New Venturing ideas usually come from the volunteers that are involved in the program. Some of the ideas are for patch designs that will recognize Venturers for services they have provided and some for Venturing leaders. This page is dedicated to ideas that have been proposed and in a few cases accepted. If you have questions, feel free to contact me at TheHiker@SageVenture.com.
Venturing Officers' Association
Three concept patches were developed for the Venturing Officers' Association (VOA); Venturing Officers Association (for council level), Area VOA and National Venturing Cabinet. For the 2009-2010 Cabinet, the National Venturing Cabinet patch was approved for the Cabinet to wear. In 2010 with a new professional advisor, all the patches were approved and a Regional VOA patch is also being considered. The current concept patches are:
  
Trained
Scouting has always encouraged the leaders to be trained. Prior to 1972, BSA issued its first "Trained" strips that corresponded to the scouting uniform.
    
 Today, the official "Trained" strip is only made with colors that match the Boy Scout uniform. However, several designs have been proposed for Venturing. One design is shown to the left.
Kodiak
The first training program for Venturers was the Venturing Leadership Skills Course (VLSC). BSA made a trained-style patch for this training with the Venturing logo and the letters VLSC. In 2001, BSA introduced the next level leadership which was done on a high adventure activity and called it "Nature of Leadership." In 2004, the course formally called "Nature of Leadership" was changed to "Kodiak" and the term "Nature of Leadership" became the term for all Venturer Leadership training programs: VLSC, Kodiak and Kodiak X.
The BSA patch created for both Kodiak and Kodiak X was a three inch round patch. (It was my observation that Venturers did not seem to figure out where the best place to put it was.) A well received alternative design for both Kodiak training programs is a trained-style patch as below:
 
Original Ranger Style Patch
 Today's Venturing program is making use of elements from Explorer Scouts in the 1940's. The highest award from 1944-49 was Ranger which as we know, is one of the specialty programs in Venturing. (Information on Scouting's First Ranger Award.) The patch for the first Ranger award can be seen on the right.
A feature of the first Ranger award is the powder horn. Today, we use the powder horn as a symbol of Powder Horn training. Patches that have used the style of the original Ranger award can be seen below.
 
 Chartered Organization Representative
BSA makes only one type of Chartered Organization Representative (COR) patch because that position is considered by BSA as a representative to all three organizations (Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Venturing). Like their "Trained" strip, it looks nice on the tan Boy Scout uniform. A concept COR patch for the Venturing uniform is to the right.
ESPAŅOL Interpreters Strip
 Between 1946 and 1988, interpreter's strips were white lettering on a red background. That style looks much nicer on a Venturing uniform that does strips with a tan background.
Corps of Discovery
The idea of the Corps of Discovery is Servant Leadership. That is, a society of Venturing Leaders, both youth and adult, who take seriously the servant leader concept as taught in Kodiak. More information about the program can be found here.
The first item used for recognition was a animal tooth that hung on a wire from the right pocket. Later, a western region Venturing leader asked me to design a pocket flap. The first flaps were presented to youth who completed a Kodiak training course in 2005 and made a promise to take on a simple service project when he or she got home. Some of the projects were as complex as helping with Scoutreach camps, Powder Horn, and VOAs, and others were as simple as recruiting some friends to join their Crews.
In addition to recognizing others with the patches below, two certificates have been developed. You are welcome to use either certificate. Both certificates are data entry PDF files:
- Craig Murray's certificate - Use the cursor to select in the area for the name and type the recipients name. Then tab to two other positions in order to enter the position names of two other people signing the certificate and print. There are three fields that can be filled in.
- Bill Wilcox's certificate - Use the cursor to select in the area for the date and type the date. Then tab to the second field to enter the participant's name.
The Servant Leader (Fort Clatsop) Corps of Discovery flaps are made in two sizes. One for male uniforms (patch 4 7/8" wide) and one for female uniforms (patch 4 1/4" wide).
Male Pocket Size
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Female Pocket Size
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