Venture Patrol vs. Venturing Crew
Roman J. Smith (Roman.J.Smith.13@ND.EDU)
Mon, 26 Apr 1999 09:56:21 -0500
There was a question last week about the benefits of using a Venture Patrol
over A Venturing Crew (separate unit).
We use the Venturing Program in the form of Sea Scout Ship. Even though we
have a small troop (16 scouts), we find that the benefits outweigh the down
side of the program.
As a sponsoring organization, we advertise that we offer a scouting program
for boys starting in first grade and continuing until age 21. So we are
not so much concerned with the short range effects on the troop as the
entire life long scouting program. The Pack, Troop, and Ship are just
stages in the adventure. It also requires more cooperation between all of
the units. Where the organization sponsors only the Troop, I can see the
Venture Patrol working better than under our comprehensive organization.
All Troop members are automaticly registered in the Ship at age 14. Then
they can choose what participation level they wish in each of the units.
We do expect that older Boy Scouts may choose to only participate in the
Ship. But as we look at the progression and scouting opportunities that we
offer, we understand that will happen. Some have chosen to only
participate in the troop. Others particpate in both. We also allow ship
members to wear their Ship work uniforms to the troop meetings when they
wish. It helps keep younger scouts interested in future adventures that
are going to be available to them. It also has brought some our older
scouts who got lazy with their uniforming more excited when they were given
a new uniform.
So what you need to do is understand what your organizational goals are,
and what you are equipped to offer. You also need to decide what helps in
your recruiting.
I could well expect that many boys will find a scout troop that has its
venture program inside of the troop. The fact that we offer a different
choice may mean that we will get some scouts for our program over another
troop, and will loose some recruits to other troops. We have no problem
with that as other troops will benefit along with us by getting scouts that
have goals similar to our organizations.
YiS
-----------------------------------
Roman J. Smith
University of Notre Dame
(219)631-4624 Fax: (219)631-8223
E-Mail: roman.j.smith.13@nd.edu
------------------------------------
Assistant Scoutmaster, Troop 505 / Committee Member, Ship 505
-I used to be an Owl
http://www.nd.edu/~rsmith1/RJSBSA.htm
