Venture - April 2014

The April 4, 2014 Venture Challenge is cycling. To go along with that theme, here is a true story about an active scout who belonged to a strong scouting program in our district.  He and his fellow Boy Scouts were swept along in an efficient program that accomplished the noteworthy task of vaulting them to the rank of Eagle Scout by the time they were 14.  This particular scout had, in the course of his trail to Eagle, earned his Cycling Merit Badge.  Several years later that same young man joined in as a Venture Scout on a cycling trip around Bear Lake just months before he was to leave on his mission.  Part way around the lake the young man experienced a flat tire.  The SAG wagon pulled up with the tools and parts necessary to correct the problem, but the young man just stood there, waiting.  The leader exited the wagon and said to the young man, “Here are the tools. Get to work before you get too far behind”.  After some fumbling and mumbling the Venture scout admitted what the leader had already observed: he did not know how to fix a flat bicycle tire.  The leader replied, “You earned the Cycling Merit Badge, didn’t you?”  “Yes…” the boy said, “…I think I did.  I remember going on a couple of bike rides.”  With that the leader sat down with the young man and taught him how to correctly fix a flat bicycle tire.

Too often the quest for merit badges and rank advancements becomes such a focus that boys are run through the program as if on an assembly line.  What comes out at the end is a chest plastered with patches but with insufficient skills to put into real-life practice what should have really been learned.  The Venture Program is the last scouting “launch pad” before boys take off into the world. It is the place where critical skills should be learned and tested, and it is our responsibility as Venture leaders to make sure our young men have those skills they need to be successful in life.  One effective way to accomplish this is through the Venture Program Capability Inventory, a simple and organized way to leverage the experience and expertise of parents, adults and leaders of your neighborhood, church, and auxiliary organizations to help teach the Venture Scouts in areas of the boys’ interest. By effectively utilizing all of our available resources we can make sure our young men enter the world armed with skills and experiences to help them succeed.