Earning Boy Scout ranks in Venturing

[CNYScouter]

If a Ship/Crew has a member who is working on Boy Scout ranks, who sits on the BOR?

 

For Venturing/Sea Scout awards the BOR is put together by the youth members and the BOR is made up of both youth and adult members.

 

Is the same thing done for Boy Scout ranks earned in a Crew/Ship or does the BOR only have adult committee members?

 

Can the youth in a Crew or Ship determine this?

 

I don't remember discussing this in Venturing Leader training.

 

[OldGreyEagle]

According to the BSA Publication 33088E,

 

Advancement Committee Guide Polcies and Procedures it says on page 39

 

"...As the Venturer meets the requirements for the Star and Life ranks, a board of review is conducted by the crew or ship committee. The Eagle board of review follows the procedure established by the local council...."

[John-in-KC]

I'm in a Crew, and have held several different chartered positions. Most of the time, though, I'm Advancement Coordinator, and count myself more to Committee than to Program.

 

What my DAC told me was:

 

1) Scouts can only march the trail to Eagle if they arrive in the Crew holding First Class. Scout--->1st Class must be done in a Troop.

 

2) Use Boy Scout Requirements for the advancement requirements at Star, Life, Eagle, and Palms.

 

3) Follow Advancement procedures for Boy Scout units. That implies all-adult BORs.

 

This pretty much follows the following website resource from National:

http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/32215/eligibility.html

 

Note: Iitalics do not imply mandatory provisions here, it simply highlights the direct quote.

 

"Any male Venturer who has achieved the First Class rank as a Boy Scout in a troop or Varsity Scout in a team may continue advancement toward the Star, Life, and Eagle Scout ranks up to his 18th birthday.

 

"He must meet the requirements as prescribed in the official Boy Scout Handbook and the current Boy Scout Requirements book. The Venturer may fulfill leadership requirements by serving as president, vice president, secretary, or treasurer of his crew, or as boatswain, boatswain's mate, yeoman, purser, or storekeeper for his ship.

 

"The Scoutmaster conference will be conducted by the Advisor or Skipper. As the Venturer meets requirements for the Star and Life ranks, a board of review will be conducted by the crew or ship committee. The Eagle board of review should follow the procedures established by the local council."

 

 

 

 

[Beavah]

Nah, CNY, it's supposed to be adult Committee Members. Another institutionalized adult-run component of Boy Scoutin', perhaps.

 

But if yeh want to keep da crew/ship youth-led dynamic, I've never seen anything wrong with puttin' youth members on the BOR as "active observers" in addition to the three required adults. That passes technical muster.

 

And o'course, nobody besides us online busybodies is goin' to squalk if you just ran it like a regular Sea Scouting or Venturing review.

 

Personally, I've never quite understood the attraction of pursuin' Boy Scout Advancement in a crew, especially a coed one. Crews should stand on their own, and it seems silly to train Advisors and Committee members in out-of-program advancement procedures.

 

Silver, Ranger, and Quartermaster are tougher and more age-appropriate recognitions to work for anyways. And yeh get to do 'em together with all your crew/shipmates. Leave da little boy stuff back in the troop!

 

Beavah

(now I wonder if that'll start any fireworks this holiday ).

[John-in-KC]

Beavah,

 

No more than Cubs marching in formation at daycamp singing a bawdy Jody...

[RangerT]

As a former scoutmaster for many years and now a crew advisor for the past five I kind of agree with Beavah about Venturing standing alone. However, I have had a few youth who have dropped out of a troop, for a myriad of reasons, and wanted to finish their Eagle in the crew, so I make sure they really are committed to getting that Eagle before saying okay. As far as BOR's are concerned Beav, when I was a SM we always had the SPL and ASPL sit in on them, and now in the crew the President and one or two other officers not only sit in but are allowed to ask one question, if they desire. I feel this is more in line with the nature of the Venturing program since these officers regularly conduct the BOR's for the Venturing advancements. The SE and DE in my council have no objections to this procedure either. Sometimes you have to think outside the box.

[CNYScouter]

I think allowing "Boy Scout" advancement in Venturing is a good thing.

If I hadn't started a Sea Scout Ship my son would have dropped out of Scouts a long time ago.

After losing interest I backed off on advancement and over the winter he decided to earn Eagle

 

through the Ship.

 

Even with all the issues we are having so far I still think it was a good decision.

My daughter who just turned 14 has joined the Ship and my next youngest is looking forward to

 

joining in a couple of years.

 

With all the trouble we have had getting enough commitee members together for a BOR I was hoping we could do his with a combination of youth and adults.

We always seem to have 2 committe members around and never a 3rd person.

I am going to stick to having "adult only" BOR for Boy Scout" ranks but as far as "adults only" BOR for the Venturing side of things I disagree.

 

The Bronze awards, Ranger, Trust and Quest do not have a BOR the requirements just have to be completed.

 

But for other Venturing awards youth are involved in a BOR

 

From the Gold award requirements:

 

9. After completing all other requirements, the candidate should prepare evidence of completion

 

of the work and submit it to the crew Advisor. The crew president, in conjunction with the crew

 

Advisor, should then appoint a review committee of four to six people including Venturers and

 

adults. The committee should review the candidate's written presentation and interview the

 

candidate to determine whether that person grew as a result of the pursuit of the Gold Award.

 

The Silver award has similar wording for its review.

 

For Sea Scouts Quatermaster rank procedure:

 

Give the Quatermaster application for rank advancement to your Skipper, who will present it to

 

the officers at their monthly meeting. As they review your application, they are primarily concerned

 

with your understanding of the ideals of Sea Scouting as demonstrated by your participation in ship

 

activities. Ordinarily, you will not attend this meeting.

 

This has no adults involved in the review.

 

When I took Sea Scout Leader Specialized training (I think something similar should be developed

 

for each Crew Speciality area) the trainer said that a Ship should be doing a BOR for all rank

 

advancement. This BOR should be comprised of both youth and adult members.

Even though it is not specified he found that it made it easier for the youth to understand what this means if and when they have to do a Quatermaster review.

 

[OldGreyEagle]

CNYScouter

your daughter does realize she won't be able to earn Eagle like her older brother appears on task to do or her younger brother could if he joins the Crew as a first class scout from a troop?

 

Who said adults only on the Venture side?