| How to start a new Explorer Post
Organizing posts is easy for an organization to do if it follows these steps:
- Conduct an annual survey in community high schools to determine student's career and hobby interests.
- Call a meeting of key people within an organization, with an Exploring representative in attendance. This representative explains special-interest Exploring, describes key volunteer positions, and plans the recruiting of adult leaders.
- Have a meeting between the post committee and Advisors and the Exploring representative. Explain the responsibilities of adult leaders. The Exploring representative also discusses program ideas and helps develop a one-year program, which is reviewed and adopted.
- Have the organization's top executive write a personal letter to each young adult selected from the survey, inviting the youths and their parents to attend an organizational meeting.
- Follow up this letter with a personal invitation from a member of the organization to each prospective Explorer.
- Have the first meeting, involving young adults, the post committee, and selected consultants. Make plans for the installation of elected youth officers.
What Youth Want
Exploring research has revealed these major points:
- High school students are interested in careers/vocations.
- Teenagers want a broader experience that supplements career information with practical, "hands-on" experience and is tailored to their cultural backgrounds.
- Teenagers want to belong to a group that provides a safe place from which they can address the issues that affect them as they grow and develop. These issues include becoming more independent, developing social relationships, undergoing psychological changes, reaching sexual maturity, and re-evaluating values.
For additional information and support on organizing a new Explorer Post, Venturing Crew or Sea Scout Ship, contact your local Boy Scouts of America Service Center or the Venturing Division, National Council, Boy Scouts of America.
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