This year marks the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the Venturing program in the Boy Scouts of America… sort of. Venturing was officially created by the BSA executive board on February 8th, 1998. The old Exploring program was completely reorganized and split into two program categories. All the career-oriented posts were moved to Learning for Life under the name Exploring, while the rest (including outdoor-oriented posts) became the new Venturing program.
But venturing has its roots going much further back. As early as 1935 the BSA created a “Senior Scout” division for boys 15 and older. The Senior Scout programs included the Sea Scouts, Air Scouts, Explorer Scouts, Rover Scouts, and a few others. Explorer Scouts focused on advanced camping (high adventure) just as Venturing does today,
Over the years, Explorer Scouts took on a career focus as well, while never abondoning its origins in high adventure. Some milestones along the way include 1949 when the minimum age was lowered to 14, 1969 when young women were allowed to join special-interest Explorer posts, and 1971 when young women were allowed full membership in Exploring and the age range was expanded to age 21.
So, whether you want to celebrate 25 years of Venturing or 88 years of BSA high adventure, Venturing is worth celebrating!
