Varsity & Venture Award Questions

[captainron14 11]

Why is there no cloth awards for the Varsity Dehali award or the Venture Bronze, Gold or Ranger awards?

Medals are for formal wear only so did these awards "slip by" someone? What about everyday wear?

I know there used to be a knot for the Ranger Award when it was the highest award in Exploring. There is one for the Silver Award but not the new Ranger (which I think is much harder)And what about the new Quest awards?

Yak_Hearder I know you have some ideas on this topic, is there anyone who is "in the know"?

[DDHII 11]

I'm assuming you meant "Venturing" rather than "Venture." There is a cloth award for Venture called the Varsity/Venture Letter.

 

I'm not sure why National doesn't have a knot for Denali... if I was active in Varsity Scouting I could probably help you find that answer.

 

You're correct that national had a knot available for the Ranger (circa 1949-1951) however it's not the same award as it is now. For everyday wear, Venturers wear the Ranger bar in place of the medal. However, the key term is "highest award." The Ranger is not the highest award in Venturing. The Silver Award is, which is why you see a knot available. The Ranger Award is a supplemental program award, the same as the Quest and the new Truth Award (for religious life... comes out late 2004, early 2005). It's not about which award you think is harder... that's all relative to the Venturer's ablilty.

 

Dale

[Yak_Herder 10]

captainron14 must have this post I made to another forum in mind:

 

***

Bob's response about knots is right on target. Only the top awards in each program (Arrow of Light, Eagle Scout and Silver Award) are deemed worthy of an official knot. I don't think a knot will ever be developed for the Denali Award, not because of the numbers threshold, but because it is not the top award of Varsity Scouting; the Eagle Scout Award is.

 

Nonetheless, the idea of having cloth patch versions of Venturing recognition is well taken and there are individuals agitating to have them developed. The pins are a pain (literally) in the field. Join the campaign!

 

By the way, the only place I am aware of that a Venturer can wear Venturing recognitions is on an official spruce green/slate gray uniform. Can you see the catch the BSA has built into the system? Venturing uniforms are optional, but if you want to wear the awards...

 

On another completely different but barely related topic, you can also see the foundation being laid for the possibility of revising the Venturing recognition scheme. There is now a specialty award for 3 of the 5 Bronze Awards. A fourth will be introduced next Summer. The requirements for Gold and Silver Awards could easily be combined and the sequence revised to Bronze->"Specialty"->Silver.

Ranger is widely regarded as more difficult than the Silver and an award with the same name was the top award in the old Explorer Scouting program, yet Silver is Venturing's top award. Changing the program as I have postulated will occur would better balance the program and add clarity to a somewhat confusing recognition plan. Doing so colors what should be done with the whole cloth patch thing.

 

Now that the Quest Award is out (specialty award for the Sports Award), and with an understanding that the Varsity Letter and Denali Award can be earned by members of a Venture Patrol (not to be confused with Venturing), one has to really wonder about the future of Varsity Scouting.

 

 

[johnsned 10]

One correction, it is not the Varsity/Venture letter. It is the Varsity letter, the two programs are separate and don't share awards. The first requirement to get the Varsity letter is be a registered member of a Varsity Team. Only members of a Varsity Unit are eligible for the Letter and Denali award.