There are our Frequently Asked Questions.  You can add to them by using our Guestbook.

Q: How do you go about recruiting?

A: Leave it up to the Venturers, because we've learned that the adults are not good recruiters.  If there's a good program with adventure and fun, the numbers will take care of themselves.

Q: How do you put together a good Venturing program?

A: Provide the Crew Officers (Cabinet) with good leadership training and let them do their job.  In Crew 42, the adventures are chosen, planned, and run by the Venturers.  We like to mix up different kinds of high adventure to match the weather, as well as opportunities to just get together and enjoy the moment.

Q: Can I still advance to Eagle Scout as a Venturer?

A: Absolutely.  If you made First Class prior to joining the Crew, you can continue your advancement to Star, Life, and Eagle, including earning Merit Badges.  In fact, you do NOT have to be simultaneously registered in a Boy Scout Troop or Varsity Scout Team to make Eagle as a Venturer.  You can also accumulate Palms until your 18th birthday.

Q: What about your Crew and Venturing beyond the Crew level?

A: There may be District or Council events where your Crew, as the senior Scouting youth, may be a great resource to help staff.  Just as Cub Scouts look up to Boy Scouts, both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts will look up to Venturers.  Be careful, however, to not suddenly play at the same level as if your Crew was a peer to a Boy Scout Troop.  You're not a peer; it may also intimidate them and give a wrong impression to their adult leaders.  Venturing Officer Associations (VOA) can also offer opportunities to you and your Crew, but don't use a VOA Council-wide or District-wide event as the sole substitute to your own healthy unit program or allow your participation as a VOA member to be a substitute to your primary service to your unit.

Q: What about training?

A: You deserve it to yourself and your Crew to be trained.  When's the last time your Crew officers went through an ILSC?  You don't HAVE to limit an ILSC to just the officers, and in fact, it's best to have the ENTIRE Crew go through an annual ILSC.  It sharpens the whole unit's vision of what they are and where they're going that year.  Similarly, have your more experienced and talented people serve on the District and Council Training Teams.  Venturing is all about teaching others, right?  Oh, by the way...get your Crew to staff Days 4 and 5 of your Council's Wood Badge course. The rewards are huge in all directions.

Q: Everyone graduated last year.  What do we do?

A: You may have to let the present Crew die and start a new one.  In 20-20 hindsight, you just found out what happens to far too many Crews.  A clique of friends formed the Crew, enjoyed each other's company, didn't train, didn't recruit, and only had a few activities inside their comfort level. The answer our Crew found was to train, train, train, and be visible at Roundtables/Forums/University of Scouting events where both Scouting adults and other Scouting youth will see you.  Serve as staff at the Council NYLT.  Run a class on Superactivities or Paddling Treks or Lightweight Backpacking.  If you only expose yourself to other Venturers and Venturing adults, you won't grow your Crew.  Instead, offer training to Boy Scouts and Scoutmasters.  If you can have a fun program and let others know about it, they will vote with their feet and walk in your direction.  Remember this: Cub Scout Packs totally reinvent themselves every 5 years with the change to their membership and their parents.  Boy Scout Troops change on the basis of their Scoutmaster's tenure.  Venturing Crews will change more frequently; recognize it and live with the change.

Q: OK, that gets us the boys.  What about the girls?

A: Be patient. If you continue to recruit, it is guaranteed that there will be new boys from families where there are sisters. Invite the sister and her Mom to come out to a fun social event with the Crew.  Maybe it's ice or roller skating. How about a beach hike?  REMEMBER: Girls come in bunches, not one or two at a time.  By the way, are the women Advisors in your Crew really cool?

Q: What about the VAI and PCI?

A: Our Crew does the Venturing Activity Interest Survey every year.  It's the responsibility of the incoming Program Vice President.  It helps refresh and renew the Crew vision and plugs all the youth, even the newest, into the process.  Every time someone joins the Crew, we ask them to have their parents will out a Program Capability Inventory sheet.  You would be amazed at some of the skills and Consultant contacts we gain as time goes on.