February 2013 - Western Region Venturing

West is Best!
WESTERN REGION VENTURING
Volume 2, Number 5
President’s
Message:
WRVYC
April 19-21,
Seattle, WA
Happy February everyone!
There are several deadlines approaching that are very important
to both you and your council.
The first is your application for
Area, Region, or National President, the second is the Council
Standards of Venturing Excellence Award, and the third is the
Venturing Leadership Award
(VLA) nominations for both
Annaliese Parker
Area and Region. Please look for
Western Region President
information in other parts of this
2012-2013
newsletter about these topics.
The past 2 months, the Region cabinet has been working
very hard on the Western Region Venturing Youth Conference and on putting together the selection committees
for both the officer and VLA selections. In these next few
months, we hope to start wrapping up our goals for the term
and prepare the incoming officers for a successful year.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions,
comments, or concerns.
WEST IS BEST!
by Annaliese Parker
Western Region President, 2012-2013
president@wrventuring-bsa.org
Southwestern
Rendezvous 2012
Originally posted at the Western Region Sea Scout website:
https://wrseascouts.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/southwestern-rendezvous/
B
ack in November, Sea Scouts across Southern California
(and some from Northern California as well) gathered for
a regional competition commonly known as the Southwestern
Rendezvous.
For some who may not know, the Southwestern Rendezvous
is a regional event that has been held since 1935 and happens
the weekend of Thanksgiving. The Rendezvous is set up to not
only test your nautical skills, but to test your leadership abilities, both mentally and physically! (Continued on Page 4)
February, 2013
tinyurl.com/wrvyc13
Venturing
Membership
ongratulations to the Western Region for having positive
C
growth in Venturing membership in 2012! Here are some
suggestions for Crews to implement in 2013 in order to continue
growing:
-Man a Venturing info booth at major Scouting events in your
District or Council. Patches, handbooks, and brochures with information on each of the Crews in the Council are great items to have
available. These can also be held at community events outside of
Scouting, or at Troop/Team/Lodge meetings.
-Create a brochure or fliers for your Crew to help recruit new
members. These can be one-sheeters, trifold brochures, and/or business cards with the Advisor's contact info, Crew website, and meeting date/location. Make sure to leave extra copies at Council offices,
and to bring some to every event you go to. (Continued on Page 5)
Western Region Venturing
Youth Conference
egistration is online for the Western Region
R
Venturing Youth Conference! If you go to
www.wrventuring-bsa.org/wrvyc, you will see
the link at the top.
After you have registered, there is a Travel Information Form and a Session’s Idea Form that need to be filled out.
There is an updated flier that you can print out to promote the event
in your crew, Council, Area or Region.
This is our 5th Annual Region Conference, so it’s going to be a
blast! Currently we have at least 5 outdoor activities for people to
participate in as well as the National Venturing President attending.
Register today and join the fun!
-Submitted by Annaliese Parker
Pres/VP Apps Due
Feb 15: Region
Mar 1: Area
www.scouting.org/venturing
Pacific Northwest Prepping for 2013 WRVYC
Q
Jeremy Felty
Area 1 VOA
President - 2012-13
uite a few things have taken place
in Area 1 recently. Chief Seattle
Council is gearing up for their Annual
Venturing Winter Challenge held at
Ensign Ranch in Easton, WA. Anyone
interested in attending a cold weather
event can sign up on the Chief Seattle
Website at http://www.seattlebsa.org/
Venturing.
The Area VOA is also helping prepare
for the Western Region Venturing Youth
Conference. The Area VLA committee has already chosen
the VLA recipients, but if there is someone you think is
deserving, please nominate them for next year. Also, Area
President and Vice President applications are due March 1st, so if
you are interested in becoming a member of the 2013-2014 Area
Cabinet, apply now! Applications
AREA
can be found at www.scouting.
org/venturing.
1
“Life is a blank canvas, and you
need to throw all the paint on it
you can.”
― Danny Kaye
By Jeremy Felty
2012-2013 Area 1 Venturing President
area1-president@wrventuring-bsa.org
President...................... Jeremy Felty
Vice Presidents..............Ethan Stroh,
Andre Giacalone, Shannan Stevens
Advisor.................. Dr. Bruce Noonan
Area 2 Changes reaPresidents
Area 3 is Excited for 2013!
2 has gone through
2
A
I
n the last few weeks, Area Three has been
a significant change
extremely busy! The Area Three Leaderin our VOA over this last
ship Summit will be held April 12-14 at
month. Due to a change in
Camp Masonite Navarro in conjunction with
some of the policies of his
Redwood Empire’s Venturing Rendezvous.
church, Copper Quist, choWe decided that we want everybody to
sen to be the Area 2 VOA
have the opportunity to earn portions of VenPresident for the 2012-2013
turing awards, so all the trainings will pertain
term, has stepped down
to those. The trainings are set, so check out
President...............Charles Holm from his office to pursue a
our Area Facebook Page for more details.
Vice Presidents......Julie Graham, mission for the LDS church.
Tess Mitchell
(WR Area 3 VOA, https://www.facebook.
While we’ve been preBailey Peterson, Tyler Lofgran
Area 3 VOA
com/groups/146419299723/)
paring for this change for
President 2012-13
Advisor......................John Harris
Also, we have started doing our own Area
several months now, it has
Newsletters,
which
can
be downloaded from ourFacebook page.
ARTWORK
APPROVAL
still come as a shock to Charles Holm, the prior VP of AdSo where has
your Area Three
P. 480-967-7015
F. 480-921-9011
min, and Bailey Peterson, the VP’s Assistant of Networking.
AREA
President been? Recently I lead
Charles took over Copper’s position as
Name/Company
Due Date
an ILSC course at Golden Empire
President,
and Bailey stepped upDate
to fill
Boyscouts
of
America
1/16/13
Council’s University of Scoutin Charles’s now empty slot in Admin.
Design Name
Design Type
ing, and was able to meet many
While
I would not describe the event
Westrestarted
is Best Sunglasses
ASI
more Venturers in my council.
as having
the Area 2 VOA,
Placement
Dimensions I’m looking forward to both our
the VOA
certainly seems to have lost a
Side
Print
2”W x .25”H
Area Leadership Summit and the
bit of its
momentum.
Hopefully these
Region Conference in April!
setbacks are purely temporary as every
President............... Tess Mitchell
gets adjusted to having a new
President
By Tess
Mitchell,
Due to the differences in color systems for computer monitors and printers, the colors illustrated
on this form
are for representation purposes only.
Vice Presidents.... Amanda Clark,
When viewed on a screen or printed on paper, these colors may not accurately reflect the actual thread, fabric or print colors of the final product.
and Vice-President of Administration.
2012-2013 Area 3 Venturing President
Forrest Yeh, Indy Nelson
Any PMS color code noted on this form are provided as a closely matching reference only.
Charles Holm
area3-president@wrventuring-bsa.org
By Charles Holm
Advisor................. Larry Peterson
Area 2 VOA
AREA
3
ink President
2013 Area 2White
Venturing
area2-president@wrventuring-bsa.org
President - 2013
-
West is Best Sunglasses
-
H
ey Western
Region! Want to show everyone that
West is Best while looking cool
doing so? Well then you need the
Western Region
VOA West is Best
Sunglasses!
These sunglasses are of course, Venturing green, so
they match with your uniform and you can wear
them at all of your Venturing events, including the
Western Region Venturing Conference this April!
The price for a pair of these Aca-mazing
West is Best sunglasses is just $6 (see
website for shipping cost). Visit our website
at www.wrventuring-bsa.org/sunglasses for
information on how to order. Supplies are
limited, so order now and show them off because, as we’ve said countless times in this newsletter:
W est is B est !
-Submitted by Jillian Infusino
Area 6: Plans Their
Conference!
Area 4
H
appy New Year, Western Region! Area
4 is getting back into full Venturing
swing, and our councils have lots of exciting plans for 2013.
All of our council Jamboree crews
are continuing to meet and fundraise for
National Jamboree this summer, and we
Jillian Infusino look forward to mingling with other council
crews in the Venturing subcamp.
Area 4 VOA
President - 2012-13
The Area 4 officers and advisors taught at
a University of Scouting in December, and
will be teaching at another one in late January. Members of the
Area 4 cabinet also attended an awards dinner for Long Beach
Area Council in early January, and had an amazing time.
We would also like to welAREA
come the new Long Beach Area
Council VOA Advisor and cabinet into the Area 4 family; we
are excited to be working with
all of you.
We look forward to meeting
everyone from the other Areas
at the Aca-Awesome Region
President.............. Jillian Infusino
Conference in April!
4
By Jillian Infusino
2012-2013 Area 4 Venturing President
area4-president@wrventuring-bsa.org
Vice Presidents....Chris Moncrief
Andrew Zimmerman
Advisor................ Chuck Williams
VP-Comms Query of the Month:
“If you were an Olympic athlete,
what sport would you compete in?”
Here are the responses from each Area representative:
Area 1: Nordic Skiing - I love to ski!
Area 2: Fencing - I enjoy a good battle every now and again
Area 3: Curling - so I can fully appreciate the team uniforms...
Area 4: Swimming - so I can be friends with Conor Dwyer &
Ryan Lochte!
Area 6: Sailing - I love the amount of synchronicity in the teams!
President: Bobsledding - “heeeey Jamaica, we have a bobsled
team!”
VP Admin: Fencing - who doesn’t love playing with sharp,
pointy objects?
VP Comms: Archery - I love Robin Hood :)
VP Program: Shooting - who doesn’t love shooting guns?
Advisor: Equestrian - the only class where men and women
compete equally.
Have a question you want to see answered in our next
newsletter?? Send it to: vpcomms@wrventuring-bsa.org
A
rea 6 has made exciting progress on our
leadership conference being held March
8-10. The registration is officially online, so
those of you who are in the Area should sign
up ASAP!
Malia Ashley
The host, Grand Canyon council, has been
Area 6 VOA
immensely helpful throughout the planning
President - 2012-13 process, and we are very excited to see how
many councils we will have represented. This
will be the first area-wide event, with many more to follow.
The event will include rappelAREA
ling, team-building, and archery
activities amidst the Venturingrelated conference sessions. We
hope to inspire more youth at the
council level to be active in the
area, and to recruit more representatives from Area 6 to attend the
Western Region Venturing Youth
President................ Malia Ashley
Conference in April!
6
By Malia Ashley
2012-2013 Area 6 Venturing President
area6-president@wrventuring-bsa.org
Area 5
Venturing Officer’s Association
continues to be a work-in-progress. Don Diaz, as area representative, continues to work with
each of the councils in developing Council VOAs. Please email
area5-president@wrventuringbsa.org if you are interested in
helping out.
Vice President.......David Carden,
Shannon Mulligan, Brandi Tena
Advisor............ Mackenzie Lardie
AREA
5
VOA President................(vacant)
Area 5 Advisor..............Don Diaz
NEW Ask the Cabinet Corner
H
ey Western Region! Have you ever had a question that
you’ve wanted to ask somebody in the Region cabinet
regarding Venturing? Well here is your chance!
Your Region cabinet has put together an email address for you
guys to ask us your Venturing questions. We will answer any
and all questions regarding both the negative and positive issues
you may encounter during your Venturing career, including high
adventure trips, awards and recognitions, conflicts, program, and
anything else you can think of that is Venturing related. Advisor
isn’t responding to your emails? VP not doing their job? Can’t
figure out where to go on your Crew’s superactivity? Let us know
and we’ll give you advice!
We are here to help and we await your questions. Simply email:
askthecabinet@wrventuring-bsa.org, and we will pick a few to
appear in the next Western Region Newsletter!
-Submitted by Jillian Infusino
Southwest Rendezvous (Continued from Page 1)
All in all, there are over 25 events to complete
within a span of two days. The events range
from activities like Drill, Sailing, Scuttlebutt, and Knot Tying to events like Uniform
Inspection, Mariner’s Quiz, Marlinespike,
and Rules of the Road. After the events
close Saturday, there is a dance to celebrate
the weekend, followed by an awards ceremony
Sunday morning. For pictures from past years, check out the event
website at: http://www.rendezvous.org/
With this being the Centennial year of Sea Scouts, I knew that
this Southwestern Rendezvous would be one I would never forget,
and it turned out to be exactly that! Bright and early Friday morning
was when all the fun began. After the Mariner’s Quiz, every ship
was on their own to complete as many events as they could. That
night was Uniform Inspection and Hell Drill, which required a lot
of standing around (and for some of the girls, standing in heels!!!).
After that, most of us were tired out to no end. But that didn’t stop
any of us from waking up that next morning at 0630!
Saturday seemed like a hectic,
but fun day. With only hours to
spare, it was crucial that no time
be wasted so that ships could
complete all of their events in
time to earn the Endurance
Award. When events closed at
1530, it was time for…Scuttle
Off!!!!! Scuttle Off is when the
three crews with the lowest time
compete against each other to see who will win.
This year during Dreadnought Silver’s run, the whole barrel
flipped over, and all the water went everywhere!!! The Youtube
video of this crazy event will be up soon.
Later that night was Drill Off and the Centennial Dance. Drill Off
was intense, and Morning Star took the win!!!! The Dance was a lot
of fun, and everyone came dressed in their uniform or formal attire.
It was truly a great ending to a very fun weekend. We finished off
on Sunday morning with the awards ceremony.
I am so proud of everyone who attended the weekend and hope
that they all walked away with new friends and great memories.
I would like to thank all of the adults and area judges for helping throughout the whole
weekend, as well as
Michael Trouillon, the
chairman of the Southwestern Rendezvous, for
making this competition and
weekend possible. I could
not have thought of a better
way to end the Sea Scout
Centennial!!
Fair winds and good fortune,
By Madison Edwards Shapiro
2012-2013 Area IV & Area VI Boatswain
madshapiro@gmail.com
Region VP-Comms
X
-actly why am I starting this article
with the word “x-actly”? I simply
thought that the big “X” looked interesting,
and I’d never seen a paragraph start with it
before, and probably neither had you!
Anyways, what HAVEN’T I been doing over the last few months? As well as
Teddy Heidmann
continuing to serve as tech-support for the
Region VP of
entire Region, I have undertaken quite a few
Comms - 2012-2013
other projects which I’ll briefly mention:
First off, I decided to create an extensive how-to document
for each of the incoming officers including screenshots of how
to edit the website, add events to the calendar, and even a section on proper uniform and email etiquette. I hope that these
will continue to be used in the coming years, and that they will
serve to make a flawless transition between officers.
Secondly, I started developing a mobile version of the Western Region Venturing Site. The current site has many small buttons and hard-to-read text, plus it takes a very long time to load
on a mobile device. As such, I am trying to make the mobile
version as simple as possible while still maintaining the same
excellent articles and features as the desktop version.
Thirdly, I had a little free time on my hands and started messing around with Photoshop, the result of which can be seen as
the header for the Western Region Facebook page. (Thank you
to all the people that thought it was a real photo, that made my
day :D)
Lastly, I decided it would be an awesome idea to have Western Region Venturing bling, so I designed a Venturing Version
of the “West is Best Sunglasses” (Article on page 2) which are
now for sale for $6 apiece, plus shipping.
This has been a very exciting term so far, and I look forward
to accomplishing much more in the coming few months!
WEST IS BEST!!!
By Teddy Heidmann
2012-2013 VP of Communication
vpcomms@wrventuring-bsa.org
Long Beach Sea Scout Gala
O
n January 12th, 2013, the Long Beach Area Council hosted
their annual Sea Scout and Venturing Awards Dinner. LBAC
handed out two Venturing Leadership Awards, one to Bryan
Santiago and the other to Sebastian Guerra. A big congratulation
and thank you goes to both of them for their hard work and
dedication to LBAC!
The council also gave Melisa Benedict an award of recognition and appreciation for her service as the LBAC VOA Advisor
for the past two years. Melisa will continue to support Venturing
at the council level in her new role as Council Venturing Chairman. The Area 4 VOA would like to thank Melisa for her work
in LBAC, and we know that she will continue to help Venturing
grow as Council Venturing Chairman!
-Submitted by Jillian Infusino
Region VP-Admin
Region VP-Program
he last month or so, I have been
working with each Area Vice
President of Administration getting the
CSVE Award filled out, and to help them
with any questions about the award. I’m
happy to say that we have had great feedback from everyone.
owdeeee Western Region members!
I have just been appointed to fill the
VP of Program position and let me tell
you something: I am excited!
T
I have also been helping them set up
Area-level Venturing Leadership Award
Shantell Sallee
Region VP of
(VLA) selection committees, and in getAdmin - 2012-13
ting the applications for the VLA filled
out and turned in on time. Applications for Area and Regional
VLAs are due no later than February 15th, 2013, so submit
any nominations you have to vla@wrventuring-bsa.org and
we will forward it on to the respective selection committee.
As for Councils VLAs, it is up to each council to decide
when your VLA applications are due. If you have questions
about any level of VLA or any other award, please feel free to
contact me at vpadmin@wrventuring-bsa.org.
I have also been working on getting things in order for next
year’s Western Region Venturing Vice President of Administrations, and making it as clear as possible for them when I
age out in March. We are currently looking into replacements
for that time, but until then I will continue to serve as your
Region VP.
It has been such a blast to serve on the Western Region
VOA! Please send in your President/Vice President applications to serve in next year’s Area or Region VOA! There are a
ton of open spots, and it is a blast to work with youth all over
the Western Region.
WEST IS BEST!!!!
By Shantell Sallee
2012-2013 VP of Administration
vpadmin@wrventuring-bsa.org
H
Program is where it is at, as program
recruits new scouts to your crew, and
once they are recruited, program keeps
them coming. The regional level is no
different than the local level, and it is my
commitment to each of you to strengthen Hampton Zobrist
the Region through the implementation of
Region VP of
Program - 2012-13
a strong Venturing program.
In my role as VP of Program, I am focusing on three main
areas:
1. Creating and disseminating a master training calendar.
Soon, I hope each of you will have a single resource to access
training opportunities throughout the region. I will also be
recruiting a venturing training contact in each council. If you
are interested in being the contact for your council, please let
me know.
2. Communicating with and the training of Area Vice
Presidents of Program. I will be scheduling monthly conference calls with the Area VPs, during which I hope to create a
cohesive, well-trained, and motivated group of VPs which can
in turn strengthen their respective areas.
3. Identifying a location for the 2014 Regional Conference
and the planning of a region-wide super activity.
I look forward to serving each of you in this role. Program is
exciting, and it is the lifeblood of venturing. Get involved and
watch your crew and area grow!
By Hampton Zobrist
2012-2013 VP of Program
vpprgm@wrventuring-bsa.org
Venturing Membership (Continued from page 1)
Area 6 Venturing Youth
Conference
-Establish a Crew website and/or Facebook page to post info on
upcoming events. These need to be kept up-to-date with current
contact information and events.
-Get involved in your local community. This could be through
events such as running a concession stand at community festivals,
marching in parades, etc. Don't be hidden; get your image out
Activities:
there!
-Archery
-Submit articles for your local papers. When someone earns an
-Rapelling
important award or the Crew goes on an exciting outing, submit a
-Networking with other youth in the Area
short summary to the paper. Don't overlook the smaller community
-Leadership Presentations
papers, as those are where most of your membership will come
Cost: $60 per person
from.
After Feb 22, 2013, goes up to $70
-Publicize the Venturing logo as much as possible. Some busiTo register, plese go to:
http://www.grandcanyonbsa.org/event/area­6­venturing­ nesses have boards for local business cards, so consider putting one
there for your Crew.
youth­conference
For more information, please contact:
-Submitted by Steven Smith
Malia Ashley: area6-president@wrventuring-bsa.org
Western Region Venturing Impact Committee