Summit Award

The highest award of Venturing, the Summit Award, goes to those Venturers who have matured in their personal direction, skills, and life competencies, and who have accepted the responsibility to mentor others and serve their communities in a lasting way.

Award Focus: Mentoring

Award Objectives:

• Mentoring and coaching skills training
• Mentor a crew member in planning and leadership of crew activity
• Serve in elected leadership position for six months
• Lead the delivery of small-group management skills and training
• Complete advanced leadership training
• Plan, develop, and give leadership to a community service project
• Complete goal development and planning for all realms of personal growth
• Create personal code of conduct for review by peers and adult advisors
• Lead and guide ethical controversy and conflict resolution discussion with crew

Award Requirements:

Adventure

1. Participate in at least three additional (for a total of seven) Tier II or Tier III adventures at the crew, district, council, area, regional, or national level. To earn the Summit Award, a Venturer must have participated in at least one Tier III adventure and served as a leader during one adventure.

Leadership

2. Complete BSA Mentoring Training prior to initiating mentoring relationships.
3. Since earning the Pathfinder Award, mentor another Venturer in the planning and implementation of a crew, council, area, regional, or national Venturing activity (see Summit Adventure requirement 1). Work with the youth enough to ensure he or she is ready to lead and has organized the appropriate resources, is prepared for contingencies, and has developed an itinerary, conducted training to support the adventure, and mitigated risk before and during the adventure. Participate in the adventure and provide feedback on how the adventure was conducted.
4. Complete two of the following.
   1. Since earning the Pathfinder Award, serve actively as your crew president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, guide, historian, den chief, or quartermaster for a period of at least six months.** At the beginning of your term, work with your crew president (or Advisor, if you are the president) to set performance goals for the position. Any number of different positions may be held as long as the total length of service equals at least six months. Holding simultaneous positions does not shorten the required number of months.Positions need not flow from one to the other; there may be gaps in time. Once during your term of office, discuss your successes and challenges with your crew president (or Advisor, if you are the president).   **Venturers may substitute district, council, area, regional, or national Venturing officer or cabinet positions for the positions listed in this requirement
   2. Participate in or serve on staff for leadership training such as National Youth Leadership Training, Kodiak Challenge, National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience, Order of the Arrow National Leadership Seminar, Sea Scout SEAL Training, or Wood Badge (for Venturers 18 or older). You may also participate in non-BSA leadership training courses such as those delivered by the National Outdoor Leadership School, if approved by your Advisor. This must be a different training course than you completed for Pathfinder Award requirement 4b or Summit Award requirement 4c.
   3. Lead the delivery of Introduction to Leadership Skills for Crews for members of your Venturing crew or another local Venturing crew or for a local district or council training event. After leading the training course, discuss with your crew Advisor how you believe you helped build the skill set of your crew and what you learned by organizing the training course.

Service

5. Since earning the Pathfinder Award, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to a religious institution, school, or community. (The project must benefit an organization other than the Boy Scouts of America.) Before you start, a project proposal must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your Advisor, the unit committee, and the council or district advancement committee (per local practices).

Personal Growth

6. Since earning the Pathfinder Award, complete a structured personal reflection. Use this reflection to prepare for goal setting and as part of your Advisor conference. Explore two of the following realms: “Adventures of Faith,”* “Adventures of Self,” or “Adventures of Others.” You may explore one of the realms twice or select from between two different realms.
7. Create a personal code of conduct. This code of conduct should be guided by your explorations in the realms of faith, self, and others.
8. Since earning the Pathfinder Award, lead an ethical controversy and conflict resolution scenario with members of your Venturing crew.
9. Participate in an Advisor conference. As a part of this conference, share your code of conduct with your Advisor, and explain how your explorations of faith, self, and others, and your goal-setting exercises, influenced the development of your code.
10. After your Advisor conference, successfully complete a crew board of review.

*A Venturer is not required to share the personal reflection associated with “Adventures of Faith” with his or her Advisor or members of a board of review, including the discussion that takes place at the Advisor conference or the board of review.