

Venturing Compliments Troop Program

• Adds new advancement and leadership opportunities for older boys

• Allows flexibility so boys can participate in both programs

• Meets the wants and needs of the 14-18 year old boy

• Can solve many challenges faced by Scoutmasters

What 14-18 Boys Want

• Challenging physical activities with young people their own age

• Recognition of their “older” status

• Co-ed activities

• Independence

• A sense of belonging and acceptance from their peer group

What 14-18 Boys Need

• Consistent adults that “walk their talk”

• Character and ethical education outside the classroom

• Positive role models, male and female

• Opportunities to become proficient at a variety of skills

• Leadership opportunities

Scoutmaster Challenges

• Keeping older scouts “engaged” in the troop while trying to attract and retain younger scouts

• Competing with older scout interests; sports, band, drama, jobs, girls, cars

• Giving leadership/role model opportunities to all older scouts

• Giving younger scouts something to anticipate beyond the troop

National BSA Statistics

• Average Eagle Scout is 14 years and 9 months old

• Average Boy Scout attendance at summer camp is 2.8 years

What Does Venturing Offer?

• New advancement opportunities for boys interested in going beyond Eagle

• Recognition for those boys who may have dropped out of “traditional” scouting

• Activities with boys and girls their age

• New leadership training specifically designed for them

• An advancement program that requires that they share what they have learned

Venturing’s Teaching Philosophy

• Level 1 - You read it

• Level 2 - Someone taught it to you

• Level 3 - You experienced it

• Level 4 - You teach it to someone else

Venturing advancement requires Level 4

Venturing’s Growth

• Church youth groups that adopt the structure of Venturing to strengthen their youth

• Businesses (REI) and clubs (re-enactment units, outdoor) that adopt Venturing to complement their program

• Successful troops that adopt Venturing to meet the wants and needs of their older scouts

Venturing’s Growth

• Venturing is BSA’s fastest growing youth development program. The figures are since Venturing began in August 1998– Total Venturers - 180,536 21.5%– Total Crews - 16,286 29.0%– Total non-LDS Venturers - 112,536– Total female Ventuers - 44,568 (40% of non-LDS

• 63.5% of all Venturers are 16 years old or older

Ages of VenturersYear 2000

05000

100001500020000250003000035000400004500050000

14 yr.Olds

15 yr.Olds

16 yr.Olds

17 yr.Olds

18 yr.Olds

19 yr.Olds

20 yr.Olds

other

What Can Our District Do?

• Implement a district run Venturing program as outlined in “Here’s Venturing”

• Identify churches with existing strong youth groups that may want to use the Venturing program

• Work with troops that want to form Venturing crews

What Can Our District Do?

• Form high school-based Venturing crews in those areas where there is no single strong troop

• Ensure Venturing activities, including those conducted by NCAC, are included in the district’s program calendar

What Can Our District Do?

• Include opportunities for Venturing crews to teach at district events (SMF, camporees)

• Ensure Venturing advancement, training and leadership awards are recognized

• Support the Northern Virginia Venturing Roundtable that has been established to bring program ideas to several districts

Summary

• Venturing is an exciting new program designed to keep youth involved in Scouting for as long as possible.

• Venturing provides a program that will attract young people who left the more traditional Scouting or who have never experienced Scouting before.

• Venturing compliments a religious organization’s existing youth program.