Math and Science Bronze Award

[OldGreyEagle]

Don't give up Shortridge, you are not wrong. Just as our old pal Kudu would lament that an Eagle scout could acheive that rank and never carry a pack into the woods, plenty of Venturing regonitions may be earned without any outdoor experience, say the TRUST centered on Religious Life Crews, none of these requirements require a day in the outdoors, certainly they could be, but its not required. Then again the outdoors is not a method in Venturing, it is in Boy Scouts

 

The QUEST award centered around Sports doesn't have any requirements that must be done in the outdoors, although many certainly could.

 

Now, a Venturer could set a goal of earning all the Bronzes or all the higher level awards or only a few if any and that woudl be fine regardless of the interest the crew is registered as. The Crew I served was registered as an Outdoor Crew although we described ourselves as more Eclectic which I think describes most, although certainly not all and that's ok, eclectic or specific as long as the youth are driving the program.

 

None of the Gold or Silver requirements "HAVE" to be done in the outdoors.

 

Venturing is what the youth want, not what the adults wish it to be

 

PS, of course when I say "What the youth want" I do mean within the context of the Guode to Safe Scouting and the program, I wouldnt let a Skateboarding Crew jump swimming pools filled with broken coke bottles or anything like that but I wouldnt require them to camp out either

(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

[BadenP]

yes shortridge I did say that and it is true, however many of the crews who solely concentrate on their speciality to the exclusion of everything else usually go under in short order. If you want the crew to stay viable and grow they need to at least explore the variety of activities, my crew years ago started with ten members today and for the last five years the crew numbers have been sixty or more. This is because they let themselves explore a variety of experiences, not just one. I still say a crew that has a math/science speciality and never tries anything else will die on the vine rather quickly. In spite of what you and that old curmudgeon OGE might think Venturing has a tie to the outdoors as much as boy scouts do.

 

A troop could do all their activities indoors, locally, or in a local park without really going anywhere but what kind of troop program would that be and how long do you think it would last? Venturing crews fail on a much higher average than other units because most scouters do not really understand the program and because having only one limited speciality is a receipe for failure. Sea scouts thrive because their program is diverse and has many different activities/skills, most of them outdoors, the teens get to experience, a Venturing crew needs to do the same if they want to be successful and survive more than a year. I hope that clarifies it a little better for you.

[shortridge]

It clarifies your opinion versus how the program was actually designed to work. Thanks.

[BadenP]

shortridge you really are a real P.I.A., you read what you want into everything, but since you have never been trained in Venturing or ever led a crew you have nothing credible to say on this topic, nuff said.(This message has been edited by BadenP)

[OldGreyEagle]

Nad by PIA, I am sure BadenP meant Professional Insurance Agency, or Parachite Industry Associate, or other such genteel accronym.

[scoutldr]

At least he didn't mention P.I.E.

[OldGreyEagle]

speaking of pie, did you see that Soupy Sales died? Now there was a subversive guy

[VenturingEagle]

I just returned from Seabadge last weekend and the Seabadge regional staff reported Sea Scouts was not seperating from Venturing. Also, following up on the magazine article on the new bronze award, Bill Evans has said the magazine simply omitted the Sea Scouts Bronze from the article.

[bacchus]

I just got back from some training. The math and science bronze is being rolled out shortly. It is the first bronze entirely designed and developed by youth. A couple of the requirements involve tutoring other youth and other things you would expect a servant leader to do.

[Oak Tree]

Venturing is so flexible that it's hard to see how this award hurts. I think that that's actually one of the prime weaknesses of Venturing. Since it stands for nothing all that specific, it's hard to attract people. "Why should I join Venturing?" "Well, we let you decide what you want to do." "Ok, but what does the group do?" "Whatever we want to."

 

Now I know that some specific units have better recruiting pitches than that, but it seems like there's very little brand identity there. Boy Scouts can have some of these things - help explore careers, etc - but they don't really change its primary identity of a group that does a lot of its training in the outdoors.

 

I don't really see all that much point in duplicating things that can be done in other contexts. Badges like Scholarship, Music, Sports - they are essentially awarded for stuff you can do in school. Schools can have computer clubs. They have math and science classes. I'm not sure I see the attraction of offering an award in Venturing for this. I'm not really opposed to it, but I'm missing how this will help Venturing be more attractive

[NJCubScouter]

Unless I am missing something here, this new Bronze award sounds like an additional opportunity for Venturers to pursue. It's not a requirement. It doesn't sound like a "program focus." It certainly doesn't limit crew members from doing other activities.

 

And by the way, if anyone thinks there aren't already "computer nerds", "math and science geeks" and prospective engineers in Venturing, or in high-adventure Scouting activities, I can think of a number of young men I could introduce you to, to set you straight. My son is involved in a FIRST (robotics, computers, engineering etc.) team at high school and the proportion of kids in that group who are also Scouts is huge -- and this includes Venturers and kids who have been to Philmont.(This message has been edited by njcubscouter)

[ilduncans]

Have received information matching the points Bacchus gave:

 

The math and science bronze is a new 6th bronze award -- there are no changes to other existing Venturing awards.

 

It is the first BSA advancement program designed and developed entirely by youth.

 

Requirements are consistent with other bronze awards. The award goes beyond personal skill in the subject areas to include service requirements to other people, related to the subject area (such as tutoring or mentoring).

 

No specific timeline was given for rollout -- just "soon". No draft of requirements was given.

[BadenP]

What's next a Bronze Award for playing World of Warcraft, look math and science are important for any youth to excel in but some of these bronze awards have nothing to do with the essence of what Venturing was created to do and should be eliminated, case in point this one and the Art Bronze Award, neither of these should be the emphasis of any venturing crew IMHO. If National really wants Venturing to succeed they need to refocus the intent and direction of the program.

[OscarTango]

Baden P,

 

In my opinion, Scouting is not/ should not be a completer outdoor oriented program. It should be incorporated (i.e sketching pictures of nature while on a hike,etc.) but teens in Venturing should be able to do what interests them. Even in Boy Scouts, there are merit badges like Journalism and Stamp Collecting. Venturing should develop your interests, hence the wide range of activities, sports, outdoor, religion, and even math and science if that's what you like.

[click23]

OT, Outdoors should not be the focus of Boy Scouts, but it should be one of them. It is just as important as advancement, the ideals, patrols, personal growth, adult association, leadership development and the uniform, the are all the methods of Boy Scouts.

 

On the Venturing side, high adventure is the closest method to the outdoors. But, I believe that it can be interpreted broad enough to include any of the Venturing crew specialties, Outdoor, Sports, Arts/Hobbies, Youth Ministry, and Sea Scouting. With that being said, I am not sure how a Math and Science Bronze Award fits in. We have Bronze Awards for each of the specialties that I listed, are we also going to get a Math and Science crew specialty?