EagleScout441

I have been debating in the "OA and Venturing" topic for a few days now in favor of Venturers having elections. I would like to know how the Venturers feel about it. If you aren't a Venturer please DO NOT answer in this poll. This poll will be open until 08/31/2013 00:00.

If I had the opportunity I would change the focus from merit badges to high adventure. Setup a rappelling/climbing area(a real cliff if one is available), a waterfront with small boat sailing, use one of the days to go on a whitewater rafting trip(when I say whitewater, I mean Class IV rapids, where it's necessary to have a guide in the raft with you), possibly setup a ropes course(or take a day trip to a ropes course), ziplines, or even go caving. That pretty much covers the best high adventure activities, BTW I have done all those except for caving.

After reading the comment from KDD I took down all photos that had scouts in them. Now that these pics have been up for a while and several users have seen them, I have taken them all down.

If a boy leaves scouting than yes he leaves the OA. One of the purposes of the OA is to strengthen the units of it's members. BTW I have decided on dual membership, that way I can keep working on my National Outdoor Badges. OA isn't the same as the NESA.

Maybe you read my posts wrong, I am completely in favor Venturers being elected into the OA, not against it. And I'm hoping that the new rank/recognition system will have some sort of First Class equivalent to help the Venturers get into the OA.

"E441: You and my previous crew president! She said "Venture just doesn't sound right and why couldn't they have chosen something that slips of the tongue easier?" " Excuse me? I like title of Venturing a lot more than Boy Scouts, which with "boy" in the title makes it sound kind of childish. While Venturing on the other hand is basically "adventuring," referring to the high adventure aspect. "Ventures, Venturing, Venturers, who really cares?" When I said that that I was referring to the fact that "Ventures" and "Venturers" is basically the exact same word., and I was annoyed at the fact that BadenP had to nit-pick my terminology.

When I say advertisement I don't mean playing commercials. I mean promotion, Boy Scouts go to Cub Scout packs for recruitment of soon-to-be-aging-out Cub Scouts. Why don't Venturers do the same thing at Boy Scout Troops? There are no where near as many Venture Crews(or Sea Scout Ships for that matter) as there are Boy Scout Troops.

It only does it on page 2 for me, once I get past page 2 it works fine. The Patrol Method forum is having the same problem. Can somebody please find a way to fix this?

"the OA was designed and is an honor society of Boy Scout campers" 1. OA is considered Scouting's Honor Society 2. Varsity Scouts are also allowed into the OA. "how electing venturers to the OA is going to supporting the mission of the OA and improve my lodge?" Venturers are older and, for the most part, more experienced than the average Boy Scout. Having Venturers in your lodge will give you better leadership, opinions and views of scouts from another branch of scouting, higher attendance, co-ed membership, and scouts with more high adventure experience, since that is what is Venturing is about, high adventure.

"Venturing and Boy Scouting are two seperate divisions of the BSA" So are Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts and yet they both have OA elections. "It is easy to blame it on the fact there are female Venturers, but it could be coincidental." Is it also coincidental that Varsity Scouts is also an all male system? "The OA is not a box to check and move on to the next thing. Are you an Arrowman?" Yes, I am currently an active Arrowman who will be attending the OA Fall Fellowship of my council. I attended Kodiak Leadership Training, also known as the Kodiak Challenge, this past summer. It is a Venturing camp that let Boy Scout attend this year, having heard what Ventures have to say about the OA is what brought me to my position in this debate. What do you mean by "a box to check and move on"?

Maybe the new rank/recognition system will have a First Class equivalent and will serve as the requirement for Venturers being elected into the OA.

Like BP has been saying, the reason membership has been falling is because of "a total lack of commitment and support by National ." But also because Venturing is not well known even among Boy Scouts. Over half of the guys in my troop have no idea what Venturers do or what Venturing is in general. The lack of "advertisement" of the Venturing program is causing even Boy Scouts to not know who they are, much less non-scouts.

There is the link regarding the new rank/recognition system: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/...ouncement.aspx Sorry for the disappointment, BadenP. Ventures, Venturing, Venturers, really, who cares? They're all the same.

They are taking away the uniqueness of all branches of scouting by giving them all the same sign, salute, Oath, and Law, but what they are thinking is that they want to unify all branches of scouting. Nevermind the fact that Ventures don't want to be unified with Boy Scouts or any other branch of scouts for that matter. I don't know about any of you, but when I join Ventures in the near future(about 6 months probably) I will encourage my crew to stand by the Venture Sign, Salute, and Oath, despite what National says. BTW, have you heard that they are doing away with the Bronze, Gold, and Silver Awards in favor of a new rank system?

Their rules for not letting Ventures into the OA don't make any sense: 1. They don't let Ventures in because they don't let Ventures in. 2. Ventures don't earn First Class. First class is basic camping skills, Ventures, Sea Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Varsity Scouts all learn these basic camping skills(mainly aquatic for Sea Scouts though), Sea Scouts and Ventures just don't learn them for the rank of First Class. In reality, one of their main reasons is probably female youth members.

The FYFC boys in your troop don't run for OA? Why not? "Jr. High boys who disrespect older boys and boys who aren't in their "special clique" have not got elected.The boys who command the respect same-age AND different-age peers, they get elected." Sounds to me like you have 1. a problem with respect in your troop and 2. boys who won't stand up for themselves. And if "special cliques" have formed in your troop, than the patrols need to be rearranged so that the "clique" members are in different patrols. I assume you are in a larger troop, my troop has about 15 that regularly attend and we don't have any problems like that. "The only venturers who are highly experienced and more mature, were the ones who are also boy scouts and about half of those who are also girl scouts" It is true that former Boy Scouts in the Ventures are, many times, more mature. But many former Boy Scouts now in Ventures are not more mature, I have met a now Venturing Eagle Scout who had the maturity of a 2nd year. I have also met several female youth Venturers who are much more mature than most Boy Scouts, who had no experience in the Girl Scouts.. Maturity level varies from person to person. They have more experience because they have had the opportunity to camp for 3 years before joining Ventures. If Venture Crews don't have that "necessary" younger peer group, why not have the adults pick new members, they are usually(at least in my troop) sitting on the side lines just watching to make sure we aren't hurting ourselves. If anyone would know who has the most experience and displays the most scout spirit it would be them. PS Thanks for correcting me on the camping requirement, it's 15 days not 10.

I still have one more question, can I put my 2010 Middle Tennessee Council Centennial Jamboree Patch above the right pocket on my uniform?

Who is RichardB? And why shouldn't he see those photos?

So someone is wrong about the uniform, the question is whether or not the insignia guide is correct, or if it needs an update.

And Jr. High scouts, for the most part, is the inexperienced group of scouts. I would rather have highly experienced and more mature scouts who know what the ideals of scouting look like and are already in the OA, voting in new members.

What is the difference between High-School students voting in High-School students and Jr. High students voting in Jr. High students)? There is no age requirement, only rank(First Class) and experience(10 days and nights camping). If a Jr. High student(11-13 years old) has completed those requirements, what is to keep his "Jr. High buddies" from electing him into the OA?

You mentioned Jamboree patches, do local Jamborees count or is it only national Jamborees?

Can't get that picture to work, sorry. Our version had bars at the top, just like the ones at the bottom, that we used as seats, and did not have a platform or rope handrails. We also had a rope ladder.

Here is my version of that tower from a couple years ago:

I have looked into the Hornaday Award, I'd rather work towards the National Medal for Outdoor Achievement. Now that I look at the requirements for the NMOA again I see that you have to be a member of a Boy Scout or Varsity group, I probably will have dual membership between Boy Scouts and Ventures.