What is Venturing?
Venturing is a youth development program of Scouting America for young men and women who are at least 13 years of age and have completed the eighth grade or is 14 years of age and not yet 21. Must have parent/guardian approval if under 18 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 is a youth led program supported by adult advisors. Crews elect their own officers and select, plan, and carry out their own program of activities.
Crew membership may be co-ed, boys, or girls. Every crew member is expected to learn, practice, and teach others as they grow in the program.
Leadership
All Venturers are given opportunities to learn and apply proven leadership skills. A Venturing crew is led by elected crew officers.
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, to help others, and to 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 they 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 people, 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 of an ethical controversy.
Crew Activities
What a Venturing crew does is limited only by the imagination and involvement of the adult and youth leaders and members of the crew. Some examples are: sail the Caribbean , produce a play, or climb a mountain.
Uniforms
Each crew may determine what, if any, specific uniform pants or shorts they will wear based on crew activities.