The Venturing Gold Award program was
developed to recognize the significant accomplishment in a Venturer's
life as he or she has proven outstanding performance in a broad
spectrum of activities. These activities relate to Venturing's six
experience areas of leadership, citizenship, social, outdoor, service,
and fitness. It will challenge and motivate Venturers over an extended
period.
It will provide a favorable image of
the Venturing program among youth, parents, schools, and our
communities. It will offer challenging and stimulating opportunities
for Venturers to develop and achieve personal goals in the areas of
leadership, character development, and personal fitness.
Requirements
The Venturing Gold Award program
is designed to permit adaptation of certain phases of the program so
that all Venturers may work for and achieve the award. In order to
offer a challenge to youth, and in the interest of maintaining a
standard of qualification, minimum requirements have been established
that must be met before the Gold Award can be presented to a Venturer.
To earn the Gold Award, have at
least one Bronze
Award, and complete the following requirements:
- The candidate must have at least 12
months tenure as an active, registered Venturer before final
qualification.
- The candidate must have been an active
member of the Venturing crew, and served in one or a combination
of leadership roles within the past 12 months (roles may be
concurrent) as follows:
Within the crew, a candidate might be:
- A crew officer
- A Venturing officers' association
member or committee member
- An activities chairman for one of
the crew's two-day activities or superactivity
Outside the crew, a
candidate might be:
- An elected youth officer of a
church or school organization
- An elected or appointed team leader
- The candidate must have participated in a
district/Venturing division, council, area, region, or national
event.
- The candidate must, in consultation with
the crew Advisor or a member of the crew committee, set one
personal growth goal related to each of the following areas:
citizenship, leadership, service to others, community/family,
outdoor experience, and total fitness.
For personal growth, a candidate might:
- Complete a cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR) course or an Emergency Medical
Technician (EMT) course.
- Plan and carry out a personal
exercise program over a four-month period, i.e., jogging,
running, swimming, weight reduction, or physical
conditioning.
- Practice for, and attain, the
Presidential Physical Fitness Award.
- Complete a reading program of the
scriptures, classic literature, historical series, etc.
- Serve for six months as a reading
counselor for a child with reading problems.
- Visit a nursing home, on a regular
basis, over a four-month period, to help write letters or to
read to patients or provide personalized services.
- The candidate must plan, prepare for, and
lead to completion two or more crew activity projects that
relate to at least two of the following areas: citizenship,
leadership, service to others, community/family, outdoor
experience, and total fitness. Suggested crew activity projects
are listed separately below.
For crew/ship activities, the action should involve at least
five Venturers, and it should require a minimum of four to six
months from inception to completion; the project should be
approved and the goals of the project set by the crew Advisor
and/or member of the crew committee and the Venturer candidate.
Both parties should certify the completion of the project(s).
Activities should be arranged to fit into normal crew
programming. Qualifying crew/ship activities include, but are
not limited to the following:
- Plan and, with the help of at least
four other Venturers, carry out a conservation project that
is approved by an agency of the federal, state, or local
government, such as the National Park Service, the
Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management,
state division of parks and recreation, city or county parks
department, etc.
- Plan and chair a committee that
stages a major social activity involving crew members and
their parents, or crew members and their entire families.
- Plan and carry out a series of crew
activities over a four- to six-month period, related to an
interest of crew members. Professional or volunteer
consultants could be asked to present information regarding
their specialty, profession, or occupation.
- Help organize a new Venturing crew,
or revitalize an inactive crew; coordinate activity with
Viking council staff members.
- Organize a recruitment drive to add
members to your own crew or to other crews in the
district/council. The drive should last at least one month,
and the recruitment plan should include specific activities
oriented toward recruiting new members, goals, methods of
publicity, etc.
- The candidate must be able to recite
the
Venturing
Oath.
- The candidate must submit three letters
of recommendation to the crew Advisor that confirm he or she
lives in accordance with the principles of the Venturing
Oath.
The letters should come from adults outside the crew, such as
school or church leaders, employers, or community leaders.
- After completing all other requirements,
the candidate should prepare evidence of completion of the work
and submit it to the crew Advisor. The crew president, in
conjunction with the crew Advisor, should then appoint a review
committee of four to six people including Venturers and adults.
The committee should review the candidate's written presentation
and interview the candidate to determine whether that person
grew as a result of the pursuit of the Gold Award.
- Finally, the candidate must have
qualified for the Gold Award before his or her 21st
birthday.
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