VENTURING. Winter News! WESTERN REGION. In This Issue: JANUARY Region Highlights:

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1 In This Issue: 1 President s Corner 2 Region Updates 3 World Scout Moot 4 Beach Blowout 5 A4 VOA Training Day 5 Area 3 BLAST 6 Featured Advisor 7 VWC 2015 wrventuring-bsa.org Western Region Venturing Boy Scouts of America WESTERN REGION VENTURING JANUARY 2015 Winter News! Region Highlights: World Scout Moot in Iceland pg San Diego Beach Blowout pg. 4

2 President s Corner HAPPY NEW YEAR, WESTERN REGION! Edward Abraham Western Region President Cover: Venturing Crew 520 s President discovers the thrill of horizontal bungee jumping during the annual Venturing Winter Challenge hosted by the Chief Seattle Council VOA (page 7) If you have photos you would like to submit for use in our promotions, please vpcomms@wrventuring-bsa.org I hope you all had an amazing holiday season with your family and loved ones. It s finally 2015, which means it s going to be another amazing year of Venturing in the Western Region. Since January is the time that many people start working on their New Year s resolutions, what will your Venturing New Year s Resolution be? It could be getting crew members to be more active at meetings and events. You could even start on a new adventure with your crew this year, double your crew in size, or even help your local council start a Council Venturing Officers Association. As you may set personal goals for the New Year, don t forget to include goals to make the Venturing program an even better experience for you and your fellow Venturers! Has your crew started planning its annual program? It s never too early to think about what your crew may want to do 6-12 months down the road. Make 2015 the year that your crew tries something new. Get your crew interested in rock climbing or paddle sports. Maybe your crew wants to get into backpacking and eventually go to the Philmont Scout Ranch or go on a week long trek in your area. A great resource for your crew to use is the newly published Program Features for Troops, Teams, and Crews, which has great information about many different outdoor adventures, meeting plans, and brilliant ideas for day trips and even weekend trips. This new publication is a re-modernization of the previous program features that was written a long time ago and directed towards troops. Your crew may want to take interest in Program Features for Troops, Teams, and Crews because it might be the next best thing to help jump start your crew on a new adventure for 2015! Though we are only in the beginning of winter, are you already sick of the cold? Are you tired of bundling up just to go outside? Maybe you re just dying to go to the beach to hangout with Venturers from all over the Western Region! Well you ve probably heard me and my officers talk about this multiple times, but don t forget to sign up for the San Diego Venturing Beach Blowout from April 17-19, 2015 on Fiesta Island in San Diego, California! It s going to be an amazing filled weekend of swimming, kayaking, sailing, canoeing, stand up paddle boarding, night kayaking, and more. You re not going to want to miss out because it s only $65 and spots are limited to 200 participants, so sign up with your crew now! Edward Abraham Western Region Venturing President 1

3 Region Updates Rachel Younger VP Administration Hey fellow Venturers, Happy New Year! I can t believe it s already But with the new year, comes more Venturing. The San Diego Beach Blowout is in four months and I m very excited for all of you to come be a part of it! Also, every council in the Western Region should fill out the Council Standards of Venturing Excellence Award. It s a great way to see how well your council did in Along with the Council Standards of Venturing Excellence Award, adults can only earn the Venturing Leadership Award for However, it s mostly for youth Venturers! So, make sure you get your nominations in as soon as possible. I can t wait for what 2015 brings and I hope you all had a safe New Years Eve! Happy New Year! I hope you have all been able to enjoy the holiday season and spend some time with your families! Councils and Areas around the Region have some really awesome events coming up in the next few months that I hope you all take advantage of! As we start off 2015, be sure to plan out the rest of the year with your crew and try working on the new Venturing, Discovery, Pathfinder, and Summit awards. Most of the trainings are already available online either as a syllabus or as an interactive presentation - perfect ideas for a rainy day. Including a recruitment drive, movie night, backpacking trip, or even a night at the bowling alley is a great way to help your crew members get a headstart on the new requirements while having a BLAST! Pratik Vaidya VP Communications Make sure you don t miss the deadline to nominate an exceptional Venturer for the Venturing Leadership Award or apply for a Venturing Officers Association position! I hope you all enjoy the rest of 2015 and are able to make the most of it with your Venturing crews! Shannon Mulligan VP Program I hope none of you have forgotten about the BEACH BLOWOUT that will be happening on April 17-19, It will be held at Fiesta Island in San Diego, California. Your region officers are super excited to see you all out there and have some major fun with all the water sports. This event is a little different than those hosted by the Western Region in years past, but I am confident that it will be one of the best! You will be able to experience how Venturing does sports on the water with night kayaking, wind surfing, canoeing, and much more! Make sure you go register as soon as possible, because slots are filling up fast! My team and I have been putting a lot of work into this event to make sure you all have the best time out there on the water, so I highly suggest you get registered and we will see you out there in April. Until then, I hope everyone is having a wonderful day, and you all are continuing to remember Adventure is out there. You just have to find it! 2

4 Plan for the 2017 World Scout Moot in Iceland - Submitted by Craig Murray I would guess the first question for many is: what is a World Scout Moot? It is an official event of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), hosted and organized by the Icelandic Boy and Girl Scout Association (for the 2017 event), for young people aged between 18 and 25, inclusively. And you thought the best you could do was be on staff at a World or National Jamboree. Now you know there is more fun to be had. It is just a matter of planning. The 15th World Scout Moot will be held in Iceland 25th July to 2nd August 2017 so if you are born on or between the dates of 2nd August 1991 and 25th July 1999 you are eligible as a participant and BSA plans to send as many young adults as are interested in attending. The BSA contingent will likely also have some time before or after the event to see some parts of Iceland. Some of you may be thinking that you have to be working during that time and you may be right. But I can assure you the that the experience will be worth more than money can buy over your lifetime so give it some real thought and then start planning to attend. The cost to attend the Moot is $1000 plus transportations and some supply costs which are not available at this time. Registration will be online and when available the link will be posted on events.shtml. The link will be a scouting.org link. Inspired by Iceland Iceland is a truly unique country that is worth visiting. Not only is its nature unique, but the culture and atmosphere is something special too. Having the opportunity to combine attending a fantastic international event with people from around 80 countries and exploring Iceland s nature and culture is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The Moot organizing team encourages you to use that opportunity to join the Moot and travel up north. The Program The Moot program starts with an opening ceremony in the capital city of Reykjavík in the morning of 25th July. Participants will then spend the day in the capital area, taking part in an organized program. In the afternoon the participants will be transported to one of the ten camps where they will spend the next four days. The camps will be in different locations along the southern coast of Iceland, with each location offering different program elements. Thus one camp will be located in a national park, next to a glacier and have a mountaineering focus, while another will be in a large town and have a focus on culture and community. The participants will decide their own Moot experience by signing up for the activities of their choice during registration, and that information will be used to form patrols and choose the relevant camp. This part of the Moot is called The Journey. The Closing Ceremony of the 15th World Scout Moot 2017 will be in the afternoon of August 2nd. 3

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6 Area 4 VOA Training Day - Submitted by Gavin Vlietstra, Area 4 President On January 10th, 2015, the Western Region Area 4 will hosted a training day for upcoming and current VOA Officers at the Orange County Council office in Santa Ana. It was open to members of the VOAs in the California Inland Empire, Orange County, West Los Angeles Area, San Diego Imperial, and Long Beach Area Councils, as well as anyone else who wanted to learn about the VOA. The event was hosted and ran by the Area 4 Cabinet: President Gavin Vlietstra, VP of Administration Tyler Deacy, VP of Communications Denise Cabral, and VP of Program Matthew Talag. Attendees learned how to effectively run a VOA, both internally and externally, as well as how to properly tackle their respective jobs. It ran from approximately 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Lunch, as well as the training itself, was offered at no cost to the attendees. Area 3 BLAST - Submitted by Dante Rodondi, Area 3 President Are you ready to BLAST off for a weekend of adventure? Then get ready to attend Area 3 s premier Venturing event, BLAST 2015 featuring the Amazing Venturing Race! The event is scheduled to be held March 6th-8th at Camp Royaneh in Cazadero, California. The crew competition conducted in the theme of the hit television show The Amazing Race will feature challenges including archery, puzzles, orienteering and much more! The afternoon will feature open shooting, model rockets and dutch oven cooking workshops. The event will also feature a hopping night program with an arcade/dance party and night shooting! Don t wait for your opportunity to participate! Prices BLAST up once the ball drops on New Years Eve. $55 - Before January 1st $60 - Before March 1st $65 - After March 1st To register please visit For more information or if you have any questions, please contact Stephanie Shu, Area 3 VP of Program at area3-vpprgrm@wrventuring-bsa.org.

7 Updates from Area 1 - Submitted by James Guzek, Area 1 President Over the past few months, Area 1 has been very busy. We have had fun activities hosted by our Crews as well as our Councils. In January, Chief Seattle Council will have their Annual Winter Challenge Event. Edward Abraham, the Western Region Venturing President, is planning on attending as well. The Area 1 VOA has been actively working to prepare for the Annual Area Event. The theme is the Showdown at Butte Creek. It will be happening on March 20-22, We have invited all Scouting groups from Area 1 to attend. We currently have Venturers, Sea Scouts, and Exploring Posts registered for our event. We are extremely excited to have multiple organizations coming together to spend a fun weekend together. We also have three special guests attending. We have Jillian Infusino, the National Venturing Vice President, Edward Abraham, the Western Region Venturing President, and finally Cat Bevan, the Western Region Sea Scout Boatswain. We are going to have fun training classes ranging from Basic Magic to What is a VOA. We will also have fun activities like shooting sports, glow in the dark ultimate Frisbee and much more. We are planning on increasing membership numbers within the Area and we want to have more active VOAs formed. Go to Facebook and search Area 1 Venturing Western Region to register for The Really Awesome Venturing Experience: The Showdown at Butte Creek. EVERYONE IS INVITED! FEATURING AREA 4 ADVISOR, CHUCK WILLIAMS Chuck currently serves Orange County Council as the Venturing District Chairman Orange County is one of only two Councils in BSA that have designated Venturing Districts. The other is Denver Area.) He is a member of the International Committee, and the World Jamboree Committee. Chuck is also a BSA Leave No Trace Master Educator. Scouting has been a part of Chuck s family for a long time. His two Uncles were Scouts in the 1930 s. His parents, brothers and sister, and his two daughters have all been active. He started his Scouting life in 1960 as a Cub Scout in Santa Ana where he attained his Arrow of Light Award. And Chuck is one of those rare Scouts who earned his Lion Award (discontinued in the mid 1960 s) was a very good year. Chuck earned his Eagle Scout Award and attended the 1969 National Jamboree in Idaho. The Order of the Arrow has also been part of Chuck s Scouting World. He is a Vigil Honor member. Chuck served as the San Gorgonio Lodge Chief from , and was a leader in the formation of Wiatava Lodge in He is also Wood Badge trained and a James E. West Fellow. Over the years Chuck has served in various leadership roles: 2007 World Jamboree Unit Leader, 2005 EuroJam Contingent Leader, 2008 New Zealand Fiji Islands Trek Leader, Powder Horn Staff and Course Director, Kodiak Course Director, Wood Badge Staff, District Committee, as well as Exploring Associate Advisor and Venturing Crew Advisor, Lost Valley Staff, and Philmont Scout Ranch Staff. At the 2010 National Jamboree in Virginia, Chuck was part of the National Venturing Exhibit Program Staff. At the 2013 Jamboree he served as a Venturing Unit Leader. Chuck served on the International Service Team (Staff) for the 2011 World Jamboree in Sweden at the International Exhibit for Outdoor Ethics. He will also repeat that at this Summer s 2015 World Jamboree in Japan. Scouting Awards Chuck has received include: God and Country Award, the Silver Beaver Award, the Scouting International Award, the Council Venturing Leadership Award, and the Region Venturing Leadership Award. 6

8 Venturing Winter Challenge - Submitted by Pratik Vaidya, VP Comms The Venturing Winter Challenge is a great opportunity for any and all Venturers to go have fun, learn, and meet people they may never have seen without VWC - Council President Kiera Spears The VWC is event that the Chief Seattle Council Venturing Officers Association organizes once a year. This event is a weekend full of fun and fellowship with other Venturers around the council. Games, crew competitions, and snow are just a few of the activities that will make this a great time for all that go! VWC will be held at Ensign Ranch on January 30- February 1 and will cost a mere $35 for the weekend! Saturday only day passes are also available. Activities include: Snowball Fight Crew Cook Off Frozen Turkey Bowling Snowmobiling Shooting Sports and much more! Snowmobiles are one of the biggest activities that will be offered. There is a small extra cost for the snowmobiles that will be made available on the council website. Registration is available now: If you have any questions, please contact president@seattleventuring.org 76