Exploring (Learning for Life)
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- This term should not be confused with Explorer Scouts, the UK equivalent of Exploring.
The Exploring program was once one of the Boy Scouts of America's (BSA's) programs for youth 14-21. Currently, Exploring is a vocational program and part of the BSA's Learning for Life, while the BSA's Venturing program is a Scouting program for older youth. Exploring units, called "Posts", usually have a focus on a single career field, such as police, fire/rescue, health, law, aviation, engineering, or the like, and may be sponsored by a government or business entity.
[edit] History
The Exploring program has a long history within the BSA. The program got its start in the 1930s as the "Senior Scout" program for boys 15 and older. The Senior Scout program included the Sea Scouts, Air Scouts, Explorer Scouts, Rover Scouts and a few others. Explorer Scouts focused on advanced camping and worked on advancement leading to the Ranger Award. Sea Scouts and Air Scouts were nautical and aviation focused programs, respectively.
In 1949, the Senior Scout program became the Explorer Program. Sea Scouts became Sea Explorers, Air Scouts became Air Explorers, and Explorer Scouts became just Explorers. The Explorer program became less of an advanced outdoor program, and more a broader program for older youth. They got a new advancement program leading to the Silver Award. Also, the minimum age was lowered to 14.
In 1959, the Explorer Program became the Exploring program. Explorer advancement was dropped. In 1964, the Air Explorer program was eliminated, and the Sea Explorer program had changes made. The program was further changed to be more appealing to older youth, with career exploration becoming a bigger part of the program.
In 1969/71, the BSA allowed Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls to join Exploring, then made the Explorer program fully co-ed, and raised the upper age to 21. After this time, Exploring started to focus more and more on career exploration, though outdoor oriented Posts still existed.
In 1998, the Exploring program was split. All the career-oriented posts were moved to Learning for Life, while the rest became the new Venturing (Boy Scouts of America) program. Exploring is now a worksite-based career education program for young men and women 14 through 20 years old.
