Life for Life & New Adult Leader

[ASM59]

Hello,

 

My son turns 18 in two days and will do so as a Life Scout. He did try to get his Eagle, but the ever dreaded Service Project stood in his way. He tried twice in the past to get projects approved, but there always seemed to be confusion regarding the approval process in our old district. Now that we are in a new Troop and new District, he did try again, but only 2 months before his 18th birthday. He submitted his write-up to the District Advancement Chair Person only to have his submission rejected (not the project, but the write-up). At that point, he decided it wasnt worth the stress of a re-write, especially in light of a new job and getting ready for Graduation. He accepts full responsibility for his procrastination.

 

Now my step-daughter, who is 3 weeks older than my son, has always been jealous of the time that I have spent in Boy Scouts with him. I mentioned to her just before her birthday that at 18 she could officially join the Troop as an adult leader. Her face lit up and one week after her birthday, she turned in her application to the Troop Committee Chair. The committee, the SM and ASMs have welcomed her gladly. As my wife said, I guess you have an excuse to keep working with the Troop now

 

ASM59

 

[ScoutNut]

Why didn't / doesn't your stepdaughter (and you and your son) look into joining a Venturing Crew?

 

[SR540Beaver]

Scoutnut,

 

I can't speak for how things are in ASM59's area, but Venturing Crews are not nearly as plentiful as Troops. I come from a good sized council and one of the largest districts in the council and our COR/Troop is the only one in our district that has a Venturing Crew. While we have a Troop of about 60, the Crew remains at about 5 to 10 after a couple of years of existence. Hopefully that will change as our council now has a Venturing "District" that covers 5 counties and even has a "roundtable" and a District Executive.

[ASM59]

Like SR540... said, not many Venture Crews around (closest is about 17 miles away) and my son is taking off at the end of July for Missouri to get College life started. He wants to join a local Troop (as an ASM) near his college and wants to be the BSA Poster Child for "Don't wait till the last minute".

 

My Daughter is staying at home and will be attending a local Junior College for the next 2 years. She is very excited to help with the Troop as she plans to be a teacher. She works very well with kids and already knows half of the boys in the Troop. She completed all of the online training in the first week after she turned in her application to be a leader.

 

ASM59

[Missouri_COR]

Not sure where in Missouri your son is attending college, but I have been wanting to bring a couple of younger ASM into the fold (most of my graduates go off to college and it's not convenient for them to be around). If he is interested, have him send me a private message to me so we can talk. I am in the Greater St. Louis Area Council.

 

I am the COR of a crew as well and I am having the "numbers" problem. I have been trying different things, but many of them "have their own life" and the crew doesn't seem to fall high on their priority list.

[ASM59]

Good Day,

 

I've had a couple of PM's wondering where in Missouri my son will be going to college: he'll be going to Central Christian College in Moberly.

 

Thanks for the contacts...

 

ASM59

[GaHillBilly]

This is sorta OT, but the responses about the lack of Venture crews reminded me of a question I've not been able to answer.

 

Is it possible for a Venture patrol to coexist / cooperate with Venture Crew, say by sharing trips, etc.?

 

The reason I ask is that I've already seen problems with trying to get or keep a Venture patrol going. It seems -- to my admittedly uninformed mind -- that it might be easier if a Venture patrol, within a well functioning troop, co-operated with a Venture crew, and shared trips and some functions with them.

 

It seems this might be a way to retain or gain a pool of junior leaders, to allow Scouts to do stuff with their girlfriends -- uh, Scout stuff that is -- and so on.

 

Is this possible?

 

Are there reasons why this can't, or shouldn't, be done?

 

GaHillBilly

[John-in-KC]

A Venture Patrol has a youth program member age limit of 18 and is within the auspices of the Boy Scout Program Division of BSA. No women can be allowed to enter the youth program.

 

A Venturing Crew has a youth program age limit of 21 and is under the auspices of the Venturing Division, BSA. The Venturing program allows (at local option of the Crew and the Chartered Partner) women to enter the youth program.

 

The only advantage I see of having a Troop with a Venture Patrol and an internal (though separately chartered) Venturing Crew is that a late arrival to Boy Scouting can work S-T-2-1 inside a Venture Patrol before pressing on to Eagle. By ACP&P #33088, a male Venturer must be First Class when he arrives in the Crew, if he desiers to continue to work towards Eagle before his 18th birthday within the Crew.

 

Of operational disadvantage, by G2SS, a 16-18 year old Boy Scout member of a Venture Patrol may not be a driver, with exceptions of area, Regional, and National Scouting events (and with certain personal conditions met. As written, this includes Troop meetings and unit campouts. A 16-Venturer in a Venturing Crew may drive himself (with certain conditions met) to unit meetings and outings, as well as District, Council, and higher events.

 

A further operational disadvantage, by G2SS, is that a Boy Scout in a Venture Patrol may not train on or use a handgun. A Venturer in a Venturing Crew is explicitly authorized to train on and use handguns as part of the program.(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[GaHillBilly]

So, it sounds like it could be done, but might take some juggling of paper work, dual registration (as both a Scout and a Venturer) and so on, in order to fully take advantage of the overlap?

 

I'm assuming that nothing prohibits a Scout from being ALSO registered as a Venturer?

 

I assume that it would also mean declaring things like, "This is officially a Venturer trip, not a Scout trip.", in order to satisfy all the regulatory necessities.

 

GaHillBilly

[John-in-KC]

Yes, a youth can co-charter in a Troop and a Crew.

 

Yes, you would have to set Venturing events up as Venturing events, not as Troop events.

 

Understand, though, there are differences in program delivery between Boy Scouting and Venturing. Patrols are not a method of Venturing. Advancement is not a method of Venturing, though Recognition is. Uniform is not a method of Venturing.

 

Further, the young people are given increasing independence and some of the planning and coordination by Committee in Boy Scouting is done by the youth members in Venturing.

 

You might want to contact your District Commissioner and ask to have a cup of coffee with the UC who has Venturing in his portfolio... or ask who the go-to person is in your Council for Venturing.

 

You might also consider Venturing Fast Start at the MyScouting site.

[GaHillBilly]

"You might want to contact your District Commissioner and ask to have a cup of coffee with the UC who has Venturing in his portfolio... or ask who the go-to person is in your Council for Venturing."

 

Not yet -- all this is just info for me to file in my hip-pocket, so to speak.

 

We're in a troop that's facing a leadership crunch within 12 - 18 months. The 3 most active leaders, including the SM, all have sons that are either inactive, going inactive or soon to Eagle out. Because of the history of the troop, none of these older boys have the skills to be guides or junior leaders, so that's not an option, either. (Honestly, they are really in the way, for those of us who want to the boys to actually have the skills their badges require. Currently, two of the older swimming MB holders can't pass the summer camp swim test (1st class swimming) without fudging!)

 

Some of us with younger boys are reading the writing on the wall, and trying to think ahead.

 

There are some teens, a bit older than my son, who seem to want to have the skills, rather than just the ranks and badges. They could be a real asset to a re-directed troop. Venturing, as a parallel activity, might make it possible to keep them longer, and to possibly add some of their friends.

 

But, all this is currently in the realm of speculation. All the normal issues of politics, hurt feelings, negative troop history, shaky relations with the CO, etc. apply.

 

GaHillBilly

[John-in-KC]

Given what you've said, the best thing I can recommend is send some of the interested young men to your Council's National Youth Leader Training (sometimes called Brownsea) course. That will start giving them the skillsets to make a difference being youth leaders.

[OldGreyEagle]

I would think long and hard about starting a Venturing Crew from a Boy Scout Troop that needs its youth leaders attention. There is not much boys in a Boy Scout troop can't do that a Venturing Crew can do and I say that as a Venturing leader of 8 years. Once you take away pistol shooting and hunting, I am not sure there are many more things being a Venturer can do that a Boy Scout cannot.

 

It sounds like your troop needs help and starting an organizatin that will require time from your youth leaders away from it sounds counter productive. I do not want to discourage you from forming a Venturing Crew, but I do want to see a Crew formed for the correct reason.

[GaHillBilly]

I think I'm giving the wrong impression here -- a Venture crew is NOT imminent in any way, shape or form.

 

My question really is more a case of considering my options, looking 3 moves ahead. I was really asking, "should I keep this in the back of my mind, and collect Venture info as I go?", or "should I dismiss it outright?".

 

One reason for asking is recruiting. The troop we're in is small, and getting smaller. There are some conflicts that I don't understand fully yet between the troop and the pack, with the result that rising Webelos are not coming into the troop.

 

OTOH, there are some groups we could recruit from, but one inevitable question will be, "Yes, but what about my daughter?"

 

In theory, a Venture Crew might be an answer.

 

The situation is such that right now little can be done, but once changes are possible things may move very, very fast indeed. My assumption is that preparation -- lots and lots of preparation -- might make it possible to make those changes rapidly AND well when the time comes.

 

So, please do NOT think I'm about to rush out and tackle the formation of a Venture crew. It ain't happening!

 

GaHillBilly