The Central Point Newsletter of Central Region Venturing | BSA October Newsletter 2013
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Area 1 Venturing Conference The Area 1 conference will be taking place November 8th10th at the Holiday Inn in Bloomington Minnesota. You will join Venturers, Advisors, and Scouting staff for a weekend of learning and fun. You will have the opportunity to participate in sessions on “Earning Bronze/Gold”, and “Improving Communication with Websites / Facebook”. You’ll hear the latest Venturing info from Keith Walton from the National Boy Scout Office in Texas and discuss how to use the new Venturing features to grow and improve Crews. You'll also be able to explore STEM Awareness and how to plan it in your Crew, plus spend Saturday afternoon at Scouting Base Camp with the Space Shuttle Simulator, Lego Mindstorm, and Archery targeting the Nova Award achievement. Be sure to register soon! The price is only $95 until October 25th. After that, it will raise to $115, so sign up now! The cost covers all meals, 2 nights of lodging in the Holiday Inn, materials, and Base Camp activities! To register for the Area 1 Venturing Conference, go to: https://www.scoutingevent.com? 2013Area1 . For more information, go to: http:// crventuring.org/Home/Fulltext/s=2&id=10 or contact Mikaela Boston, Area 1 Venturing President, at (612)877— 2315.
In This Issue: Area 1 Conference
1
Council Standards of Venturing Excellence
2
Area 3 Webinars
3
Using Social Media
3
Area 5 Fun Event
3
Area 1-5 Pages
4
Area 6-7 Pages
5
See Our Venturing
5
President’s Corner
6
Venturing Oath: As a Venturer, I promise to do my duty to God and to help strengthen America. To help others, and to seek truth, fairness, and adventure in our world.
Name That Camp!!
Council Standards of Venturing Excellence Hello, Central Region Venturing! Let me tell you about something fabulous in recent Central Region Venturing Administration: The CSVE award. If you haven't heard of the CSVE, it stands for "Council Standards of Venturing Excellence". Here's how it works: A Venturing leader on the council levels fills out this form and sends it in to the National BSA office. If the Council meets all of the requirements, they attain the CSVE award. It's kind of a big deal, and VERY impressive for councils to achieve.
Each edition of the Central Point will feature a photo from a Boy Scout camp in the Central Region. Can you name that camp?
This Month:
But wait, there's more! The CSVE is used for more than just rewarding outstanding councils. It's also a diagnostic tool. Each Area VOA wants to know the shape of Venturing in the councils located in their Area so they can tailor their efforts to assist Venturing in their area. Therefore, all of the councils located in the Central Region will receive the CSVE form early, to be returned to the Area VOA that sent it to them. This ensures the CSVE forms are completed on time and allows the Areas to learn more about the state of Venturing in their council. To learn more about the CSVE, visit http:// www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Venturing/Awards/ Excellence.aspx. Note that the CSVE file presently posted is for the 2012 recognition, but the questions remain the same for this year. Fill it out early and get a head start on t h e 2 0 1 4 submission date! ~ Dagny Gargas
Did You Know…
It takes 80-100 years for an aluminum can to decompose in a landfill. Nearly 1.1 million youth attended a council Scout camp or high adventure base last year. 1, 067, 513 volunteers provided leadership for Scouting programs in 2012. 181 NASA astronauts were involved in Scouting (57.4% of astronauts).
Last Month:
Rainbow Scout Reservation Morris, Illinois
If you would like your photo to be a “Name that Camp?” clue, please email it to Emily Mausshardt at vpcommunications@crventuring.org.
Webinars, Webinars, Webinars! Don’t forget about the monthly Venturing webinars hosted by the Central Region Area 3 VOA! All professionals, volunteers, and youth are welcome, and encouraged, to attend the webinars from the comfort of your own home no matter what council, area, or region, you are located within. We look forward to seeing you there (well maybe not “seeing” since this is being done over the internet and not in person, but you get the point)! November 19th: Marketing & Recruiting for Venturing and Sea Scouting December 19th: Venturing Officer Selection Process January 14th: Special Session for Professional Scouters Only February 18th: The New Venturing Part 1– Unit Level Changes March 18th: The New Venturing Part 2– Council through National Changes April 17th: Venturing Trainings/Purpose of Venturing Officers’ Associations May 27th: Introduce New Officers/Open Microphone Month
Area 5 Fun Event Watch out for the Zombies! Area 5 Venturers will be visiting the Red Queen’s Court at World’s of Fun in Kansas City. This annual Area 5 fun event will take place on October 19th— 20th. The cost is $50 per person, which includes admission to the park, two meals, and a t-shirt! Check out this video from last year’s Area 5 Fun Event. Are you ready for this event? Click here to register to visit the Red Queen’s Court with other Venturers! More information can be found by going to the Central Region Website.
For more information on how to join the webinars, click the following link: http://crventuring.org/Home/Fulltext/s=1&id=322
Facebook, Twitter, and the Practical Use of Social Media What’s the fastest way to promote your Venturing event to youth? Facebook! By posting in the Central Region Venturing Facebook group, you will send your message to over 6,000 people in under a minute. Facebook and Twitter (@CRVenturing), are viewed by thousands of people on a daily basis. Advertise your events here! In addition, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual—using pictures is an excellent way to supplement your text and make your message more visually appealing to readers.
“The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness in to the lives of others.” - Baden Powell
Caption Contest Last Month’s Picture:
Area 7 taking a break from training to explore Chicago...on a boat!
This Month’s Picture:
London Bridges Falling Down, oh no!!!!! ~Caption Submitted By: Jerry Kiste
We know you can do better than this caption! Send in your caption, name, and council you are from to vp-communications@crventuring.org. If you win, your caption will be featured in next month’s newsletter and on our Facebook page. Check back next month to see who wins.
Area 1
Area 2
Upcoming events:
Upcoming Events:
November 8th-10th, 2013, Area 1 Training Conference, Bloomington, MN
October 18th-20th, 2013, Venturing and Sea Scouts Camporee, Midland, MI November 1st-3rd, 2013, Introduction to Leadership Skills for Crews, Twin Lake, MI
President: Mikaela Boston
Advisor: Chris Sandberg
Area 3 Upcoming events: October 15th, 2013, Venturing Checklist for Success Webinar October 25th-27th, 2013, Certified Angler Instructor Training, Farmington, MO
January 10th-12th, 2014, Area 2 Venturing Planning Conference, Lansing, MI January 24th-26th, 2014, Venturing Winter Biathalon, Gregory, MI President: Jasmine Dittel Advisor: Jeff Geralds
November 9th, 20143 Area 3 Program Conference, Normal IL
January 10th-11th, 2014, Area 3 Venturing Conference, Normal, IL Also, check out Area 3’s YouTube page! http://www.youtube.com/user/CRVenturingArea3
President: Elizabeth Schneider
Area 4 Upcoming Events:
Advisor: Bob Vogt
Area 5 Upcoming Events:
August 30th-31st, 2014, PowderhornBC, Kensignton, OH
October 19th-20th, 2013, Area 5 Fun Event, Kansas City, MO
President: Henry Gunther President: Mallory Ware Advisor: Julie Dalton
Advisor: Duane Zobrist
Area 6
Area 7
Upcoming Events:
Upcoming Events:
No upcoming events. If you have an event you would like listed here, please submit it to http://www.crventuring.org/ event_submission.php. President: Mandi Forsythe Advisor: Carla Gargas
See Our Venturing—Where to Go Venturing Have you and/or your crew ever had the trouble of trying to find a campsite? It was probably hard wasn’t it? Well the Central Region would like to ease your troubles and worries. If you go to www.crventuring.org and click ‘Where to Go Venturing’ on the left hand side of the page, you will be able to enter the state’s name your visiting and if you care to camp on a BSA campsite, City Park, National Forest, ect. You will then enter a mile radius and what season you wish to visit. You then will pick what type of facilities and what activities you wish to do during your trip. You will then hit the ‘Find Location” button and receive your results. Now just because you have the option of filling everything out, doesn’t mean you have to. If you’re just interested in finding out where camps are in a state, you can just fill out the “States” and “Managing Agencies” box and click ‘Find Locations’ and it will give you every known place you have searched for in that particular state. ~ Kim Legg
March 1st, 2014, Area 7 Venturing Conference, Gurnee, IL April 11th-13th, 2014, Powder Horn, Oregon, IL June 30th-July 5th, 2014, National Youth Leadership Training: Eagle Claw, Morris, IL August 8th-10th, 2014, Scout Air Fest, Romeoville, IL
President: Katlin Adams Advisor: Kris Zahrobsky
Submit your Venturing event on the Central Region Website! Go to http://crventuring.org and click on the “submit a calendar event” button on the lower left side of the page. Fill out the form, and now you will be able reach thousands of Venturers to come to your event!
President’s Corner Happy October Central Region! It’s that crazy time when we are all busy with school, work, and other activities, but it’s important to remember the great Venturing opportunities that are coming up! This past month, Area 3 held the biggest annual Venturing event in the nation along with the Greater St. Louis Area Council, the Fantastic 40th Annual Fall Fun Rally. I had the honor of being there along with 1474 fellow Venturers and Sea Scouts to help celebrate the 15th anniversary of Venturing! It was so cool to meet a lot of Venturers from around the region and be able to have a weekend full of adVenture. October always brings lots of challenges for Venturing with school midterms and many other obligations. Even though we have these challenges it’s, all about balance! Creating a calendar with all your events along with when homework is due will allow better success with staying organized. There are sometimes when you will need to skip a Sunday of Venturing to study for a chemistry test but that’s okay. Also getting ahead on homework before the weekend will allow you to enjoy your camping trip more than worrying about the homework that needs to be done before Monday’s class. Being organized will help not only you’re success in school but it will also allow you to enjoy Venturing events more! I hope you all enjoy the beginning of fall as all the leaves start to change color and good luck in all your activities. See you around Central Region! ~Christina Vogt
Central Region Venturing President: Christina Vogt president@crventuring.org Central Region Venturing Advisor: Keith Gehlhausen venturing-chair@crventuring.org Central Region Venturing Vice President of Communications: Emily Mausshardt vpcommunications@crventuring.org Central Region Venturing Associate Advisor for Communications: Deb Keyes communicationscoordinator@crventuring.org
About Our Organization... Venturing is a Scouting program for male and female youth ages 13-21 that lets youth experience new activities, build leadership skills, earn awards, make new friends, and of course have fun. The Central Region is one of four regions of the Boy Scouts of America. This region includes the states of: Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia.