johnhombre

Venture - Venturing... Whatever. I am afraid that you sadly missed the point. I have been a girlscout leader for 10 years and I am not going to debate the girlscout thing. It has no point nor merit. I had greater hopes for this forum. I hope you do well in your scouting endevers.

Jim, I disagree emphatically. It is very important that the concept that crews make their own rules be understood and implemented. For proper development, young adults need to make decisions for themselves and live by them. This concept was emphasized over and over at the Philmont Training Camp (PTC). The head executive for the venture program said in a speech to several hundred Scouters that the theme of this year's program is to "Think Outside the Box". The rules that we used for 11 - 13 year old boys dose not apply to 14 - 20 youths. We have to be adaptive and make new rules. If we do not allow young adults to find their own path then we will be at meeting by ourselves. Our job as advisors is to make sure that the decisions that they make stay within the guidelines of BSA and the sponsoring org. The fact is that each crew decides just what their uniform will be and what patches will be on it. These decisions should be made as a group and written into their by-laws. The by-laws in the manual are only suggestions. While at PTC, there was another advisor that wore camouflage fatigues with venture patches. His crew decided that that was their uniform. He wore it proudly in front of everyone. Other Crews has no uniform at all and was perfectly fine.

Our Crew adapted plain-old blue jeans. We spent enough on the shirt. One guy went before the eagle board and had to explain that it was our official uniform. The whole idea that we can design our own uniform was new to them.

I attended the Venture Training at Philmont this summer where one of the discussions was about what patches was allowed on the venture uniforms. The conclusion was that it is the choice of the individual crews. Guys can display their Boy Scout rank and awards and the Girls can display their rank and awards if approved by the crew. Crews were designed to be flexable to adapt to their comunity/environment. Do what ever it takes to keep the youths involved as long as it keeps within the BSA guidelines.

OldGreyEagle Sorry if I was confussing about the term "numbers". What I meant was, if each troop feeds into one venture crew, the council looks good because they have doubled the total number of chartered units. If each crewmember is dual registered with the troop then, on the books,they have just doubled the number of scouts. This looks great on paper when you are trying to raise money. In the past year I have seen many units fail. I believe that it is because Troops started their own Venturing Crew and the adult leadership and the scouts are spread to thin to do an effective unit. But if say three Troops feed into one Crew then the unit is larger and more effective.

Great points OldgreyEagle, I agree that the girllscout ranks are confusing with ours. As for the uniforms, I have seen lots of crews design thier uniforms. My girlscout troop decided to wear a scout pin as their uniform. Simple and cheep. And they can hide the fact that they are scouts, which is a big thing with teens. What about OA? We have guys that have sent in their ppocket patchs because the girls can't be elected. Are we a lesser organizaton? I also agree that there should be fewer but better crews in the scoutting areas. I have three troops and two girlscout troops feeding my crew and it is working. We also are getting kids that have never been in scouts. I think that this is a good idea but the council dose not like it because their unit numbers go down and makes them look bad. Mixed ages are a problem. I am supprised that the council has not tried to start crews in colleges. I work in a university and I think that it would work.

It might be that the lack of responce is because it is a good question thats on everyones mind but no one has a good answer. Anyone can start a crew but keeping it going is another story. I have been struggleing with a crew for 4 years now and during that time I discovered some things you don't hear from the councils. Here are my ideas. 1)The girls in girlscouting want an outdoor program and venture is perfect. Get to know the local girlscout troops. 2)One troop can not support a Crew. Council dosn't like it but it is true. Not all boyscouts like outdoor high adventure so you loose them. Other troops often can not support a crew for lack of adults. Since the guys stay in the troops they often appreciate the help once they realise that you are training and not stealing their boys. 3)The ROTC in high schools work well with the venturing crews. Get to know the recruiter. 4)Plan a superactivity and advertise it to the other troops both girlscouts and boysscouts. They join if there is a goal they can see. Well thats my outlook.