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Our Troop is facing the delightful situation that in a year we will have about 8-10 boys who have obtained their Eagle rank. Of these 6 boys will be 14-15 years old. We want to keep these boys active in the troop and are thinking of setting up an Eagle Patrol, our goal is to have these boys provide leadership, attend regular Troop functions/campouts but also have activities a little more challenging and adventurous for these boys. Does anyone have experience and/or ideas of how to keep these boys active in the troop?

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Sounds like a standard venture patrol. There are lots of high adventure activities available for them, but of course they need to do the things that interest them. Lucky you to have so many Eagles still coming after achieving Eagle at that tender age. Easy to lose them.

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Start a Venture Crew in conjuction with your troop. This gives the scouts more responsibility and new awards to earn and they can be Venture Scouts till 22. To earn a venture award they must teach the skill they have mastered. The green uniforms give then a special ID and a goal for younger scouts to get to Eagle. Look the program over - it may be a benefit to your troop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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That would be "until they are 22." :) Though I prefer the "14-21" description myself.

 

Venturing could work very well for such boys.

 

I wish National hadn't named the venture patrol so similar to the Venture Crew, since both are similar, but different enough to make for some confusion.

 

Brad

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Venture Crews are interesting and some of them even work, but I would personally rather see them still stay really active in scouting after all IMHO scouting is not all about the individual and what they "git" but also about what they can give back to the troop by way of leadership, ideas, experience and skills. And these boys are all of what.....a whole 14? Unfortunately far too often you lose these eagles to Venture Crew and I don't like to see these early eagles abandoning the troop. I'm not sure that that is what TXscoutmom had in mind anyway although I really can't speak as to her hopes.

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Maybe not applicable, but after reaching 1st class many years ago, i wasn't motivated to stay in Boy Scouts and JUMPED at the chance to go into Explorers. Much more serious than Boy Scouts and my Post was ENTIRELY youth led - Advisors were just that. I don't know whether the Troop could have done anything to keep most of us active especially since there were girls in the Explorers :).

 

$.02

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Would it be great to keep older youth active? Of course.

 

Will it always happen? Of course not. In fact I would venture that it is more likely to lose the youth permanently if you try and motivate them strictly with the "high ideals" of helping the troop. While that remains a powerful factor, appealing to their own interests will help far more boys.

 

Brad

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I agree with andrews, it takes a program that meets the needs of the individual scout, if you expect to kepp them active beyond Eagle. The other challenge of course is keeping them after their sense of smell develops. Once a scout recognizes the attractive odors of perfume and car exhaust the challenge to keep them increases.

 

I am always amazed by the number of troop leaders who say "Well he turns 16 this year, he'll be leaving soon". I really think that the attitude of the SM drives the program content as well as quality. if you see 16 as the end of the road then that is where your program stops as well.

 

My son's troop is much like txscoutmom's. We have 5 active Eagles, and a patrol of 6 scouts over the age of 16. I credit this to the SM who sees the youth program ending at 18 and he works to keep it relevant to the boys all the way to that age.

 

Not all SM can do that, so the BSA has optional programs to meet the individual interests of the older boys. It's not to punish the SM, but to help the scouts find a meaningful scouting experience that the troop may no longer offer.

 

Bob

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The high adventure trips are definitely a good thing to keep the older guys interested. I can't wait until my troops "core" is old enough to do some of those things. Another good thing that keeps the older Scouts interested is the OA. The OA is big about promoting service to the arrowman's home unit. I know that is what kept me in once my buddies in my troop quit and the only one my age (which I was the last 2-3 years I was a youth). Something very important is that the Scouts have friends their own age that they can hang around with and share experiences. My fondest Scouting memories after the age of 14 came outside of my troop, either with the OA or at Jamborees (both of which I attended without anyone from my troop). From observing other troops that have older kids around to help (especially after they get Eagle), I see a lot of times the older guys are good friends and have a lot of shared experiences together.

 

One of the things I am fighting in my troop is the perception that the kids get their Eagle and leave (most of our Eagles get the award right before turning 18, so that is part of the problem) or that once they turn sixteen, they have to leave. We have a Scout finishing his Eagle and turning 18 this month, so he is more than likely gone. We have another Scout looking to finish his Eagle this summer and turning 16 in September. According to rumor, he plans on leaving the troop at that point and just being active in his Venture Crew. He thinks that there is nothing left in Boy Scouts once a Scout gets his Eagle. My job with our group of 13 year olds is to keep them together and get them to stay around once they get their Eagle awards.

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Everything, I heard about a venture crew forming from a troop to hold the interest of the older boys has always stressed the steps that a venture crew member has to go through to complete a requirement. First the crew member has to learn the items in the requirement. Then they have to demostrate that they know the items in the requirements. And lastly and the most important to the Troops associated with the crew is they MUST TEACH WHAT THEY HAVE LEARNED. This means that they become another resource to teach the Troop members what they need to know to complete thier requirements and also keeps them active with the Troop as leaders and teachers to the younger boys. By the way these same points apply to the assocaited Pack and in the case of the girls in the crew to the Girl Scout units they are associated with. In summary what I have seen is that the Venture crew is promoted to the members of the Troop not as a replacement to the Troop, but as a way to get more out of their Scouting adventure.

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FYI - Slontwovvy

"Venturers registered in a crew or ship prior to their 21st birthday may continue as members after their 21th birthday until the crew or ship recharters or until they reach their 22nd birthday, whichever comes first."From Venture Application form No.28-303C

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You are right, the "youth" age of Venturing is 14 to just before 21. The training I just went through emphasized that once they turned 21, they couldn't "fraternize" (date) the other youth, which is something that can happen if an older boy (typically) is dating a younger girl and both are in the troop.

 

I was off by a year, so shoot me. Oops, that is against the G2SS. :)

 

Brad

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