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Venture Scout

Venture Scouting is a section of the Scout Movement, mostly in countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, for young people roughly in the 14 - 18 age range.

Australia

The Venturer Scout Section, often just known as Venturers, is for young people in the 14.5 - 18 (but you can go until 17.5) age range. It is part of Scouts Australia. The program is flexible, but usually with a strong outdoor flavour. The highest award that can be earned by a Venturer Scout is the Queen's Scout award. Venturer Scouts belong to a Venturer Scout Unit which can be part of a Scout Group or affiliated to a Scout District. The Venturer Scout section holds a Venture every 3 years. During this week and a half long camp the Venturers will participate in activities such as Mountain Biking, Sailing, Wind Surfing, Caving, etc. The next Venture will be held early 2009 and situated in Western Australia.

Scouts Canada

Venturers are young men and women ages 14 through 18 organized into a company. The Venturer motto is "Challenge".

Venturer companies are usually structured with an Executive, composed of President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and may also include a Quartermaster depending on the group's size and equipment needs.

Outdoor activities may be, but are not limited to: rafting, canoeing, and kayaking in white water, mountain climbing, laser tag and camping. Medical Venturers or MedVents is a program where the youth learn and provide first-aid for camps and public events.

Scouting Ireland

Venture Scouts in Scouting Ireland are aged between 15 to 21 years of age. The awards scheme is called Rogha, an Irish word meaning Choice. Many groups also use Gaisce, The President's Award as part of their programme. Each group has a Venture Scout Executive which under the guidance of an adult Scouter designs and implements activities.

Malta

A Venture Scout in Malta is between 15 and 19 years of age. Their programme consists of the Discovery Award, Venture Award, Dolphin Award and President's Award (the Duke of Edinburgh Award).

Singapore

A Venture Scout in Singapore is a Scout between the age of 15 and 18.

From 2000, the two progress badges are the Venture Scout Standard and the Venture Cord, which have 8 sections each for completion. The highest award that a Venture Scout can achieve is the prestigious President's Scout Award, which is presented to the recipient by the current President of the Republic of Singapore in the Istana.

In 1969, the Senior Scout section and the Rover Scout section in Singapore were merged to form the Venture Scout section after the Singapore Scout Associaion followed the recommendations of the 1966 "Chief Scout's Advance Party Report" of UK. Singapore adopted the UK training scheme and the progress badge of Venture Award (renamed the Venture Standard) but replaced the Queen's Scout Award with the President's Scout Award as the highest award attainable for a Venture Scout. The training scheme underwent further fine-tuning in the 1970s and 1980s that stipulated four key training areas in responsibility, pursuit, skills and self-reliance before giving way to a revised programme in 2000.

From 1969 to 1975, a Venture Scout only had his Venture Sout Standard or President's Scout Award to show for his progress on his left sleeve of the uniform. Feedback showed that the youths wanted a breakdown of their progress that could be displayed on the uniform. In 1975, Singapore adopted the four Venture "proficiency" badges from Hong Kong that showed the four areas that led to the completion of the Venture Standard. The four "proficiency" badges were worn on the right arm sleeve. A President's Scout would wear an additional gold flash under each "proficiency" badge when the requriements were completed. These were replaced by the eight sectional "proficiencies" in 2000.

United Kingdom

In 1967 Venture Scouts replaced the Rover Scouts and Senior Scout sections. It was opened up as the first part of the British scout movement to accept female member in 1976. The age was from 15.5 to 20. The Venture Scout section was replaced by the Explorer Scout section and the Scout Network following a review in 2003.

Venture Scouts had an active programme, which promoted outdoor activities and community service. There were two awards available to members of the section - the Venture Scout Award, and the Queen's Scout Award. The latter award has been the highest award available to the youth sections of Scouting, and continues to be available to the two sections which replaced the Venture Scouts. Venture Scouts wore the same uniform as leaders but could chose from a brown tie or group/unit/district scarf. Venture scouting was at its strongest in the 1980's when it became quite fashionable to be 'in a unit'. sadly it rapidly declined in the 1990's due to the target age staying on longer at school and educational needs for 16 to 18 year old took at too much time.

United States

Venturing is a program for 14-21 year-old Scouts in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). This, along with Exploring and Learning For Life, is one of the BSA's three co-ed programs.