dana_renner

emb021 "However some boys are only in a Venturing Crew, and they can work toward earning Star-Life -Eagle as a Venturer/Sea Scout and that should be fine." Now are these boys registered in a Troop or did they earn at least First Class Scout in that Troop because if these Venturers or Sea Scouts were never Boy Scouts they cannot earn Boy Scout advancement or merit badges in the crew/ship. your first point is correct but your second point is not specific. Silver Award may be Eagle Equivalent but Venturing Reference Guide in the back of the Venturing Leader Manual does not say. Hence my question and suggestion. These rules are in the Venturing Leader Manual and Boy Scout Handbook and the Sea Scout Manual. However I will conceit that Venturing is open ended and should remain that way.

John in KC Good Luck to your son he sounds like he is having a blast and will achieve his goal.

What can be done to modernize Venturing for a 21st Century BSA I believe the model crew for this modernization could be. #1. Specialty oriented, youth led, democratically elected. #2 Looking more toward the future remembering the roots where Venturing has it's roots in more of the pre-98 traditional BSA Exploring program but an eye for the future. Maybe some new kinds of sports programs with a definite outdoor adventure feel, Snowboarding comes into mind,and more re-enactor crews, Venturing Honor Society co-ed and Venturing and Sea Scouting oriented, but not based on rank or award level but more on community service and all specialty oriented and geared for all Venturers that were elected to it. Olympic Games which seem to be very futuristic although many are very ancient, this could be a good specialty area or maybe even a cluster or a larger part of a cluster although they might not practiced everywhere, but there are some areas they would be welcomed, and youth would be interested. This is not to say get rid of what is traditional but doing well such as Outdoor Venturing. No that would be like getting rid of the keystone of Venturing, Sea Scouts are good as well. Sports needs promotion and if Olympic Games Specialties are entered into the Sports cluster this might make the Sports cluster specialties in Venturing more appealing to more youth. Change the Bronze awards to the specific cluster. Bring back cluster specific guides and crew helps. I never could understand why a Venturer from an Outdoor crew could also earn the Sea Scout Bronze when they did not even have an Outdoor Bronze. Ranger should remain the same, just for the fact that this award builds teamwork. Ranger is a good resource for Outdoor Venturing Crews. Emergency Preparedness should be stressed for all Venturers no matter cluster, nor specialty. Geocaching maybe a new kind of specialty in Venturing. Tell me what you think.

Please correct me if I am wrong, Is that Venturing is about youth run programming, Venturers elect their own youth leadership and can plan their own program and they can Hike the Appalachian Trail or Canoe Lake Erie if that is what the crew elects to do. Also young men and women work together to get the program going. Can youth elect to include a crew wide Recognition program as well. Venturing is also about Leadership and learning to lead at a future time and to carry these skills with them as they leave the crew and head to college, the military, or their future careers. I do believe that Venturing Recognition do enhance their program but I believe that if a young person is a Venturer then Venturing recognition is all that is awarded in the Crew. This is not to say that young men and women in a crew can't be dual registered in a Boy Scout Troop or Girl Scout Troop and if they are then they should earn their troop ranks and awards in their troops. the Venturing Silver Award should also be given status that is equivalent to the BSA Eagle Award the same way that Sea Scout Quartermaster is.

Are there still Mariner Girl Scouts?

I have two questions about rank and advancement in Venturing but first I realize that advancement and recognition in scouting is up to the youth. Now that being said here goes. Do Venturing Crews encourage Venturing recognition and awards much? And, should crews still have where a male Boy Scout still can earn his Star,Life and Eagle in the Crew? I believe if a young man or woman in a crew or ship is interested in earning awards then ok. But I also believe that we sometimes overwhelm youth with a myriad of scouting even in Venturing. I know that some crews don't encourage advancement and then some do. Venturing advancements should be there if youth want to earn them. But Boy Scout ranks should not be in the Venturing Program. Also Sea Scouts just earn Sea Scout Ranks and not Venturing recognitions and Boy Scout ranks. I guess this is just to keep the Older Male Boy Scouts in a BSA Program. I believe that the Silver Award should be Eagle equivalent. The Quartermaster is.

On the net there is a category for Venturing Honor Societies and it lists Corps of Discovery, Member of the Year, Order of the Trident as well as the Order of the Arrow, I guess because there are so many Boy Scouts that are Venturers in the OA still. Corps of Discovery would probably be the best bet because of it's flexibility and adaptability to the crew program. But COD does honor the Lewis and Clark expedition and within the COD there is a Permanent Party the membership rules for COD is a male or female Venturer or Sea Scout nominated by their crew and one adult leader can be elected by the crew as well however the adult cannot be a member of Permanent Party. the COD especially in the Permanent Party promotes community service projects. I think this is a great idea. But how would this appeal to Venturers in Arts and Hobbies, Religious Life, Sports and Sea Scouts This is mostly geared to outdoor crews. Earlier before 1998 and the reorganization of Exploring and the creation of Venturing. Sea Scouts then (Sea Explorers) proposed an Order of the Trident very heavily influenced by the OA except it would have been open to co-ed membership and the many levels were given nautical or Naval titles. Venturing needs an honor society for 2 reasons, #1.To be open to co-ed crews and ships. #2.This will take the pressure off of OA to become more co-ed and OA then can continue the traditional path that they have done so well in for the past many years. Venturing needs a tradition of it's own, There were days that Explorers under BSA could call for Post OA elections but these days are past. Venturing needs to blaze some new trails of its own. This new Venturing Honor Society needs to be 21st Century it does not need to re-create OA there is only one OA. Venturing needs to appeal to Venturing as a whole a more modern vision of a traditional program and also to appeal to it's constituency, the future leaders of America.

Corps of Discovery is what some councils are using for a Venturing Honor Society. COD is flexible and more crew oriented and can be tweeked. Our council was considering the COD approach for Venturing Crews here. It is hard to get something like this into Venturing though because so many of the male Venturers that are Boy Scouts are already in the OA and also because of time considerations many of the youth in the program do not really want to have another activity to be responisble for. Female Venturers seem luke warm to the idea and in the VOA here when they were asked about a Venturing Honor Society were not very interested. But however people do change and maybe a year from now this may be completely the opposite and Venturers might be more interested.

Good Luck and fair sailing.

Ok this what I understand the difference is between Sea Scouts and Venturing. Sea Scouts are in the Venturing Division and really can be a co-ed scouting program under Venturing. Sea Scouts have a more nautical program but this does not hinder them from being more imaginative on their ship program am I right here? If so let me continue I do know of a Venturing crew that is a Sea Scout ship as well, impossible you say well they are right here in the Council that I do commissioner work in. But when they meet they meet the same night but the crew meeting is first and then the ship meeting. The are both a Venturing Crew and a Sea Scout ship. Now what I am referring to is in the district or council organization where there might be a Sea Scout Squadron or Flotilla can the Venturing crews that are Aquatic, you know sailing, scuba or seamanship interest can they be a part of the squadron or flotilla organization and be involved in aquatic activities the same as Sea Scout Ships? We have seen through the one crew/ship that a crew can be a ship as well. But my earlier question arises from that sometimes crews do participate in regattas, and other Sea Scout events I was wondering if Venturing crew advisors can attend Sea Scout Flotilla or Squadron meetings (not leaving the district or council) just using the Sea Scout Program for resources.

Can aquatic interest Venturing Crews be affiliated with Sea Scout Ship and do a similar program to what a ship does. Maybe something like seamanship interest or mariner interest. These crews be marine interest but attend regattas and Sea Scout events and could they be a part of a fleet, squadron, or flotilla , as well as part of the district?

General Interest crews where a crew can do the outdoor program as well as do an arts and hobby thing like produce and act in plays or if they do it in school they can get the credit to earn the Bronze award in Arts and Hobbies. Sailing, scuba, urban adventure visit a large city. Service projects in the community,Out to dinner a Venturing Crew can do mostly anything they want to. Even if they are in a specialty area in a certain cluster that does not prohibit them from doing different things. The idea is keep the youth interested and active. Too many people put Venturing in the traditional High Adventure Box there are 5 clusters and many different specialties within each cluster.

bluegoose Why did your crew discontinue the COD idea?

Fuzzy Bear Thanks for your post, I get what you are talking about. I get pretty excited about this.

I am a Unit Commissioner I work with Venturing, I do not consider myself a spy for District or Council. I enjoy trying to help the crews I visit on crew meeting nights, I have helped them to do Camporees visited with them at a special needs camporee. I get involved with the crews. I visit VOA Meetings, This Unit Commissioner is visible to the crew he services. I have cruised the net getting them information on new improvements in Venturing. I attended Venture Quest to obtain information for my crew. I attend District Meetings. Now please do not mis-understand me I am not bragging. But when you say what good are commissioners really do not lump all commissioners in the same lump. In my same district I know of other commissioners really involved with troops, packs and crews. So lets not stereotype all commissioners by the few you do not really see.