Boy Scouts of America

VENTURING

Coed Ages 14-20

Venturing is a youth-led program all about building adventures with your friends. Choose to do activities that matter to you and develop essential skills like leadership, event-planning, organization, communication, and responsibility while having a blast!

Find Venturing Crews Near You

Welcome To Venturing

Everyone has that moment that opens their eyes to a bigger world than they ever imagined. It might happen while paddling a quiet lake, bonding with new friends around a beach bonfire, or rising to the challenge of leading an exhausted crew to the edges of adventure. Venturing empowers you to create your own experiences while bringing Scouting values to life through high adventure outdoor activities and challenging real-world projects.

Everyone has that moment that opens their eyes to a bigger world than they ever imagined. It might happen while paddling a quiet lake, bonding with new friends around a beach bonfire, or rising to the challenge of leading an exhausted crew to the edges of adventure. Venturing empowers you to create your own experiences while bringing Scouting values to life through high adventure outdoor activities and challenging real-world projects.

Advancement and Awards

Learn how Venturers progress through the program

The Venturing Program runs under the A-L-P-S model. We use this model to help Venturers grow in adventure, leadership, personal development, and service. You can learn more about advancement and awards below. 

There are four ranks in the Venturing program: Venturing, Discovery, Pathfinder, and Summit. We have designed them to work with crews of any specialization, and each rank serves as a benchmark along a Venturer’s journey.

The Venturing specialty awards, while not a part of the core Venturing recognition program, allow Venturers to discover specific areas more in-depth.

We've designed the Venturing program to develop youth participants into experienced leaders.

View our most frequently asked questions.

Questions about the program?

Learn how Venturing stands out from our other programs

In order to be a good advocate for the Venturing program, it is essential to know the correct program terminology like “crews” and organizational structure. The name of the program is Venturing, a unit is called a Venturing Crew, and a youth in the program is called a Venturer.

 

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Venturing has a distinct history as part of the BSA. After the old Exploring program was reorganized, Venturing was officially created by the BSA executive board on February 9, 1998, with a focus on outdoor-oriented posts.

 

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Venturing uses four areas of emphasis to help the crew plan and carry out its program. ALPS stands for: Adventure, Leadership, Personal Growth, and Service. Venturing’s areas of emphasis are the four pillars around which the crew will construct a fun and rewarding program to prepare for their future, regardless of if that may be in college, the workforce, or elsewhere.

 

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Yes! Involvement in Venturing does not take away from involvement in Scouts BSA. Youth can be enrolled in both. Contact your local council for more information or join today.

A Venturing Officers’ Association, or VOA, consists of a team of youth officers who are supported by advisors. It provides leadership opportunities that prepare young people for their respective futures and gives them a voice to help strengthen the Venturing program.

 

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Yes! Dozens of universities, BSA local councils, and religious, civic, and military organizations offer college scholarships to Venturing Summit Rank recipients. Some scholarships are needs-based; others are merit-based.

 

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Get the right gear!

Make sure you are prepared for your Venturing Journey

Whether you want to wear the official green shirts or crew-specific garments, your Venturing crew has the power to choose its uniform!

Get the right gear!

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Make sure you are prepared for your Venturing Journey

Whether you want to wear the official green shirts or crew-specific garments, your Venturing crew has the power to choose its uniform!

Bray Barnes

Director, Global Security Innovative
Strategies

Bray Barnes is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Silver
Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Learning for Life Distinguished
Service Award. He received the Messengers of Peace Hero award from
the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and he’s a life member of
the 101st Airborne Association and Vietnam Veterans Association. Barnes
serves as a senior fellow for the Global Federation of Competitiveness
Councils, a nonpartisan network of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and
national laboratory directors. He has also served as a senior executive for the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, leading the first-responder program
and has two U.S. presidential appointments

David Alexander

Managing Member Calje

David Alexander is a Baden-Powell Fellow, Summit Bechtel Reserve philanthropist, and recipient of the Silver Buffalo and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the founder of Caljet, one of the largest independent motor fuels terminals in the U.S. He has served the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, Teen Lifeline, and American Heart Association. A triathlete who has completed hundreds of races, Alexander has also mentored the women’s triathlon team at Arizona State University.

Glenn Adams

President, CEO & Managing Director
Stonetex Oil Corp.

Glenn Adams is a recipient of the Silver Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the former president of the National Eagle Scout Association and established the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. He has more than 40 years of experience in the oil, gas, and energy fields, including serving as a president, owner, and CEO. Adams has also received multiple service awards from the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.