On August 1, 1998, the National BSA split the Exploring program
into two separate organizations. Explorer Posts in the areas
of:
- Arts and Hobbies
- Outdoor,
- Sea Scouting,
- Sports, and
- Youth Ministries
were
transferred to the new Venturing Division of BSA and became Venture
Crews. Viking Council
rechartered units in 1999 as
"Venture Crews" rather than "Posts".
Sea Exploring Ships are now called Sea Scouting Ships.
Sea Scouting has its own advancement program for youth members
(male and female) of Sea Scouting Ships. While Viking Council does not have
any Sea Scouting Units, you can visit the Sea Scouting
site for details.
Venturing has its own separate Advancement tracks:
- The Venturing
Bronze, Gold, and
Silver Awards are available to all
youth (male and female) in the Venturing program.
- The Ranger Award is also available to all youth in the Venturing
program, but is primarily for members of Outdoor Crews.
A parallel track is available for boys that
are transferring from a troop:
- Any male Venturer who has achieved the
First Class rank as a
Boy
Scout in a troop or Varsity Scout in a team may continue advancement toward
Star, Life and
Eagle Scout ranks up to his 18th birthday.
- He must meet the requirements as prescribed in the official Boy
Scout Handbook and the current Boy Scout Requirements book.
- The Venturer may fulfill leadership requirements by serving as
president, vice president, secretary, or treasurer of his crew.
- The Scoutmaster conference will be conducted by the Advisor.
- As the Venturer meets requirements for the
Star and Life ranks, a
board of review will be conducted by the crew.
- The Eagle board of review shall follow the procedures established by
the Viking Council BSA.
- All other Explorer Posts and their members were transferred to the
new Exploring Program in the
Learning for Life program, which is a separate
subsidiary of BSA.
- Explorers that were working on rank requirements toward the
Star, Life, and Eagle Scout ranks only had until December 31, 1999
to complete them. If an Explorer wishes to continue
to work on Boy Scout Rank awards, they now must also register as a
member of another Viking Council unit - as either a Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, or in a
Venturing Crew to complete requirements Boy Scout advancement
requirements. No exceptions, sorry.
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