4CouncilsScouter

@@Muskrat Hey Muskrat, I got a response back from one. He's said he that he isn't a Textile counselor currently; however, he's willing to serve as a counselor. If you're interested, he said he would go and get registered this week.

Good for Horacio Porras. I feel like I met him at a PTC conference, and, if it's who I'm thinking of, he said he was having trouble getting any council support for Venturing. In any case, glad he could get back on the saddle.

Gotcha, wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy or missing something. Thanks @@Chisos

If you're interested, a couple Venturers from my local area went and got certified to counsel a wide variety merit badges for camp/merit badge fair. If you're interested, I can ask if any of them are registered to counsel for the textile merit badge. Give me like 24 hours, and I'll have an answer.

This was posted at 21:45 CDT. Is anyone else having problems with Scouting.org right now? It's auto-redirecting to the Summit's website.

At our last district committee meeting, I was tasked to serve on our spring district camporee committee. Specifically, my responsibility is staff coordination, e.g. recruitment, placement, and support. One of the ideas I was suggested to implement was offering food service for staff. Normally, this isn't a huge concern, as a dining-hall style for participants is usually done. However, we decided to emphasize the patrol method and return cooking back to troops. This presents a concern for staff members who may not be attending with a unit but are attending the entire weekend. The current pl

@@qwazse That's correct! This an event the troop does. Although, a few Venturers have expressed interest in the idea as well!

The troop my Venturing crew is affiliated with does a geocaching event every year. They called it the Houston Challenge. On Friday night, we'd take the MetrolRail from a transit station to the center of Houston. We'd then hike to a pre-determined office building that one of committee members (a realtor) had arranged. On an empty floor, the boys would throw down their sleeping bags and hang-out for the night. Sometimes, we would have a movie. On Saturday, an enterprising parent took everyone's bags back to our weekly meeting location, and we had a geocaching hunt all across Downtown Houston. Th

A few years ago, this topic was brought up at Philmont Training Center. The brunt of it was: The BSA recognizes the limited nature of Varsity Scouting in its current state. The advancement structure was limited: "Boy Scouting plus a few badges". The BSA was working with major sports leagues to develop a concept older-Scouting program that replaces the outdoor component with athletics. That being said, this move wouldn't be unexpected. I'm not aware of any major National Scouting Organization with an entire age-division program dedicated to sporting, and the Varsity Scouting program has alwa

Clarification on membership fees: The National Council sets the annual Registration Fee for youth/adult members in the BSA. As of December 1st, this will increase from $24 to $33. It is worth noting that it is not prohibited for councils to set their own "program fees", "council surcharge", or other charges above the national Annual Fee to cover local operating costs. Individual units occasionally may also charge their own "dues" to help cover their expenses. The latter two are not required or universal practices, and they are usually collected at recharter/joining time. Just some back

A quick note here on Venturing advancement, per national policy: Two adults registered with the crew, preferably members of the crew committee, must be present during the board of review in a nonvoting advisory capacity. The crew Advisor and associate Advisors are not members of the board of review, but may be present as observers, and they may serve as one or both of the registered adults present. Additionally, if a Venturer is pursuing Boy Scout advancement in a crew, there is no "and's", "if's", or "but's" about a crew committee's role. They are to serve as that Venturer's board of review

@@SummerFun I forgot to mention this in my previous post. Each district has a team of volunteers known as unit commissioners led by a district commissioner. They are responsible for helping troops, packs, crews, teams, posts, and ships work through any Scouting problems. Either your unit's commissioner or your district commissioner could be a great resource as well!

What I'm gathering so far is that council-chartered units are not only permissible but thriving in other parts of the country. I have a meeting with the council commissioner in-question next week, so I'll let you all know if anything, hopefully, comes from it. As always, feel free to add anything if something comes to mind that might help!

We had a similar situation in our district: a mother was attempting to pass her son as completing his Webelos rank, Arrow of Light, and several additional Cub Scout adventures. Her pack's committee chair kept retracting her advancement reports due to the mother's desire to pass her son through the program without doing the requirements. Eventually, it got raised to the district-level when the mother made a big-enough of a stink about it. The district advancement committee reviewed statements from the mother, pack leadership, and parents. When the district decided against the mother, she raised

@@RememberSchiff I talked to the Area Venturing President afterwards. That was part of her reasoning behind it. She figured Exploring can dovetail right into the career-based nature of a camp staff and serve as a year-round extracurricular for outdoor recreation, business, education, and other related-majors. But, back to the thread's topic, here we have a tier within the National Council permissing council-based units.

But, more specifically on camp crews, our Area VOA did a presentation at the last area NCAP training in short they: Encouraged council outdoor programs to utilize the existing camp staff registered position. Reminded councils that camp crews are not strictly prohibited but should remain active year-round, like any other unit. Recommended that camp crews should be phased out for Exploring posts due to Exploring's job-emphasis and and less-restrictive membership criteria. Just food for the thought.

I know our council phased out our camp crew due to prior-YPT concerns. Our previous council camping chair figured out that, in theory, an 18-20 year-old Venturer could slip through the crack and not have a background check performed on them. After that, our council mandated that every day camp, resident camp, and summer camp staff member must be registered in the camp staff position (code 49). This was pre-Venturing YPT and membership registration overhaul.

Just got out of a meeting between my council's VOA and our council's commissioner and membership chair. The focus of the meeting was on council-sponsored specialty crews focused on providing service back to Scouting, e.g. a council shooting sports crew running council ranges. The idea of it was a quid pro quo for the council. Youth get to participate in top-notch programming and the council gets a renewable source of volunteers. All in all, the youth had their I's dotted and the T's crossed and knocked the ball out of the park in their presentation. Unfortunately, our council commissioner

Over the last few years, I've seen more councils in my local area having youth (under 18) take YPT training. For instance: At a weekend training for patrol leaders, I was talking to a youth staff member who told me that all event staff were required to take YPT training. The council west of me required its NYLT participants take Venturing YPT training for a previous course and is discussing mandating this for future courses. Not sure if this has been a growing trend or policy I've missed somewhere. I'm not opposed to making youth in potentially liable positions be aware of youth protection

@@qwazse I agree with you 100% that youth are responsible for determining the direction their crew wants to take and should maintain advancement records. However, per multiple BSA literature and personal experience, it is the crew committee who "ensure [accurate] advancement reports are submitted to the local council", and district/council advancement committees who responsibility it is to handle "advancement particulars", especially when there is a gray area that could affect whether a youth progresses or not.

@@qwazse To be fair, official interpretations of BSA advancement policy and requirements are to come from council/national volunteer and professional advancement leadership. Per the Guide to Advancement: "[Advancement's] administration, however, largely takes place locally. Therefore, volunteer advancement administrators should always consult first with the district and council—the district advancement chair, district executive, council advancement chair, or the council’s professional staff advisor for advancement. These officials can provide many answers and a certain level of int

So, I'm looking at the Venturing Handbook, and I find this: "A service is a valuable action, deed, or effort carried out to meet a need of an individual, a group of people, or an organization. An act must both be valuable and address a need of the recipient to qualify as an act of service." In my mind, the work the Venturer did volunteering at the National Scout Jamboree was valued by all the participants she interacted with, and there was a clear need for volunteers to support the National Scout Jamboree. Therefore, I'd say her work was service. So, the question is now: Does a Ven

Curious on how other crews are interpreting Requirement 6 for the Discovery Award, as we're having some parents disagree with one our Venturer's advancement: "Participate in service activities totaling at least 24 hours. Up to half of the service may be delivered personally; the rest must be delivered through crew service activities." My crew has an Area VOA Vice President and Associate Advisor registered with us. During the Jamboree, she sent a text message to our committee chair saying she completed her service requirement for her Discovery Award. The girl and Area VOA Associate Advi

In part, the majority of Venturers I've interacted from LDS and non-LDS, troop-based and non-troop-based, high adventure and non-high adventure crews have all been in the program because the genuinely want to be in the program. They didn't join the program on the promise of awards. They joined it on the promise of sharing experiences they wouldn't normally be able to do with their peers. My $0.02.

@@Scourge I know after talking to a couple of the commissioners that there was a good many councils who "put greenshirts on Boy Scouts for the week and called them Venturers". So, I don't know how serious the opinions taken during the town hall will be taken?