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Requirements of the Gold Award
The Venturing Gold Award
program is designed to permit adaptation of certain phases of the
program so that *all* Venturers may work for and achieve the award.
In order to offer a challenge to youth, and in the interest of
maintaining a standard of qualification, *minimum* requirements have
been established that must be met before the Gold Award can be
presented to a Venturer.
To earn the Gold Award,
complete the following requirements:
- The candidate must have at
least 12 months tenure as an active, registered Venturer
before final qualification.
- The candidate must have been
an active member of the Venturing crew, and served in one or
a combination of leadership roles within the past 12 months
(roles may be concurrent) as follows:
For leadership roles within the crew a candidate might be
- a crew officer
- A Venturing
officers' association member or committee member
- an activities
chairman for one of the crew's two-day activities or
superactivity
For leadership roles outside
the crew, a candidate might be:
- an elected youth
officer of a church or school organization
- an elected or
appointed team leader
- The candidate must have
participated in a district/Venturing division, council,
area, region, or national event.
- The candidate must, in
consultation with the crew Advisor or a member of the crew
committee, set one personal growth goal related to each of
the six experience areas of Venturing, in which the Venturer
certifies completion of the goals.
For personal growth, a candidate might:
- Complete a
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) course or an
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) course.
- Plan and carry out a
personal exercise program over a four-month period,
i.e., jogging, running, swimming, weight reduction, or
physical conditioning.
- Practice for, and
attain, the Presidential Physical Fitness Award.
- Complete a reading
program of the scriptures, classic literature,
historical series, etc.
- Serve for six months as
a reading counselor for a child with reading problems.
- Visit a nursing home, on
a regular basis, over a four-month period, to help write
letters or to read to patients or provide personalized
services.
- The candidate must plan,
prepare for, and lead to completion two or more crew
activity projects that relate to at least two of the six
experience areas; suggested crew activity projects are
listed separately below.
For crew/ship activities, the action should involve at least
five Venturers, and it should require a minimum of four to
six months from inception to completion; the project should
be approved and the goals of the project set by the crew
Advisor and/or member of the crew committee and the Venturer
candidate. Both parties should certify the completion of the
project(s). Activities should be arrantged to fit into
normal crew programming. Qualifying crew/ship activities
include, but are not limited to the following:
- Plan and, with the help
of at least four other Venturers, carry out a
conservation project that is approved by an agency of
the federal, state, or local government, such as the
National Park Service, the Department of the Interior,
the Bureau of Land Management, state division of parks
and recreation, city or county parks department, etc.
- Plan and chair a
committe that stages a major social activity involving
crew members and their parents, or crew members and
their entire family.
- Plan and carry out a
series of crew activities over a four- to six-month
period, related to an interest of crew members.
Professional or volunteer consultants could be asked to
present information regarding their specialty,
profession, or occupation.
- Help organize or a new
Venturing crew, or revitalize an inactive crew;
coordinate activity with BSA local council staff
members.
- Organize a receruitment
drive to add members to your own crew or to other crews
in the district/council. The drive should last at least
one month, and the recruitment plan should include
specific activities oriented toward recruiting new
members, goals, methods of publicity, etc.
- The candidate must be able
to recite the Venturing Oath.
- The candidate must submit
three letters of recommendation to the crew Advisor that
confirm he or she lives in accordance with the principles of
the Venturing Oath. The letters should come from adults
outside the crew, such as school or church leaders,
employers, or community leaders.
- After completing all other
requirements, the candidate should prepare evidence of
completion of the work and submit it to the crew Advisor.
The crew president, in conjunction with the crew Advisor,
should then appoint a review committee of four to six people
including Venturers and adults. The committee should review
the candidate's written presentation and interview the
candidate to determine whether that person grew as a result
of the pursuit of the Gold Award.
- Finally, the candidate must
have qualified for the Gold Award before his or her 21st
birthday.
SUGGESTED
QUALIFYING ACTIVITIES
Because of the designed, flexible
nature of the program, crew Advisors and crew committee members
are permitted a reasonable degree of latitude in approving
activities that serve to meet the qualifying requirements for
the Gold Award in the areas of leadership, personal growth, and
crew activity projects. Likewise, crew Advisors, crew committee
members, and Venturers are encouraged to seek out additional
appropriate activities, bearing in mind the purpose of the Gold
Award program.
Above information
from Silver Award Guidebook (25-015),
1998 printing.
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