Venturing (BSA) Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Venturing is a division of the Boy Scouts of America for young men and women ages 14-20. It was created on August 1, 1998 to replace Exploring, another division of the BSA, after a major reorganization of that division. It includes the Sea Scouting program. It is the only BSA division which is fully co-ed. Units are referred to as "crews" (or "ships" in Sea Scouting), and adult leaders are called "advisors".
Venturing advancement is made up of several awards. The three main awards (similar to ranks in traditional Boy Scouting) are Bronze, Gold and Silver, which must be earned in that order. The Bronze award actually consists of five separate awards (Sports, Religious Life, Arts and Hobbies, Outdoor, and Sea Scout). A venturer may earn all five Bronze awards, though only one is required to earn a Gold award.
In addition to these, venturers may also earn the Ranger and Quest awards. The Ranger award requires an Outdoor Bronze award, and generally builds on the requirements for that award. The Quest award requires and builds on the Sports Bronze award. Similar "advanced" awards are currently in development for the other three Bronze awards.
A member may earn all of the Sea Scout awards, even if he or she is not a member of a Sea Scout ship. Male members under the age of 18 may also earn the Star, Life, and Eagle ranks from the Boy Scouting program (Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, and 1st Class ranks must be earned in a Boy Scout troop).
Shortly after Boy Scouting was founded in the United States, its creators encountered a problem with older boys. Some grew bored with the program, while others didn't want to leave their troops after reaching the maximum age of 18. To alleviate this problem, a haphazard group of new programs were created for older boys, including the Sea Scouts, Air Scouts, Rover Scouts, and Explorer Scouts, among others. In 1949, these programs were condensed into Explorer Scouts, Sea Explorers and Air Explorers. In 1956, these were further condensed into a unified Exploring program (though the Sea Scouts remained relatively independent within this group).
When the BSA dropped its outdoors program in the early 1970s, many Explorer posts followed suit. Individual posts had always specialized in certain activites, and many posts chose to run career awareness programs. Some of these programs became affiliated with specific organizations, such as police, fire departments and hospitals. These programs remained even after the outdoors program was reintroduced about 10 years later.
On July 30, 1996, the ACLU issued a statement charging that members of Explorer posts affiliated with public services had a significant advantage over non-members in finding employment with these services. Because the BSA prohibits its members from being openly homosexual or atheist, these public services were discriminating against such people. On April 10, 1997, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago for allowing these programs.
In August 1998, the BSA moved all offending Explorer posts, and the Exploring program itself, to a subsidiary called Learning for Life. Participants in this program are not members of the BSA. All other Exploring posts were moved to the new Venturing program. This program was hastily designed (it was developed in just 6 weeks, while a change of this scale would take 7 to 10 years under normal circumstances), and as a result, there were many gaps and inconsistancies in the program guides. There was some confusion between Venturing the the pre-existing Venture program. The awards system was incomplete. Many other details were noticably less developed than their Exploring and Boy Scouting counterparts. This is an Article on Venturing (BSA). Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Venturing (BSA) Advancement
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