What Is Venturing?
Venturing is a youth development program of the Boy Scouts of America for young men and women who are 13 and have completed the eighth grade, or age 14 through 20 years of age. Venturing's purpose is to provide positive experiences to help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults. Venturing is based on a unique and dynamic relationship between youth, adult leaders, and organizations in their communities. Local community organizations establish a Venturing crew by matching their people and program resources to the interests of young people in the community. The result is a program of exciting and meaningful activities that helps youth pursue their special interests, grow, develop leadership skills, and become good citizens. Venturing crews can specialize in a variety of avocation or hobby interests.
Young adults involved in Venturing will:
- Learn to make ethical choices over their lifetimes by instilling the values in the Venturing Oath and Code.
- Experience a program that is fun and full of challenge and adventure.
- Become a skilled training and program resource for Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and other groups.
- Acquire skills in the areas of high adventure, sports, arts and hobbies, religious life, or Sea Scouting.
- Experience positive leadership from adult and youth leaders and be given opportunities to take on leadership roles.
- Have a chance to learn and grow in a supportive, caring, and fun environment.
The aims of the Boy Scouts of America are to build character, develop citizenship, and foster personal fitness. The Venturing methods listed below have been carefully designed to achieve the aims of the Boy Scouts of America and meet the needs of young adults.
- Leadership. All Venturers are given opportunities to learn and apply proven leadership skills. A Venturing crew is led by elected crew officers. The Venturing Leadership Skills Course is designed for all Venturers and helps teach them in an active way to lead effectively.
- Group Activities. Venturing activities are interdependent group experiences in which success is dependent on the cooperation of all. Learning by "doing" in a group setting provides opportunities for developing new skills.
- Adult Association. The youth officers lead the crew. The officers and activity chairs work closely with adult Advisors and other adult leaders in a spirit of partnership. The adults serve in a "shadow" leader capacity.
- Recognition. Recognition comes through the Venturing advancement program and through the acknowledgement of a youth's competence and ability by peers and adults.
- The Ideals. Venturers are expected to know and live by the Venturing Oath and Code. They promise to be faithful in religious duties, treasure their American heritage, help others, and seek truth and fairness.
- High Adventure. Venturing's emphasis on high adventure helps provide team-building opportunities, new meaningful experiences, practical leadership application, and lifelong memories to young adults.
- Teaching Others. All of the Venturing awards require Venturers to teach what they have learned to others. When they teach others often, Venturers are better able to retain the skill or knowledge taught, they gain confidence in their ability to speak and relate to others, and they acquire skills that can benefit them for the rest of their lives as a hobby or occupation.
- Ethics in Action An important goal of Venturing is to help young adults be responsible and caring persons, both now and in the future. Venturing uses "ethical controversies" to help young adults develop the ability to make responsible choices that reflect their concern for what is a risk and how it will affect others involved. Because an ethical controversy is a problem-solving situation, leaders expect young adults to employ empathy, invention, and selection when they think through their position and work toward a solution.
About Sea Scouts
Sea Scouts, a program combining the traditions of the past with the technology of the future. The element of water makes Sea Scouts unique. Sea Scout units use a variety of boats, from outboard motorboats to large sailing yachts. Sea Scouts belong to a world that is distinct from anything on shore, and they have their own language and customs. The water is not a place for the unwary, and the Scout motto, “Be Prepared,” is imperative. The challenge is taking a vessel from point A to point B while being ready for whatever may be encountered along the way. Crewing a vessel involves sharing the duties of helmsman, navigator, lookout, cook, sail handler, or engineer. Outings on a boat offer new destinations in the morning and the changing scenery of a new harbor by evening.
The highest rank a Sea Scout can earn is the prestigious Quartermaster rank.
The Quartermaster Award
Quartermaster rank is the highest award in Sea. It results from a young adult’s determination to reach a goal he or she has set and achieved in spite of difficulties along the way. The award is rich in symbolism. The carrick bend represents an ability to hold fast to our ideals. The blue ribbon stands for loyalty to country. The compass suggests the importance of a carefully chosen direction in life. The wheel reminds us that we are the guides of our own future and that we must persevere with self-discipline. It represents Sea Scouts as an important part of the Scouting tradition. The anchor reminds us that a truly worthy life must be anchored in duty to God. This badge of color, beauty, and symbolism, but most of all, of challenge, awaits every Sea Scout who has the determination to achieve excellence.
History of Sea Scouts
In 1910, Lord Baden-Powell, founder of Boy Scouts, created Sea Scouts to serve as an extension of Scout training. Young men would develop personal character (pluck, patriotism, and intelligent discipline) through a sense of duty. By teaching boat management and seamanship, young men would also gain individual knowledge to help them become self-supporting. Sea Scouts performing coast guard duties, lifesaving and salvage at wrecks would also perform invaluable community service. Baden-Powell’s belief that Sea Scouts would combine the best attributes of seamanship with training in character was shared by the Boy Scouts of America. Two years after the Boy Scouts of America was born, Sea Scouts was organized in the United States with the aid of the Secretary of the Navy in 1912.