Venturing

This term should not be confused with Venture Scouts, which is the Commonwealth of Nations equivalent of Venturing, with the BSA's Venture program for older Boy Scouts, or with Venturer Scouts, the Australian equivalent of Venturing.

The BSA Venturing Logo

The BSA Venturing Logo

Venturing is a division of the Boy Scouts of America for young men and women ages 14–21. Its purpose is to provide positive experiences to help youth mature and to prepare them to become responsible adults. It is based on a unique and dynamic relationship between youth, adult leaders, and organizations in their communities. Sea Scouts are the nautical oriented part of this division. As of the end of 2004, the Venturing program was serving 280,584 Venturers with 65,504 crew level leaders in 21,135 crews.

Ideals

The Methods of Venturing are:

• Leadership All Venturers are given opportunities to learn and apply proven leadership skills. A Venturing Crew is led by elected crew officers. The Venturing Leadership Skills Course is designed for all Venturers and helps teach them in an active way to lead effectively.
• Group Activities Venturing activities are interdependent group experiences in which success is dependent on the cooperation of all. Learning by "doing" in a group setting provides opportunities for developing new skills.
• Adult Association The youth officers lead the crew. The officers and activity chairs work closely with adult Advisors and other adult leaders in a spirit of partnership. The adults serve in a "shadow" leader capacity.
• Recognition Recognition comes through the Venturing advancement program and through the acknowledgement of a youth's competence and ability by peers and adults.
• The Ideals Venturers are expected to know and live by the Venturing Oath and Code. They promise to be faithful in religious duties, treasure their American heritage, help others, and seek truth and fairness.
• High Adventure Venturing's emphasis on high adventure helps provide team-building opportunities, new meaningful experiences, practical leadership application, and lifelong memories to young adults.
• Teaching Others All of the Venturing awards require Venturers to teach what they have learned to others. When they teach others often, Venturers are better able to retain the skill or knowledge taught, they gain confidence in their ability to speak and relate to others, and they acquire skills that can benefit them for the rest of their lives as a hobby or occupation.

The Venturing Oath

As a Venturer, I promise to do my duty to God and help strengthen America, to help others, and to seek truth, fairness, and adventure in our world.

The Venturing Code

As a Venturer, I believe that America's strength lies in our trust in God and in the courage, strength, and traditions of our people. I will, therefore, be faithful in my religious duties and will maintain a personal sense of honor in my own life. I will treasure my American heritage and will do all I can to preserve and enrich it. I will recognize the dignity and worth of all humanity and will use fair play and goodwill in my daily life. I will acquire the Venturing attitude that seeks truth in all things and adventure on the frontiers of our changing world.

The Venturing Sign

A raised right hand with the palm open, upper arm held horizontally and the forearm vertically. The right thumb is held slightly open, creating a "V."

The Venturing Hand Salute

A full-hand salute, with the pointer touching the forehead or hat brim.

History

Shortly after Boy Scouting was founded in the United States, its creators encountered a problem with older boys. Some grew bored with the program, usually around 14–15, while others didn't want to leave their troops after reaching the age of 18. To alleviate this problem, overtime a haphazard group of new programs were created for older boys, including the Sea Scouts, Air Scouts, Rover Scouts, Senior Scouts and Explorer Scouts, among others. Around 1935, most of these were brought together under the overall Senior Scout Program Division. In 1949, these programs were reworked into Explorers, which included Sea Explorers and Air Explorers. In 1959, these were further re-worked and condensed into a unified Exploring program with Sea Explorers as a relatively independent sub-group.

In the 1950s and beyond, many Explorer posts chose to run career awareness programs. Some of these programs became affiliated with specific organizations, such as police, fire departments and hospitals. In the 1960s and further into the 70s, this became an important aspect of the overall Exploring program. Even with the emphasis on more career-oriented posts, outdoor oriented posts still remained popular. In 1971, after a two-year experimental phase with Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls, the Explorer program went co-ed.

On July 30, 1996, the ACLU issued a statement charging that members of Explorer posts affiliated with public services had a significant advantage over non-members in finding employment with these services. Because the BSA prohibits its members from being openly homosexual or atheist, these public services were discriminating against such people. On April 10, 1997, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago for allowing these programs. Most of these problematic units were career-awareness posts affiliated with government agencies, especially law enforcement and fire awareness posts.

In August 1998, the BSA moved all offending Explorer posts, and the Exploring program itself, to a subsidiary called Learning for Life. Participants in this program are not members of the BSA. All other Exploring posts were moved to the new Venturing program. This program was hastily designed (a change of this scale would take 7 to 10 years under normal circumstances) and as a result, there were many gaps and inconsistencies in the program guides. However, some of the new program (such as new awards) had already been in the works for several months. There has been some confusion between Venturing and the pre-existing Venture program. The awards system was incomplete. Many other details were noticeably less developed than their Exploring and Boy Scouting counterparts.

Since that time, things have improved. New and updated manuals have come out. Additional awards (Quest and TRUST) have been added. New leadership training programs for youth such as Venturing Leadership Skills Course and Kodiak/Kodiak-X (formerly called Nature of Leadership) have been rolled out, as well as Powder Horn for adults.

Venturing, like Exploring, continued the tradition of having a national president of the organization. Unlike other divisions, Venturing includes in its structure national and regional presidents. The pre-1998 Exploring program elected its national president at the biannual National Exploring Leadership Conference. The last president elected was Jon Fulkerson in 1998. He was elected to serve as the national Exploring president and served in that capacity for a period of two weeks, until August 1, 1998 at which time he became the first national Venturing president. His first term of office was spent promoting the infant program and working on violence prevention programs that have been adopted by the Venturing division. Currently, nominations are solicited for regional presidents, who are selected at the Annual National Meeting of the BSA in May by a subcommittee from the National Venturing Committee. The president is now selected from the pool of the four region presidents of the previous term. Many councils have council level Venturing youth cabinets (which may be called Venturing Officer Associations or Teen Leader Councils) who plan and carry out Venturing events at the council and district levels. Many regional presidents are trying to promote the establishment of area-level Venturing presidents and events, but this effort is inconsistent from region to region.

Organization

The Venturing crew is sponsored by a community organization such as a business, service organization, school, labor group or religious institution. The chartering organization is responsible for selecting leadership, providing a meeting place and promoting a good program. The chartered organization representative is the liaison between the crew, the chartered organization, and the BSA. The crew may elect to be all-male, all-female or co-ed.

The crew committee is a group of adults, led by the crew committee chair, who guide the crew program and activities and manage record keeping, finance, leadership recruitment and registration. The crew is led by youths who are elected to the positions of president, one or more vice-presidents, secretary, and treasurer. Other positions in the crew may exist, such as activity chair. The adult advisor and associate advisors provide guidance while allowing the youth to lead the crew.

Uniform

The BSA has created an official uniform for Venturing crews, based on the uniforms once used by Exploring (Learning for Life), however, each crew is permitted to define its own instead.

A crew may decide for itself whether to have a uniform and if so, what that uniform should be. The BSA Supply Division offers the spruce green button-up shirt for use by Venturing crews and the Venturing Division recommends that crews use charcoal grey activity pants or shorts as part of their uniform. Crews may also determine different uniforms to be used for formal and activity situations.[1] The Scouter dress uniform is appropriate for professional Scouters and all Scouting leaders on formal occasions.

The term "Distinctive Dress Identity (DDI)" is no longer a part of the Venturing program, per se, but a modified version of this concept continues is that crews make their own decisions regarding uniform issues.

Advancement and recognition

Youth advancement

File:Venturing logo.gif

Achievement Awards

Bronze Award File:VenturingBronzeRibbon.gif File:Arts and Hobbies Bronze Ribbon.gif Arts and Hobbies File:Outdoors Bronze Ribbon.gif Outdoors File:Religious Life Bronze Ribbon.gif Religious Life File:Sea Scouts Bronze Ribbon.gif Sea Scout File:Sports Bronze Ribbon.gif Sports

File:VenturingGoldAward.jpg Gold Award

File:VenturingSilverAward.jpg File:Venturing Silver Award Knot.jpgSilver Award

File:Venturing Ranger Award Medal.jpg Ranger Award

File:TrustAwardVenturingBSA.jpg TRUST Award

File:QuestAwardVenturingBSA.jpg Quest Award

File:QuartermasterAward.jpg Quartermaster Award

File:Venturing Shooting Sports.jpg Shooting Sports Outstanding Achievement

Recognition Awards

File:Venturing Leadership Award.jpg File:Venturing Leadership Award Knot.jpg Venturing Leadership Awards

File:Young American Award.jpgYoung American Award

There is also a Gold Award in the Girl Scouts of the USA.

A Bronze Award may be earned for each category of arts and hobbies, outdoor, religious life, sea scouting and sports. After earning at least one Bronze Award and meeting tenure, leadership, personal growth and other requirements the Venturer may earn the Gold Award. To earn the Silver Award, the Venturer must earn the Gold Award, earn first aid and CPR certifications, show leadership and participate in ethics training.

Venturers may also earn expert awards that build on some areas of the Bronze Awards. These include the Venturing Ranger Award (Outdoors); the TRUST Award (Religious Life); the Quest Award (Sports); and the Sea Scouting Quartermaster Award (Sea Scout).

In addition to these awards, there are others, such as the Venturing Shooting Sports Outstanding Achievement Award and the Venturing World Conservation Award. Venturers may also earn other awards common to the Scouting program such as the William T. Hornaday Award. Venturers may also be recognized for their "excellent achievements and service to their community, state and nation" with the Young American Award.

Male members under the age of 18 may also earn the Star, Life, and Eagle Scout ranks from the Boy Scouting program if they have earned at least First Class rank in a Boy Scout troop or Varsity Scout team.

Leader recognition

Venturing adult leaders who complete training, tenure, and performance requirements are recognized by a system of awards. The Venturing Leader's Training Award is available to any leader, while the Venturing Advisor's Key and Venturing Advisor Award of Merit are only available to the Advisor.

Venturing Leadership Award

Both youth and adults are eligible for the Venturing Leadership Award. There are three levels of these awards: council (for those at the crew, district, and/or council levels), region (for those at the area or region levels) and National. A limited number of these awards are presented on an annual basis to those involved in Venturing who have made exceptional contributions to Venturing at their particular level and who exemplify the Venturing Code.

Program and activities

Generally, each crew will select a specialty that determines the program and activities. An outdoor focused crew will do a lot of camping, while a religious life crew will probably be involved in church activities and community service projects. Crews are encouraged to have an annual Super Activity, which is typically a week-long event, usually during the summer. Crews within a district, council or area may jointly perform activities that promote advancement through fun and competition.

The Venturing Safe Rides program provides a free and confidential safe ride home to any young adult who is not in a condition to drive safely, or who wants to avoid being a passenger in such a situation.

Training

New leaders are encouraged to attend training for their position. This training provides the essential information they need to provide a safe and successful quality program.

Youth training

Youth training in Venturing consists of a Crew Officer Briefing, conducted by the Crew Advisor. There is a weekend training event called Venturing Leadership Skills Course, which is conducted by the Crew or Council for all Venturers. This can be followed by Kodiak and Kodiak-X.

Adult training

Venturing Fast Start is the introduction for adult leaders new to the Venturing program. Fast Start is self paced and provided as a video or online. Venturing Youth Protection Training is required for all adult leaders and must be recertified per local council policy.

Basic Leader Training consists of New Leader Essentials and Venturing Leader Specific Training. New Leader Essentials is a common core program for all adult leaders in the Boy Scouts of America. Venturing Leader Specific Training gives the Advisor or Associate Advisor the needed knowledge and skills. Once Basic Leader Training is completed, the leader is awarded a Trained emblem for uniform wear.

Powder Horn is designed to introduce Venturing and Boy Scout leaders to the activities and resources necessary to operate a successful outdoor and high adventure program and is based on the Venturing Ranger program. A followup course called Flintlock is in development.

Supplemental training modules are designed to provide orientation beyond Basic Leader Training. These training sessions are often provided at the Roundtable (a monthly meeting of leaders), at University of Scouting programs offered by the local council and at National Scouting Conferences held at the Philmont Scout Ranch and the Florida National High Adventure Sea Base.

Wood Badge is the advanced training program for leadership skills for all adults in all BSA programs. Wood Badge consists of six days of training (usually presented as two three-day weekends) and an application phase of several months. When training is complete, leaders are recognized with the Wood Badge beads, neckerchief and woggle.

External links

• BSA: Venturing Division
• National Venturing Youth Cabinet site
• Kodiak and Kodiak-X - Venturing Leadership Training
• Venturing Info site
• Un-official Venturing Disscussion List