No, Venturing isn’t stealing members from your Boy Scout troop

A Boy Scout doesn’t have to give up membership in his troop to become a Venturer.

In fact, the BSA encourages him to be a member of a troop and crew — the best of both worlds.

Clearing up this misconception and explaining the ways Venturing can help, not hurt, your Boy Scout troop is the subject of the April 2015 ScoutCast.

This month’s guest is Patrick Higgins, a longtime Scouting volunteer who joined the profession in 2012 and currently serves as a senior district executive with the Simon Kenton Council in Columbus, Ohio.

He’s known several Scouters who see Venturing as a program that will take their experienced boys away from the troop and take away their potential for leadership positions.

The truth, Patrick says, is that Venturing and Boy Scouting complement one another. He says:

The nice thing with that is that Venturers a lot of times can been seen as more of an easy-to-approach leader than maybe a Scoutmaster is simply because they’re closer to a Scout’s age. When I was in Scouting as a fifth- or sixth-grader, I always felt more comfortable going to a high school student or one of the older Scouts to say, “Hey, I’ve forgotten how to tie this knot, can you help me,” or “Can you help me put up my tent?”, because a lot of what Scouting teaches is independence and you don’t always want to be going to your Scoutmaster for help, especially sometimes when that Scoutmaster might be your parent. It’s nice to have more of a peer to go to talk things through and to accomplish things that way.

For more ways Venturers can help your troop, listen to (or read a transcript of) the April 2015 ScoutCast.

A special announcement

I’m humbled and grateful to announce that I’ve been asked to serve as a cohost of ScoutCast.

Beginning with the May 2015 episode, I’ll be one of the hosts of the monthly podcast for Boy Scout leaders. I know I have big shoes to fill, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity to serve our volunteers.