How well is Venturing Doing

[Eamonn]

Much as I hate to admit it, Venturing is really taking a long time to take off in both my District and Council.

I have friends in other areas that tell me in their Councils, they have hired a full time person to help get this program up and running. Other Councils have made the position of Vice President for Venturing.

We have left Venturing in the hands of the District.

I would love to hear how things are going else where.Particulary from places and people who have managed to get this very important area of our program running well.

Thanks

[Bob White]

I think your observations are true for most the Venturing program nationwide. In the grand scheme of things this is still a a program in it's infancy. I think the real measure of the program viability is another 5 years down the road.

 

Our council is just developing a long term plan for venturing that includes special activities such a a venturing week at sumer camp. We have held and are continueing to develop a sort of Venture camporee we cal the Venture Adventure.

 

I think this can be a very effective program it will be a matter of finding the right people to lead it and the financial support to help. High adventure equipment and activities often carry a higher price tag.

 

BW

[matuawarrior]

I believe its doing great in my district. I retain a majority of my older scouts. It was hard to start at first but that was due to fears of operating a coed unit. Once we started it took off like a rocket. Our Crew actually outnumbered our troop in membership(We have the same Charter Organization). My crew president's have all been female jr. leaders. The boys have little interest in leadership positions or crew awards. That's probably due to earning awards and holding positions in the troop. My district currently has 4 venture crews. We may a new crew chartered on the Southern side of the island.

 

Like any new program it'll take time to catch on. Just like the Tiger Cub Program in the early 80's. Look where its at now.

 

Matua

[Eamonn]

I think by the "Lack Of Hits" on this topic, things are not going that well.

How long has it been out there? Four or Five years ?

It would be nice to think, that all of our Troops were doing such a great job, that none of the older boys were leaving. Many are keeping these young men, but how many are allowing these boys just leave?

What can we do to really get this program, off the ground? Do we wait four or five more years ?

[OldGreyEagle]

Venturing, while having the potential of being a great program, still has a way to go. These are my observations from my corner of the world

 

The first issue I see is the age range, you take a 14 year old boy and put in him a meeting with 19 and 20 year old young ladies, and it may be a few years before he finds his voice. The same thing occurs with a 14 year old girl in with 19 to 20 year old young men.

 

The next issue is one of retention in those upper age ranges. All of our 18 and above Crew members go to college and are away from home. So the program to keep the youth active until they are 21 falls apart because they went to college. The fact the older members are away most of the time means the younger members 16-17 run the crew and what a 16 year old sees as "fun" may not appeal to a 19-20 year old in the limited time the college students are home.

 

Then in a Co-Ed crew (could you tell thats the kind I am associated with?) you have a problem with the boys being able to receive Eagle as a Venture but the girls cant. Lets just tell the girls they are just along for the ride, that while they can earn Bronze and Ranger awards, they still arent good enough to earn Eagle. Yes, I know Eagle is a BSA rank, so leave it in Boy Scouts and out of Ventures. Then there is the matter of the Silver and Gold awards, did the BSA do any research on other youth organizations? (i.e. The Girl Scouts). Did they bother to learn the Girl Scouts two highest awards are called the Gold and Silver? Couldnt we have called the Venture awards something else? And did we have to rip-off the Explorer unifroms? We couldnt have had our own look?

 

Then the organization of Crews, at least in my area seems slightly silly. Troops who struggle to hold onto older scouts start a Crew whose members come from their troop. Now scouts who have so many demands on their time, have another, the crew. And the crews struggle to have enough members on an event to make it worthwhile.

 

Last issue I have is publicity of the program. Every time I see literature on the Venturing program its always someone rock-climbing, or rapelling, or general high adventure activity. In our crew we have awarded 5 bronze awards, 2 of them in Religious Life (used to be Youth Ministries) A Venture Crew can be oriented towards Outdoor Activities, Religious Life/Youth Ministries, Sports, Arts&Hobbies and Sea Scouts. But I havent seen much on Crews other than Outdoor ones.

 

Now, solution time, as I see it. Councils/Districts should concentrate on having fewer crews that are larger than present ones. Instead of each CO with a troop having a crew, why not break up Districts into areas and pull from multiple troops. Actually even better would be to recruit teens who were never in scouting in the first place. Crews with nothing but Boy Scouts place a strain on themselves and the troops the scouts come from. I could see a District having a few Outdoor Crews, Sports Crews, etc. All facets of Venturing should be promoted, or they should be eliminated.

 

The Uniform and awards should be distinctive to Venturing and not borrow terms from other established programs.

 

I dont have an answer to the mixing of the ages or sexes, perhaps some one else will. I am interested in knowing how other people have overcome some of the problems I have mentioned.

 

PS, I love the Venture Program, it, as I have said has great potential, I guess I am frustrated because in my area, the potential is yet to be realized.

[matuawarrior]

I agree with OGE.

 

I've been involved with my Crew first as a Explorer Post since '97. I remember when I first saw the Silver Award at our district office. My Crew President looked at it andexclaimed that "girls can get their Eagle in venturing". She called the Silver Award the "Silver Eagle". If were teaching character to our youths then we need to make advancements fair to all youths.

 

BSA needs to market all the areas of venturing and not just the High Adventure side. Here we have 3 High Adventure Venture Units and 1 Religious Unit. My Venturer's voted to change our specialty to SAR, this was after the accidentally stumbled acto.

 

Starting up a Venturing Crew is alot easier than starting a pack or troop.

 

Matua

 

[Eamonn]

In answer to Old Grey Eagle.

You are so far ahead of where we are at.

What is sad, is your Council is next door to us.

Maybe we need to send some of our people to visit you, in order to at least get some idea.

So far as a Council all we have managed to do is offer the 7th week of summer camp to the Venturers. Then we complain, that they don't come. Some of these boys have been going there since they were Cub Scouts, and by that week the older youth are on their way back to school.

I earned my Queens Scout as a Veuture Scout, in England. We were co-ed, and while there were a lot of "Super Scouts", a lot of the crew were happy just having a place to be, where it was safe, drug free and they were able to just hang out with friends. They did get involved with the things that interested them, and did pick and chose what camps they attended. But by and large we all had a good time.

[mk9750]

We have handled this issue a little differently in our Troop. As our guys decided they wanted to get into more high venture activities, we made them responsible for planning, learning and being trained properly, and funding both the activites and the equipment. As such, our guys have purchased 11 kayaks, rope and rock climbing gear, and rifles. As they have gone through the training, so have adults. Right now, we have 7 certified climbing instructors, and by the end of the summer we should have 8 American Red Cross certified kayak instructors among our boys (I guess I'm not really sure the ARC would call them "instructors").

 

As this program got rolling (it's taken us 6 years to get to were we are now), we had a conversation with the boys about whether to charter as a seperate Venture Crew. We layed out all of the pros and cons as we knew them, and the boys decided to maintain the program within the Troop. Most of the reasoning behind the decision was exactly as OGE describes: An additional strain on active teenagers' time.

 

One advantage we think we get from this is that with our Venture Patrol being an inergral part of our Troop, the incentive for the young guys to stay with the Troop until they qualify to participate is right in front of them. The Venture Patrol determined that Scouts must be 13 and 1st Class in order to accompany them, although each of our activities (Rapelling, riflery, kayaking) is incorporated into one campout out during the year for each, so that all the guys get the chance to taste the fun. These also give the Venture Crew guys the oppurtunity to teach the skill to the young guys, reinforcing their knowledge. It was a blast at summer camp watching the older guys demonstrate doing Eskimo rolls for the young guys!

 

We have been very lucky to have boys in our Troop who expressed an interest in doing something, and when challenged with making it happen, came through with flying colors. We also have been fortunate to have had adults willing to put in the time, and expense, to be trained along side the boys. I don't know whether the boys were able to do this because we let them, or we let them because they could handle it - Probably a little of both. but it has worked for us.

 

The two things we are missing compared to a regular Venture Crew are the Venture awards, which our guys say they don't care about, and girls, which they say they do care about. We have tried to put together co ed outings with girl Scout Troops, with the intent of demonstrating and teaching one of our skills, and having them teach us one of theirs (the joke in our Troop is "you show me yours, we'll show you ours"), but we can't find a GS Troop that has enough girls interested in something high venture like this.

 

Again, I find I have filled up far too much space with my ramblings.

 

Mark

[buffalo2]

Our Council is slowly seeing Venturing come alive; they do sponsor several activities each year that are fairly well received. But the real action is in the Districts; here and there they're banding together and are able to present an event that serves as a draw to those new and struggling Crews. Spreads the load out a bit; helps out with training as well. Call me naive, but I'm believing 'if you build it they will come'. Perhaps we should shift the focus of this a bit and ask "what can we do to support the movement?"

[matuawarrior]

Our crew also meets with the Troop and Pack on the same day each week. The Venturers know that their only required to meet twice a month but they choose to meet every week. We use the trickle down effect for Leadership. The Venturers instuct certain skills to the Troop and likewise for the Pack. Each unit has its own distinct program but with the crew involved, it makes things alot easier. Plus, my parents love the current setup because all their scouts meet on the same night. It's also a recruiting incentive for the younger scouts to see what's available to them at the next older programs. It's really their program. As a Scoutmaster and Advisor, I find myself working with the Pack more than my Crew and Troop. These guys and of course gals do a tremendous job in planning, coordinating, and implementing their program.

 

Matua

[hops_scout]

I know of a few Venture Crews in my area and plan to join one in June or soon after. It sounds like a lot of fun.