Membership

Venturing wants every eligible youth, young man or young woman, to have the opportunity to join a Venturing crew or Sea Scout ship that matches his or her interests. These web pages provide information for youth and adults to help make the job of recruiting young people easier.

New Leader Information Packet

Peer-to-Peer Recruiting

Selecting Venturing Leaders

So You're a New Advisor

Your Venturing Crew or Ship

Starting a New Venturing Crew
Organizing a Venturing crew is easy to do. Just follow these steps:
1. A survey is conducted annually in community high schools to determine students' recreational, hobby, and avocation interests.
2. A meeting is called of key people within an organization, with a Scouting representative in attendance. The representative explains the Venturing program, describes the key volunteer leader positions, and plans the recruiting of adult leaders.
3. The crew committee and Advisors are recruited and meet with the Scouting representative. Responsibilities of adult leaders are explained. The Scouting representative also discusses program ideas and helps develop a one-year program. The crew's one-year program is reviewed and adopted.
4. The organization's top executive writes a personal letter to each young adult selected from the survey, or identified through other recruitment efforts, and invites the youth and their parents to attend an organizational meeting. This letter is followed by a personal phone invitation from a member of the organization to each prospective youth.
5. The first meeting is held, involving young adults, the adult committee, and selected consultants. Adult Advisors share the program plans with the new Venturers (youth) and discuss member involvement and leadership roles through the election of youth officers.
What Youth Want
Research has revealed these major points:
* High school students have many vocational and avocational interests.
* Teenagers want a broader experience that provides practical "hands-on" experience and is tailored to their cultural backgrounds.
Teenagers want to belong to a group that provides a secure, supportive place from which to address the youth development issues that affect them. These issues include experimentation, moving from dependence to interdependence, social relationships, psychological changes and sexual maturity, and a re-evaluation of values.

Contact your District Executive at 713-659-8111 for assistance.

Registration Forms

Each member of Venturing (youth and adult) is required to register with the Boy Scouts of America through the local Sam Houston Area Council office at 2225 North Loop West, Houston, TX 77008.  The mailing address is PO Box 924528, ZIP 77292-4528. 

Registration provides liability insurance coverage and a supplemental medical insurance policy, so it is important for the protection of both youth and adults. 

Samples of the registration forms are shown at the links below.  If at all possible, you should use one of the pre-printed duplicate forms available at the Scout office or through your district executive or your commissioner.

The registration fee is $10.00 per year.  When paying for a full year, an additional $1.00 supplemental medical insurance fee is required.  Boy’s Life magazine is available for those who want it for $10.80 per year.

If a youth or adult join during the year, only a partial registration fee is collected.  Count the number of months until the unit charter expires, including the current month, and consult the table below for the correct fee.

Months                                                           Months

Remaining      Registration   Boy’s Life       Remaining      Registration   Boy’s Life

            1                      0.85                 --                      7                      5.95                 6.30

            2                      1.70                 1.80                 8                      6.80                 7.20

            3                      2.55                 2.70                 9                      7.65                 8.10

            4                      3.40                 3.60                 10                    8.50                 9.00

            5                      4.25                 4.50                 11                    9.35                 9.90

            6                      5.10                 5.40

The following registration forms are available:

Venturer Application – English

Solicitud para Venturer – En Espanol

Adult Application – English

Solicitud de Adultos – En Espanol

Transfer Form