Venturing Advancement

The Venturing advancement program is available to all youth Venturing members of the BSA. Its purpose is to

• Provide a pathway for personal development.
• Encourage Venturers to learn, grow, and serve.
• Recognize the high level of achievement of Venturers who acquire Venturing skills.
• Identify trained and highly motivated Venturers who will be a training, leadership, and program resource for other Venturers, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, organizations, and the community.

Bronze. The introduction to specific Venturing skills. Venturers may earn one or more of the five Bronze awards: Arts and Hobbies, Sports, Sea Scout, Outdoor, or Youth Ministries. One Bronze is required for Gold.

Gold. Intermediate level requiring at least 12 months' tenure and work. Requirements are based on three areas: personal development, service, and leadership. Gold requires a pre-approved plan of action and a crew review board consisting of youth and adults conducted by the crew president. It is appropriate to present the award at a court of honor. Gold is required for Silver.

Silver. This is the highest award for Venturers. In addition to earning a Bronze and Gold Award, Venturers do additional work in the areas of leadership, emergency preparedness, and ethics. Silver requires a pre-approved plan of action and a board of review.

Ranger. The Ranger Award is an additional award/growth opportunity based on outdoor/high adventure requirements. A Venturer must complete eight requirements and at least four of 18 electives. The Outdoor Bronze Award is half of Ranger. There is no board of review.

Quest. The Quest Award is based on fitness and sports. A venturer must complete five core requirements and at least one of the five electives. There is no board of review. The Sports Bronze Award is the first requirement.

TRUST. The TRUST Award will help Venturers learn about themselves, their communities, and their religion and culture, as well as those of others. They must complete five areas of requirements with the support of a religious leader in their community.

It is appropriate to present these awards at a court of honor or Eagle/Silver banquet, and to recognize them in local and school newspapers.

Apprentice. The first step of the Sea Scout advancement program involves youth who are members of Sea Scouting and have learned the Sea Scout Promise and the Venturing Code and are active with a ship. They learn about seamanship, it's safety and customs, swimming, and working with ships as a crew member.

Ordinary. The next step involves being active with the ship, explaining the Sea Scout emblem, understanding the history of the U. S. flag, participating in regular meetings, and learning special skills on the operation of boats, marlinspike seamanship techniques, yacht racing procedures, sailing abilities, ornamental rope work, and engine maintenance.

Able. This step involves the Scout in ship ceremonies, etiquette in boarding boats, ship participating, sharing of experiences with other youth, and showing proficiency in a variety of watercraft specialties.

Quartermaster. In addition to earning the above Sea Scout awards, the Quartermaster candidate must write and submit a paper on how their ship can contribute to the world fellowship of Scouting, be an active member of their ship, develop and conduct a service project and conduct a service project helpful to others, and show specialty skills in boating and marlinspike seamanship.

The Quartermaster rank/growth opportunity for Sea Scouts is based on seamanship skills. It requires a preapproval plan of action and a board of review. The Sea Scouting Bronze is half of Quartermaster.

Scouts who earn the First Class rank while a registered member of a Boy Scout troop or Varsity team may elect to continue working toward Eagle as a registered member in the Boy Scout troop or a registered member in a Venturing crew, or while retaining dual membership registration in both a troop/team and a Venturing crew. Whichever registration status a boy elects, both Scoutmaster and crew Advisor need to confirm which adult leader the boy plans to have oversee his advancement process toward the rank of Eagle. That selected adult leader needs to be fully cognizant of the 12 steps from Life to Eagle (see description in this manual), the timeline requirements of certain merit badges required for Eagle (see the current edition of Boy Scout Requirements), and the requirements of the Eagle Scout leadership service project (see reference in this manual).

Position of responsibility requirements may be met by the Venturer serving as president, vice president, secretary, or treasurer in his crew, or as boatswain, boatswain’s mate, yeoman, purser, or storekeeper in his ship.

The Scoutmaster conference will be conducted by the Advisor or Skipper.

As the Venturer meets the requirements for the Star and Life ranks, a board of review is conducted by the crew or ship committee. The Eagle board of review follows the procedure established by the local council.

Sea Scout advancements are approved by the ship’s quarterdeck. In the case of the Quartermaster Award, the application is reviewed by the ship’s committee with a member of the district advancement committee as chairman.

Since the Quartermaster Award is a Venturing recognition, it may be earned by any young man or young woman registered as a Venturer.

All work on all Venturing advancement must be completed prior to the young person’s 21st birthday.