“Why should my teenager be a Venturer?” Read about the top five benefits of Venturing for my son or daughter – everything from character development to being outdoors!
You might be wondering why your son or daughter should be a Venturer. What exactly are the benefits of Venturing?
Benefits of Venturing
There are many studies that have shown that Scouting type of programs allow for a happier child. One study has shown that these programs that allow for socialization helps greatly with depression and other mental challenges as they become adults.
Venturing is a little known High Adventure Older Teen Social Experiment that has grown exponentially over the years and is a part of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) for older Boys and Girls aged 14-20 years old.
I have been part of Scouting for over 40 years, and have seen it’s benefits – and have seen many outstanding youth go on to bigger and better things.
So why do I continue to be part of the organization?
1. Outdoor Activities
Venturing gets our young adults off electronics and on a path of socialization and working outdoors. Camping, hiking, and working with adults in the environment allows them to hit the reset button in one weekend. Sometimes they are out doors for hiking, sometimes it’s camping – and other times it is working on environment and ecology projects – and in some cases – just to go fishing.
The requirements to earn ranger and other awards include outdoor activities.
The Venturing Ranger Award is available to all young men and women who are Venturing youth members. The Ranger Award exemplifies a challenging high-level outdoor/high-adventure skills advancement program. Once earned, it will identify a Ranger as a person who is highly skilled at a variety of outdoor sports and interests, trained in outdoor safety, and ready to lead or assist others in activities. Rangers can be a great program asset to Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troops, and others.
- The Outdoor Ranger Award pits their physical and mental abilities across 8 Core challenges – such as First Aid, Emergency Preparedness, Cooking, Land Navigation and Communications.
- Other items include Shooting Sports, Winter Sports, Wilderness Survival, Ecology, Equestrian and several others that give them a challenging program that they pride themselves in.
The youth are outside for other reasons too. It could be as easy as a weekend at the Battleship or an Air Craft Carrier, or out at a Water park.
Like so many teens, they spend tons of time indoors on phones, laptops, tablets and other technology, and their outdoor activities would be indoor bowling or hanging out at the local late night food shop.
2. Try New Things
The Venturing program allows teens opportunities to try new activities, and test their boundaries.
- They learn Citizenship.
- They learn to Teach others Skills Learned.
- They bond with other teens for community good.
- They support each other by encouragement, enabling courage and “can-do” attitudes
- They become leaders in school, church, sports teams and in other places.
Venturing often love an activity so much that they want to explore it more.
For example, trying a skill like Wilderness Survival and then becoming proficient at it over time, practicing and becoming better. Learning foods found in the woods, and how to make drinkable water. The task can lead to a lifelong love of the minimalist survival challenge.
What is great about the program is that exposes teens to events and other options that would or could not be accomplished through other methods.
3. Important Skills
As adults, we know how to do many things that we may not teach our teens. While we often times rely on our technology for directions, some skills like reading a map or being able to navigate via orienteering are skills that they learn in a group, and then are tested with events regularly.
While some important skills are limited by other programs, the Venturing program is limited only by imagination. If they would like to go horseback riding, hunting, motocross, mountain biking, they are able to partake in a safe and encouraging environment.
Venturers learn basic first aid skills for treating cuts, blisters, insect bites, and nosebleeds among others. They also learn what to do in more serious situations such as heart attacks and poisoning and when someone has stopped breathing. Most earn the American Red Cross Standard First Aid, CPR and AED certification.
Others earn the Boater Safety Course Certification, and learn Maritime Navigation
Some become Adventuring Affectionados much like Bear Gillis and test their physical and mental boundaries at a High Adventure Base in Florida, New Mexico, or on the Canadian Waterways.
4. How to Set and Achieve Goals
Venturing allows teens to set and achieve the mightiest of goals. If they want to go on a trip to the Grand Canyon, they learn how to take those trips with consultants that help them plan for nearly every minute of the day. Other times, it may be a trip to a theme park with camping, or something even more challenging, competitions where they become the best in the skill they are competing in.
Archery, Shotgun Shooting, Maritime Knots, Cooking there are hundreds of options in which they can utilize goal setting and achieve their goals.
Competitions are commonly held in January or February, and the Venturers may host some and invite other crews. Winterfest is an event designed for older youth, including Scouts BSA, Venturers, Sea Scouts, and Explorers and takes place in Gatlinburg, TN. The event targets co-ed youth ages 14-21, and allows them to participate in oer 100 competitive and social activities throughout the weekend.
5. Character Development
What exactly is “good character?” The Center for Youth Ethics at the Josephson Institute identified six ethical values that they call the Six Pillars of Character.
They are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Venturing embeds all of those characteristics into a single program, plus more.
The Venturers participate in activities that are specifically designed to teach good character, and teach communal values such as “The strongest of chains is as strong as it’s weakest link.” In which Venturers attempt to strengthen each other to make the group stronger.
These traits go with them through their entire life, and the level of volunteerism comes back and continues to help the community – what we may not see now, is the fruits of a seed planted in today’s teens mind of servant leadership to others.
Adventures Await. Teens “Lead the Adventure.”