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An Exciting Venturing Success Story-- First Venturing Crew in the U.S. to Achieve Ranger Awards *********
A little over a year ago the Spanish Fork Press reported on Venturing Crew 870, from the Crosswinds First Ward, who had begun working on the Boy Scouts coveted Venturing Ranger Award. To receive this award there were many requirements that needed to be completed. Core requirements consisted of first aid, communications, cooking, emergency preparedness, land navigation, wilderness survival, no trace camping, and a conservation project. The electives they chose to complete were SCUBA certification, winter sports, shooting sports and advanced first aid. All of these requirements are more advanced than normal scouting and they all require the young men to teach what they have learned to someone else. In our first report the Crew had just started. They and many of their parents received their SCUBA certifications from Water World Divers in the Orem Mall, and had just returned from an exciting weeklong dive trip to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. SCUBA seemed to be the gel that initially brought everyone together. During this time, the Crosswinds First Ward split, which required another Ward and Crew to be formed. The new Crews, 870 and 1528, from the new Crosswinds Third Ward, decided it would be in the best interest of everyone to work together to complete the award, even though their activity nights were on different schedules. Eric Anderson and Rob Memmott, Advisors from Crosswinds First and Allen Stewart and Gordy Jones, Advisors from Crosswinds Third, worked closely with their youth leaders to make sure they all stayed on target to complete the award on the rigid schedule set by the Crew. It wasn’t necessarily easy working around various work schedules, sporting events, family outings, and different ward schedules, but everyone wanted to complete the award especially with the added incentive of being the first Crew in Utah and maybe the United States to do it. Along with SCUBA, another highlight was joining the ranks of Spanish Fork’s Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.). With the help of Don Thomas, who runs Spanish Fork City’s safety department, the Crews were not only able to complete their emergency preparedness and first aid requirements, but they have all now become a great resource to the community in case of any emergency disaster where their assistance is needed. One experience that they all talk about is how they each had to put out a 10-15 foot high fire that was set by the Spanish Fork Fire Department as part of their training. They all got to experience the heat from the flames up close and learn the proper way to extinguish the blaze. For some it was an incredible experience. With Winter sports, they spent many hours on the slopes doing Nordic and Alpine skiing, snowboarding, and snow-mobiling, all of which they became proficient at. Shooting sports were also a highlight for them because they had more freedom in the types of weapons they got to shoot. Everyone became a marksman and their targets were proudly displayed at their tabletop displays, which they were required to do. One of the last adventures in completing the award was a two-day and two-night wilderness camp where among many other requirements -- they had to make and sleep in their own shelters and eat a meal from something they got from the land. Some of the shelters were pretty creatively made with sticks and tied with bunches of grass and branches. Dandelions, peppermint and watercress was the salad of the night and while some were eating “natural foods,” others had lashed together sticks carved into spears of various kinds in attempts to have a nice trout for dinner. Still others relaxed around the campfire to practice knots, first aid, and to complete a few reports from working on the communications elective. The highlight for the advisors was Sunday morning when they gathered together to hold a small Sacrament service and testimony meeting. While the Venturing Ranger Award was created to encourage the older Scouts to gain more knowledge and to become more active in high adventure activities and more proficient in outdoor skills, Eric Anderson, Young Men’s President from the Crosswinds First Ward has a different take on it. “While it is true that we are having way too much fun with all of these activities, Rob and I and the Crew leadership never have an activity without a purpose. The reason we are doing the Venturing program is to train our young men in those things that will help them to prepare for their missions, teach them leadership, and give them the skills to help them throughout the rest of their lives. Our goal is 100% missions and the tool we are using to get them there is Venturing High Adventure. In fact on our weekly newsletter it states, “100% Missions – High Adventure Living The Mission of The Aaronic Priesthood.” Each week Rob asks the Crew how many of them are going on missions and each week we have 100% raise their hands. They learn to cook, communicate, and find their way around using maps, compass, and GPS. They know they can learn new and difficult skills and be proficient in them. They have learned to work together as a team and have helped to buoy one another up when times get tough. They have learned not to fear the unknown but to prepare for it. They have camped in the rain, sleet, snow, mud, and in absolutely freezing temperatures. They can cook food without utensils and find food to eat off the land. If they can do all of that, they can learn to communicate with our Father in Heaven, feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost, teach by the Spirit, memorize the discussions, learn another language, introduce themselves to people from different cultures and backgrounds, read the Book of Mormon, eat strange food from distant lands, wash their clothes, and get along with a companion that might be totally different than themselves. The scriptures teach us that “if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” These young men are prepared and when they hit the mission field they will hit it running… and have fun doing it!” The Ranger Award is not the end for these young men of Crews 870 and 1528. They plan on having many more adventures as the years goes on as old Venturers leave on their missions and new Venturers come into the program. They take great pride and satisfaction being the first “Crews” in Utah to have received the Ranger Award together as a team. Congratulations to Devin Schaugaard, Eric Juchau, Jay Judd, David Bushman, Wes Berry, and Jared Warner of Crew |
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