Forming a new Venturing Crew

[Trevorum]

 

 

In the original thread, RDClements said, "Sometimes Venturing Crews form in order to do a single outing. The crew plans to disband when the outing is over. Sometimes they decide to stay together."

 

Is this true? If so, I'd like some advice on the nuts and bolts of forming a new crew (hopefully from someone who's done it!)

 

Our stable has a group of a half-dozen or so young ladies ages 14-16 who take riding lessons from my wife. They all love horses are all great friends. In fact they already act somewhat like a crew, without the organization. Recently, I happened to mention Cavalcade treks and they thought that sounded like crazy fun, being on horseback for a week. What would be involved in getting these young cowgirls lined up for a BSA cavalcade next summer?

 

[ScoutNut]

The only time I have ever heard of a Venturing Crew formed for a one time only activity is when our council registers youth volunteer staffers (usually females and unregistered adults) for Cub Scout Camp. The council camp acts as the CO.

 

As for how to form a new Crew, BSA has a "New-Unit Organization Process" that should help you with that -

 

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Media/Relationships/TheNew-UnitProcess.aspx

 

 

[Eagle92]

Wasn't a crew, but a troop. My district created a troop whose sole purpose was to do a trip to Canada. Prior to the trip, we had one or two troop meetings, more info and itinerary meetiings, as well as 3 or 4 training weekends. After the trip, we met one time to share photos, stories, and get a $25 refund.

[Trevorum]

Thanks ScoutNut. Yeah, I've seen that. It's top-down stuff for "marketing" BSA to new COs. Not that helpful for on-the-ground Scouters. I am more interested in the bottom-up approach. Lessons learned stuff.

[shortridge]

The Venturing Leader Manual ($16 from Scoutstuff) has pretty much everything you'll need as far as the nuts & bolts. Is the stable willing to be the CO?

 

However, IIRC, the minimum for starting up a unit is 5 members. So you may want to cast a bit wider net just to make sure you'll have a bit more than enough.

 

I'd contact your DE stat. He or she would be incredibly happy to start a unit with a minimum of effort on his/her part, and might even be able to give you some council juice for getting the ladies a slot at Philmont.

[rdclements]

Trevorum - sounds like you've got a pretty good start. As suggested by shortridge, the Venturing Leader Manual has it spelled out for you. Venturing magazine has extracts of the manual on-line: http://venturingmag.org/documents/vba/VenturingLeaderManual/VENTURINGLEADERMANUAL.htm

 

It's a convenient reference, but you'd definitely need your own copy to move ahead.

 

A couple of years back, word was that the BSA high adventure bases were giving priority scheduling to Venturing Crews. If true, that may have driven some groups to form a crew for a single trip.

 

Since you've got a group ready to move ahead, your DE should be loving the simplicity. Get your advisors to training as soon as possible. Once you've got a crew going, plan a weekend to run your own VLSC course. It's easy to do and doing it within the unit is a lot better than attending a sponsored course.

[Trevorum]

Thanks for the advice! I've already shot a message to my DE.

[emb021]

"In the original thread, RDClements said, "Sometimes Venturing Crews form in order to do a single outing. The crew plans to disband when the outing is over. Sometimes they decide to stay together."

 

Is this true?"

 

YES.

 

In my council, we had formed a Venturing Crew whose only purpose was to be to form a contingent group to the Irish National Jamboree. When I was a scout, I went to Philmont as part of an Explorer Post that was formed just to be a co-ed crew for Philmont. This group was formed by 6 boy scouts & 4 girls scouts (ie they were not BSA members), under the leadership of the parents of some of the members of the crew.

 

You would just need to have your minimum # of youth & adults to do this, as in any unit, plus a sponsoring org, which could easily be a "Friends of" group or even a company.

[qwazse]

My crew formed because my son and his buddies were bragging about his troop going to Seabase. The girl-scouts at their lunch table wanted in on the gig. I was told by their mom that "we can form this crew for just this one outing!"

 

Four years after the trip, and I'm still clocking my "one hour a month" advising some of the best youth this community has to offer. Yours sounds like the "sometimes they decide to stay together" type. Most crews I know "act somewhat like a crew, without the organization."

[Gary_Miller]

Trevorum, "Our stable has a group of a half-dozen or so young ladies ages 14-16 who take riding lessons from my wife. They all love horses are all great friends. In fact they already act somewhat like a crew, without the organization. Recently, I happened to mention Cavalcade treks and they thought that sounded like crazy fun, being on horseback for a week. What would be involved in getting these young cowgirls lined up for a BSA cavalcade next summer?"

 

A Horse back riding crew. Sounds like a great group of kids to make a crew and who knows where it would go. If you got the word out to the other youth at the stable or in the area you just might be surprised what could happen. I can also see this group working on the Ranger Award.

[ScoutBox]

I also need to thank everyone. I want to start a Crew here in Geneva. Need a head start on information, and how to sell it. I think th einterest is there among the youth, it's just the adults that might be the problem. The adults that do help are already maxed out on helping..

[qwazse]

The venturing entries on wikipedia was a good start. Get a hold of a venturing leaders guide. There is also a little "selling venturing" booklet, but I don't know how that applies where you live. Is there a Swiss scouting association you can affiliate with?

 

The reason I ask is that although written stuff is handy, my Venturing Leader Specific Training course really help me connect with leaders who helped me set the right tone for my crew.

[emb021]

"Is there a Swiss scouting association you can affiliate with?"

 

If ScoutBox is a US Citizen living in Geneva, he would be setting up a Venturing Crew within the US community there and would be part of the Transatlantic Council of the BSA. Don't know what resources they have over there to support Venturing.