Presentation for Scoutmaster to help them understand the Venturing Program and the adult roles within.

1. How Advisors differ from
Scoutmasters
Steven Myers
Central Region Venturing Committee
GTC VOA Associate Advisor
Scoutmaster Troop One, Akron, Oh 1992-2017
myers@uakron.edu
For GTC University of Scouting
March 3, 2018
Revised: January 22, 2016

2. Objectives
At the end of this session you will
• Understand the differences and similarities between
Boy Scouts and Venturing
• Understand how the role of Advisor is quite different
from the role of Scoutmaster

3. 3 BSA Programs
CUB SCOUTS BOY SCOUTS VENTURING
Do your best Be Prepared Lead the Adventure
Ages 7-10 11-17 13 & 14-21 coed
Program led by Led by youth leaders Led by Venturers
Adult Leaders with Adult Leaders Mentored by Adult Advisors

4. What is common
• One Oath, One Law, separate mottos
• One common Mission

5. Boy Scouts
1. Character development
2. Citizenship
3. Personal Fitness
Venturing
1. Character development
2. Citizenship
3. Physical, Mental
Emotional and Spiritual
Fitness
• Developing leadership skills
• Adventurous programming
Aims and desired outcomes

6. Boy Scouts
1. Ideals
2. Adult Association
3. Advancement
4. Outdoor Program
5. Patrols
6. Leadership Development
7. Personal Growth
8. Uniform
Venturing
1. Ideals
2. Adult association
3. Recognition
4. Group activities and adventure
5. Group Identity
6. Leadership and Mentoring
7. Service
Different Methods

7. Scouting is a Game with a Purpose
“Scouting is a game for boys
under the leadership of boys
under the direction of a man”
– Baden-Powell
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8. Under the direction of a Scoutmaster
who
1. Directs
2. Coaches
3. Guides
4. Enables
Who “trains them and let’s them
lead”
Who is the “keeper of the flame”
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9. Youth and adult troop leaders
Troopleader.org

10. Volumes 1 and 2
Update of the Scoutmaster Handbook is the Troop Leader Guidebook

13. Venturing Areas of Program Emphasis
Adventure
Leadership and Mentoring
Personal Growth
Service

14. ALPS 6 + month planning process
Planning
Elements
Months
Adventure
Leadership
Personal
Growth
Service
January 2016
February 2016
March 2016
April 2016
May 2016
June 2016
To plan a successful
Venturing program,
a crew should incorporate
into its annual plan all 4 areas
of program emphasis

15. ALPS recognition process
Planning
Elements
Awards
Adventure
Leadership
Personal
Growth
Service
SUMMIT
3 more
adventures
Mentoring
personal
code + 2
Goals
Summit
Service
Project
PATHFINDER
2 more
adventures
Leading
Achieve 2
more goals
36 hours and
lead
DISCOVERY 2 adventures Participating
Achieve 1
Goal
24 hours
VENTURING None Learning None none

16. Goals of Venturing
1. Lets youth pursue their interests in a way not available in a
traditional educational setting (or in a Boy Scout Troop)
2. Fosters personal, social, and community health through the
delivery of service to others.
3. Creates an environment that encourages growth in the
Crew’s Venturers as well as in the Advisors.

17. Venturing is not Boy Scouts
– Venturing does not follow a Boy Scout Troop
model.
– Every youth officer from President to Activity
Chair has an adult partner who is his Advisor
– Venturing is stronger if crews Meet Less and Do
More!
– The youth Lead their Adventures with youth
mentors and adult advisors.
17

18. Venturing is
• Designed for the young adult 14-20 years of age
• Designed to emphasize things that young adults
enjoy
• Designed to focus on the things High School students
care about (ALPS) while getting ready for major
transitions in their life
– Trainings (Goal Setting, Time Management, Project
Management and Mentoring) are geared towards the
development of the youth for success in the future.

19. Contrast a typical
Scoutmaster Conference
The Scout learns
The Scout is tested
The Scout is approved (book signed)
The Scoutmaster Conference
The Board of Review awards the rank

20. With an Advisor Conference
Structured
Personal
Reflection
Goal Setting
(Goal Setting
training)
Planning (Project
Management
Training)
Implementation
(Time Management
Training)
Assessment
(The Advisor
Conference)

21. • Scouting at all levels is educational, but not like school.
• Goal setting is required
• Challenges should increase incrementally
• Participation includes consequences, successes and
failures and reflection on the adventure or event
• Venturers grow by progressing from
Participant
Adventure
Leader
Mentor of
leaders
Venturing Uses
Experiential Education

22. Venturing Uses
Experiential Education
• Content is not the critical piece in experiential education.
• The critical piece is how the content helps facilitates personal
growth. (Advisors are all about the process)
• Experiential education is about challenges and outcomes.
– Cooperative games, trust-building activities, problem solving
initiatives, high adventure activities, expedition leadership, Service
delivery as part of a team
– Character development is assisted by processing what we learned
during an activity through reflection

23. Experiential Education Process
#1
Experience
#2
Share
#3
Process
#4
Generalize
#5
Apply
The reflection
The experience

24. Advising versus Leading
The youth Crew Activity Leader
– has responsibility for organizing and running an event, determining
roles and responsibilities and evaluating the experience
The Advisor
– ensures the process of Venturing takes place in a fun and safe manner
– helps the crew leader design and carry out the program
– Assures a balanced program across the areas of emphasis (ALPS)
– helps prepare the youth to make leadership decisions
– helps prepare them to function effectively as a Venturing Crew

25. Youth led, Adult guided
The Advisor
• Has the responsibility to help the youth leadership do its best to carryout
the crew’s program of activities and adventures.
• does not sit back and watch a disaster unfold and then declare it a success
because the crew is youth-led.
• assures a constructive working relationship between the youth and the
adults who support them.
• uses questions rather than lecturing.
• Thin line between telling and suggesting, and suggesting undermines
using experiences as a teaching and learning tool for Venturers.
• Advisor uses appropriate questions drawn from the literature on
mentoring.

26. Advisor is supportive
The Advisor
• Is concerned about the process, not merely the
outcome
• makes youth aware of opportunities they have to be
successful
• helps them make meaningful goals through Venturing
• ensures Venturing meets the needs of the crew
• seeks to advocate for youth through their
empowerment
• never directs

27. Counseling and Mentoring Strategies
1. Listen attentively
2. Summarize what is being said
3. Get all the facts
4. Explore a variety of solutions
5. Reactions and responses
6. Be a friend

28. Training leads to success
• Y02
• Fast Start Orientation Training
• Venturing Advisor Position-Specific Training
• Crew Committee Challenge
• Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills
• Powder horn
• Wood Badge
• Leadership Challenge
• National Training Conferences

29. Adult Roles
Crew Advisor
Responsible to
“advise” youth Crew
members
Crew Associate Advisor
Responsible to assist
Crew Advisor and
“advise” their youth
officer.
Crew Committee and
Chairman
Responsible for behind
the scenes work and to
assist the Crew Advisor

30. Youth Leadership roles
Crew President
Responsible for
leading the youth in
the Crew with
functions and on
adventures.
Crew Vice Presidents
Responsible to assist
the President in
assigned tasks.
Typically, roles of
Administration and
Program
Crew Secretary
Responsible to assist
the President in more
organizational tasks.
Such as attendance
and record keeping
Crew Treasurer
Responsible by
assisting the
President by
managing the Crew’s
finances

31. Governance –
• All Venturers practice citizenship through a
representative democracy that starts as the
crew and rises all the way to the National
Venturing President and his cabinet.
• Every voice gets heard
• The mechanism of this governance is called
the Venturing Officer Association

32. Council VOA
Members
• Council Venturing President (youth)
• Council VPs (youth)
• VOA Advisor and Associate Advisors
• Crew Presidents and their Advisors
Functions
• Program events
• Training events
• Service to crews

33. Presidents
Crew Venturing Presidents and
the Crew Advisors
• are members of the Council
VOA and
• represent their crew to the
Council VOA and in turn
receive support from the
Council VOA officers.
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34. Questions
myers@uakron.edu