trailfinder52@yahoo.com Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 Now we all know a Venturer that is a Boy Scout or Varsity Scout and are First Class Scout and under the age of 18 can finish their trail to Eagle as a Venturer or Sea Scout and can earn it in the crew or ship. And guess what in Venturing and Sea Scouts young men and women can earn the Venturing Bronze, Gold, Silver and Sea Scouts can earn Apprentice, Ordinary, Able and Quartermaster and Sea Scouts can also earn the Venturing Awards as well. We see much about the Boy Scout thing, but we do not hear much about the Venturing awards system. It is not just all about Boy Scouts. When people join a crew or ship whether in a troop or team then they are Venturers and a part of the Venturing program. This is not to be anti-Boy Scout but Venturing as a stand alone program has many specialties and five clusters of their own. It is good to see young men and women earn awards and rank. In fact the National Venturing President is concerned why the Venturing crews are not interested in the Venturing advancement awards. Point is let the troop in the troop and the crew in the crew and let Venturing forge it's own trail, maybe the reason everyone seems confused maybe is because Professional scouters are not fully informed on Venturing and Sea Scouts. I see on the council and district levels most planning and conversation is done concerning Cubs and Boy Scouts. There are three programs in BSA and one of them is Venturing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OscarTango Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I definitely agree!!! I'm debating whether to join Venturing (i'm a girl) and everything is geared to CS and BS, not much info on Venturing. Plus no one has any clue what Venturing is haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John-in-KC Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 It's not the advancement method in venturing. It's the RECOGNITION method. Recognition comes in many forms. High school letters. Scholarship awards. Applause at the end of theatrical or musical performances. Winning 1st place at a road rally. Venuring's system of awards is a tool. It's not a must. Crew officers and members need to look at what their Crew is about. If there are other means of recognition, and the Venturing system is redundant, don't use it. OTOH, if it makes sense to use it, because what the Crew does isn't recognized in other places, use it. Venturing is designed to be hugely flexible. It's not a factory production line for young men, as to some degree the Boy Scout program is. It's more akin to a custom foundry, where craftsmen (the youth themselves) help forge each other into the young adults they want to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OscarTango Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 True John. I like the fact that Venturing is flexible. However, proactive kids that WANT to do something are a must it seems. I've read too many posts about kids not stepping up and planning activities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John-in-KC Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Then, OT, Start looking to friends. Start looking to form a Crew that makes sense to your desires. First a Vision, then Goals, then means. Look at a group in your HS that lacks a club centered around it. Leverage Venturing as the vehicle for that club. It can even be an athletic squad ... as long as it's not a contact sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stosh Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 In the 10 years that I've had a Venturing Crew, I have never had anyone inquire into the awards/advancement program. With the Crew focused on its interest area, there is really nothing there that catches their interest in doing anything other than the focus interest of the group. We also do not have much to do with pres/vice-pres/sec/treas either. On the other hand we have some boys interested in leadership development which they acquire through the hobby, not BSA. 6 of 7 Boy Scouts that joined up finished their Eagles through their troops as is expected by our Crew. People not BSA registered to begin with are not expected to earn Boy Scout rank. We are a tight-knit group with very little if any organization or program other than our interest focus. Stosh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailingpj Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 "There are three programs in BSA and one of them is Venturing." Don't forget that Sea Scouts is it's own program, has it's own awards and events. We have our own names for everything/one, we have our own advancement. If that doesn't qualify us to be called our own program I don't know what does. It seems that Sea Scouts is constantly getting buried under Venturing. On the National website, on council websites. There is very little about Sea Scouts. So don't forget, we exist, and have a great program. That sentence up top should be changed to "There are four programs in BSA and one of them is Venturing." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortridge Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 sailingpj, I don't mean to get into an argument, but that's not correct. Sea Scouting is one of the branches of Venturing. A ship is a simply a crew with different lingo. Quoting just one line from the official seascout.org Web site: "Sea Scouts, being members of the Venturing program, are encouraged to work towards the Silver Award in addition to the highest and most prestigious award in Sea Scouting, the Quartermaster Award." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emb021 Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 First off, shortridge is correct regarding the place of Sea Scouts in the overall scouting program. Its totally correct to speak of the BSA has having 3 programs. Yes, if you look more closely, they really have 7 (Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, Webelos Scouts, Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, Venturing, and Sea Scouts), but we usually speak of the 3 main ones. Secondly, as to Venturing advancement. My council VOA has decided that the next Council Venturing Roundtable will focus on advancement. We'll go over the basics of the advancement, have venturers who have earned advancement speak on it, and more importantly, we will be recognizing 3 youth who have recieved the Venturing Silver this year (as well as any youth have received other Venturing advancement this year). Note, that this was the what the YOUTH came up with and decided to do, not what I suggested or told them to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crew21_Adv Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Fellow Scouters and Venturers, Greetings! Although a different division of the BSA. Let's not forget about Learning for Life, and the various career Explorers. OT, If Venturing just doesn't satisfy your curiousity. Possibly you can visit your local Council Office, and ask if there is a Law Enforcement or Fire Department Explorer Post in your neighborhood. Scouting Forever and Venture On! Crew21 Adv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwazse Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 There are actually a lot of specialty recognitions for youth. Venturing awards are just the tip of the iceburg. But, it would be nice to see a Boys Life article or two on the subject. Maybe interview a recent silver awardee or a quatermaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emb021 Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Actually the most recent issue of Boys' Life had an article on the Quest Award. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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