Venture Scouts

“I have been talking with a few people in my local area about helping out with the Venture scout crew around here.

I was wondering if any TTers are/were venture scout Youth or Adult members? If so what do you think about the venture scouts?

I have already been to the Venture scout website and read about it there, I was just curious if anyone had any first hand non-bias knowledge on it.

I am newer to backpacking (been tent camping all my life) and I have always enjoyed being organizations like this. I have always wanted to join an organization as an adult to help provide kids with the same great experiences I was able to have in these types of groups.

Thanks!”

“Humanpackmule might be able to help you a little bit. I'll ask him.”

“I have been advisor to a Venturing Crew for about 3 years. Ours is co-ed. I'd be delighted to share whatever I can.”

“Well I guess what i am looking to find out the most is how are you liking it? Has it been an enjoyable 3 years, or has it been a nightmare?

I read where the activities done are pretty much only limited by the crew. What kind of activites have yall been doing?

Thanks for taking the time to clear some things up for me.

It has been difficult to get in contact with the Advisor of this crew, all i have is his email address and it seems he checks it like 2 times per week. So I have just been in limbo waiting for replies about their crew. Although he did reply to my email to tell me that he has been busy and would get back with me soon. Im just waiting to find out when their next meeting/event is going to be so I can come out and meet them all.”

“hey fantic, i have been a crew advisor for about 6 years now. we are also co-ed and it certainly is interesting working with teenagers. i was also a girl scout leader through their 12th year and also am currently a boy scout leader that is in charge of camping and trips.
we started out with a small group of older high school kids and did mostly activities in town. then that group of venturers moved on to college. then we started taking them from 14 and in high scool on up. the group grew had more girls but also some problem kids that never seemed to get the message about certain safety issues and they had potty mouths. the main crew advisor had some issues with how he delt with the scouts and and the venture crew members. he made up his own rules about who could do what and because of his attitude we lost several scouts from the troop and the crew. so that left me and another male leader in charge. he kind of follows his own set of regulations concerning tour permits, safety and following scouting guidelines. personally i am ready to move on. we have had a large group of scouts go off to college the last two years and our numbers are down. our plann is to turn the crew over to a group of girl scouts at the church and hopefully i will soon be replaced. give it a try for six months and see how you like it . around here it seems like it is harder for the co-ed crews to keep going.”

“I have enjoyed it very much. I sometimes get frustrated trying to get them to take ownership of the crew. They should be planning and executing the activities, the adults should be just facilitators, but it seems they are content letting a few adults take charge. They do tell us what activities they are interested in, but they don't want to take charge and make it happen.

Right now the crew is made up of about 3 high school seniors and 5 or so sophomores. Mostly girls at this point. Activities have included Ropes courses, day hikes, Autumn Adventure (backpacking at Philmont), fishing, float trips, white water rafting, rock climbing (gym and natural), and the list goes on...

Most of these young adults have very busy lives. High School band, athletics, National Honor society, you name it. The boys are almost all Eagle Scouts and not too active in Boy Scouts anymore. Most of the girls are new to scouting activities, that creates lots of interesting times, too.”

“Thanks Cyndeee, that is exactly the type of info i am looking for. So even though at current you are not truely happy with the crew you are with you ares till suggesting that I try it. To me that means you see where in some areas if it is done right then it would be a great org to work with?”

“Venturing is a fine program but like any volunteer run organisation some units are awesome some are pure crap.

Case in point we have two in our district that do things like week long hikes on the AT and long canoe trips along with several smaller trips like rock climbing classes.

On the other hand we have three other crews that like to roll up on a car campground and pull out a cooler and a lawnchair and call for a pizza for every trip. Not my idea of fullfilling the promise of Scouting.

Guess what units are always asking other leaders how they deal with "problem" kids and how other units keep kids interested.

I've come to believe that individual units are very much cults of personality. I don't mean that negatively. I mean that if there is an active energetic core (group of kids and/or leader(s)) then the whole unit will be like that. If the core is a bunch of do nothings well... there it is.

So you have three choices.
1. Find a unit that suits your style. Good luck, there are out there.
2. Help build a unit that suits you. Good luck, that is what most of us end up doing.
3. Don't do cause it's too much work. Trust me, to do it right it can be a whole lot of work but it is so worth it at the end of the day.

Just find out when they meet, show up and introduce yourself. Visit more than one if more than one is near enough to you.”

“You will find the adults more diffcult to deal with than the kids.”

“Thanks Noprob! So it sounds like your experience has been better then Cyndeees.

I have heard them mention that this crew is coed, but I have no idea what the ratio is.

Thanks again you 2!!”

“Great advice humanpackmule.
I looked on the scouting site and there are around 10-15 crews within 15 miles of me, so I guess if this one doesnt work out I will keep checking out a few others.

From what I heard about the advisor for this group, he is a really nice guy and easy to get along with. Once I find an easier way to get in contact with him life will be much easier lol.

Thanks everyone this is exactly what i hoped to hear. Soudns liek overall it is a great concept but there can be kinks to work out. Which is good because I hate it when things are "perfect" lol.”

“Have been associated with a quasi-Venture group for the last 11 years.

This is a subset of the local BSA org and has older Scouts with at least 1st class, not a true Co-ed Venture crew.

It did have a good core group interested in extended outdoor activities for a number of years. Week long trips;- Hikes to the Adirondacks, White Mountains in NH, Catskills, NJ Kittatinies (NJ. AT section), and Penna, Canoeing - Shanendoah, and Algonquin Park in Ont. Mountaineering - winter trips to Daks, Whites, and Mt. Shasta in Ca.

Then we hit a lull, probably 2-3 years where the senior scouts had no interest. Currently a very small group who are interested in rock climbing, skiing, and big boat sailing.

We have incorporated this group with a high school Venture group which is co-ed for these activities. The sailing is still a work-in-progress.

Outside of this troop I have attended an annual Encounter weekend for the last 4-5 years which is co-ed Boy Scout - Girl Scout activity weekend which is great and gets scout participation from about 4 States.

Really great experience, but we did let it go if the scouts were not interested. They really do have to decide what they want to do, and do most of the planning. We will facilitate, but not do it for them.”

“Well I made it to a meeting. I really like the people there, seem really nice. They were pretty opinionated on gear, but alot of people are no matter which hobby/activity it is.

I felt like I "Had" to go get this n that and this in order to be able to do things the way they want it to be done. They might also be a little more on the next level then what I am.

I am just starting out and my main goal is 1 to 2 nights max mainly on weekends. The small stuff they do seems to be 4 days minimum. I know alot of that is because of school about to be done with and they are taking advantage of the summer time to do longer trips. They also seem to start their trips at 9am on fridays which means I would have to take atleast 1 day off. I dont mind doing it from time to time but with a baby on the way I need to save as much time as I can.

I know for a fact that I could learn alot from them, they defintely know their stuff. Just not sure if I would be able to fit in with what they are geared towards right now :/

I havent made my mind up yet but it looks like I will be doing the solo thing for now.
last edited: 5/06/05 12:09:24 PM”

“Frantic, the only thing that's ever caused a fist fight in our Scout troop was a disagreement over which is the best gear.

I think you'll do fine with them.”

“As has been the case for the last few years here on TT, I have to say "ditto" to what HPM wrote, above. I have been both a Scout Master and a Venture Crew Advisor.

Both are what the local leadership makes them. There are as many different kinds of Scout Troops and Venturing Crews as there are leaders. In my case, our troop was all "high adventure", we were exclusively a Backpacking troop (we're in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mtn's, what else!). I got grief from some parents about that, and gladly told them the name / phone # of leaders from surrounding troops which were more "car-camping" oriented.

My Venturing Crew was also intended to be one that took advantage of local offerings (we have EVERYTHING here in Northern California!) If you didn't want to be adventurous, explore, expand your horizons, then go somewhere else. I never wanted to "recruit", or "talk people into" joining our crew... either this was what you wanted / agreed with, or, it wasn't. If it wasn't, my response was don't try to change mine, because it works for the youth here, go join some crew which has activities similar to your own interests.

Two final comments I can't resist making:

Cyndee: NO ONE can "make up" their own saftey rules, etc. I would consider turning that idiot in to National, if you want info on how to do so please email me. It scares me to hear &^#%$ like that, it has NO PLACE in Scouting.

Frantic: Usually, Crews need someone who can bring skills to the Crew, I don't think thats where you want to go if you're expecting to learn from them, but that's just my opinion.”

“wanderer, we did kick him out, it was a bit messy. we also lost another adult over it and a total of 4 scouts.”

“Good for you Cyndee. As much as it potentially hurts the program, if you lost other scouts / adults because you got rid of a "maverick", please believe it was well worth it!

We went through A LOT of "soul-searching" regarding adult leadership during my tenure as a SM, and then again after I left that position & became the Crew Advisor, and I can assure you there's always difficulty in transition, but you can NEVER lower standards to accept people who don't agree with / understand the program, into leadership positions.

The youth, in the final analysis, will benefit from your efforts. Good for you!”

“Wanderer, I actualy have alot that I am bringing to them, but not in the actual backpacking field. They are looking to get more into the community and also interact with group youth groups. I have alot of connections to help with that.

They knew up front that I had very little to no experience with hiking backpacking and they were fine with that. They also knew that I had other talents I could bring to the crew. I didnt straight forward pursue this. The local camp store lady knows the crew leader and told him about me, he asked her to talk to me about venturing. She told them all about me and such.

I do see your point and maybe in some crews I would not be a suitible canidate.

Earlier tongiht I sent him an email to let him know that at the current moment I am not able to afford all this new gear that He said I would need in order to fit in. I also told him my stance on what type of hiking I feel I can or can not handle right now.

They have a trip coming up that I would love to do but I feel that I would either slow them down or even get left behind. I am not up to their pace yet.

He was cool with all this and said that we would be able to work it out and that they would still like me to be a part of the crew if I so wish to be. Which did make me happy.

So it looks like things are going to work out good :)

Thanks for all of the advice everyone.”

“That's great Frantic. Venturing, and all youth groups, need all the help / support they can get.

So, just out of curiosity, how come you haven't filled out your profile? You want to work with youth, yet we don't know #^#$ about you... even what state you live in, etc. You're what we consider a "newbie", someone who no-one here has met, I believe you only first posted here on 4/24?

Most of us on this board have hiked with / met many others, so we freely share info. I'm just asking all this because I've never seen you post here before.

Sorry if I come across as a paranoid individual, but this is the kind of stuff you will be asked whenever you sign-up to be an adult leader.”

“Oh I havent thought about filling out the profile here yet. It might just simply be due to the format of this board. I am so use to PhP and Ezboard type formats that this one can still be confusing to me.

I'll go fill it out now.”

“Ok it has been updated. LOL I couldnt fit everything in so I had to re write it. One thing you all will learn about me is sometimes I can get carried away and make real long posts, but I do try to keep them short as much as possible.”