Spring 2016

Leader IN SIDE THIS ISSUE Spring 2016 1 Michael Lolli Scholarship 2 Insomniac’s Revenge RecapNEPA Council Venturing Officers Association 3 Venturer of The Year Award 72 Montage Mountain Road 3 New Cub Scout Program Moosic, PA 18507 -1776 4 Winter Activities for Local Crews voa. nepabsa. org 5 Winter Lock-In Recap venturing@ nepabsa.org 6 Rendezvous 2016 570 -207 -1227 7 Upcoming Elections Every month we will feature a NEPA Council Crew. Drop off your crew bio at the next VOA meeting.Michael J Lolli Annual Memorial Scholarship By: Megan Schuster The Northeastern Pennsylvania Council VOA has created a newscholarship called the Michael Lolli Annual Memorial Scholarship, and is open to any scouts of high school age that are soon to be moving onto higher education. This scholarship is due by April 15th. Somethings that you are asked in this scholarship includeyour leadership roles in scouting, your awards or honors receivedin scouting, your public service and community activities, and thethree most significant items you have done in preparation for your career. The requirements for this scholarship are: volunteer for VOA events and activities for a minimum of 25hrs in the past 12 months, try three new vocational activities in the past 12 months. Minimum of 3 hrs per activity. (eg learning toweld, robotics, plumbing), Try three shooting sports in the past 12 months. Minimum 2 hrs per activity. List activity and verified times. This must be at a Scout camp or from a NRA instructor.Another requirement is to write an 800-word essay about “being a role model and tell about a role model in your life and how they inspired you”. If you want more information, or want form to fill this scholarship out, you can email the VOA at [email protected] Don’t forget to apply before April 15th!

VenturingLeader Page 2Insomniac’s Revenge Recap By: Hunter HughesOn September 18th-20th, 2015 the Northeastern PennsylvaniaCouncil VOA held its annual Insomniac’s Revenge at Goose PondScout Reservation. The VOA offered program for 36 hours straight,from Friday night at 11 pm to Sunday morning at 11am. I know thatthe entire cabinet was super excited about the Harry Potter Theme.I was thrilled as the Vice President of Program to get to design anevent around a series that I had read growing up. I have to say thisbeing my first time in as VOA cabinet member my advisor, Mrs.Sepcoski, was amazing in guiding me and helping the event go offso well. I had very little idea of how much planning had to go intothese events to present the final product. We started as soon as ourterm started and hit the ground running.What makes Insomniac’s Revenge more difficult from the planningaspect is that we only have four months to plan it because we juststarted our term. Emma, Claudia, Megan, and Chris are a greatgroup to work with and have some super creative ideas. I especiallylike the house scarves that were made. The entire house systemwas a lot of fun to help design. We wrote the back story and CaraSepcoski made some awesome banners. During the event I had ablast. I was up for 40 hours and you just don’t believe that yourbody can do that until you do it. I heard a lot of great commentsabout Insomniac’s Revenge which is great to hear as the planners.You don’t see what's going on behind the scenes as a participantbut when you are a part of planning it you get this whole new view.Instead of having fun yourself you get to see others enjoying whatyou planned.Overall I think it went really well, I made new friends and caught upwith some old ones, the National Venturing President stopped by tohelp with the cardboard boat race, and I saw a lot of tired smiles. Iam so grateful for everyone that helped with the event, everyconsultant and advisor. I am especially grateful for Mr. Stritzingerwho was the cook for this event and many other events and oftendoesn't get enough recognition. Of course we could never havepulled the event off without Mr. Sepcoski, he puts in so many hourstowards these events and does a great job. On the whole the entireevent went well and we hope to see y’all at Insomniac’s Revengenext year! I can’t wait to see everyone at Rendezvous this May!

Page 3 Venturing LeaderVenturer of The Year Award Page 3 This year’s Venturer of the Year Award recipient is Megan By: Tyler Sepcoski Schuster. She has met, or surpassed all of the criteria required of her. She has been a registered Venturer with Crew 3701 By: Megan Schuster since 2011. She has also helped run the NEPA VOA Insomniac’s Revenge, and NER Area 5’s Rendezvous. In addition to attending this year summer’s Venturing Camp at GPSR, she has also been a staff member for Camp Acahela’s Cub Scout Summer Camp. Megan’s accomplishments also include recruiting a new Venturer, completing ILSC , and participating in a VOA fund raiser in 2015. In recognition of Megan’s good work, the NEPA VOA is awarding Megan a scholarship to the next paid Scouting training or summer camp that she attends. If you are interested in how to become the next Venturer of the Year, talk to any of the NEPA Officers or Advisors at the next VOA meeting. YIS, Tyler Sepcoski New Cub Scout Program Piloted As per a recent announcement by the BSA, a new program for scouts will be piloted this fall by select councils. It will be called the Lion Program, and will be open to kindergarten around age five. This program will introduce the family to Cub Scouting, and also teach the young boys leadership skills, personal fitness, and citizenship in ways that are both fun for the entire family, and also age appropriate. At the end of the Lion Program, they have the option to “graduate” to a Tiger Cub and continue on into the Cub Scout program. In order for council to be able to use the Lion Program in the fall of 2016, they must apply for it, and if they are accepted, the councils will track their experiences, and provide feedback for further study. More information will become available in the upcoming months, so be sure to watch for it

VenturingLeader Page 4 Winter Activities For Local Crews By: Megan Schuster Just like last year, the local crews have been making the best of this winter. During the weekend of February 12th through the 14th, many crews in the area ventured out to one of the coldest Polar Bears in recent history. Even with the extreme colds, the crews had fun doing fire building, first aid, lighting a match with a hatchet, orienteering, lashing, Kim’s games, and shelter building. Crew 163 of Shavertown won first place overall among the crews, with crews 2025 and 3701 coming in second and third place, respectively. After Polar Bear was finished on Saturday night, a few crews took shelter in a warm house to thaw out and to enjoy a much deserved dinner. Crews 2025 and 3701 have also made plans to go snow tubing at Sno Mountain, just like they did the previous year, which was a lot of fun. So, even though this winter has not been the coldest or has had the most snow, Ventures all over can agree that they are not finished with their winter activities any time soon.

Page 5 Venturing Leader Winter Lock In Recap Page 5 By: Megan Schuster On the weekend of December 18th thru the 19th the NEPA Council VOA held their annual Winter Lock In at St Mary’s Queen of the Apostles Church in Avoca. The theme for 2015 was Superheroes Vs Villains. The participants started their Friday night with ice breakers, and after that they decorated cupcakes, made their own masks and capes, human hungry hungry hippo, a quick change challenge, trivia, and much more. At the end of the night superhero movies were played until it was time to go to sleep. After the event was officially thru, a VOA meeting was held with the participants to decide the theme for next year’s Lock In. The theme chosen was “SuperWhoLock”. It was a lot of fun and the VOA hopes to see everyone next year for an amazing event!

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Page 7 Venturing Leader Page 5Upcoming Elections By: Megan SchusterElections are approaching soon for the 2016-2017 Council VOA President,and also their Vice Presidents!If you want to become either the president or a vice president, applicationsare due by Sunday, May 15th, so don’t wait until the last minute to sign up.As a reminder, crew presidents have a vote in this election, and areencouraged to attend the interview process to see the candidates for thepositions.The dates for the interviews will be announced once the applications are in,so be sure to watch for those dates so you can send your crew presidentsdown to be a part of the process.The President’s position is the most important in the VOA. The presidentrepresents the VOA to Scouting leadership at the same tier, plans and leadsregular meetings of the VOA, tracks all goals for the VOA and providesregular progress reports to the Youth Development Committee, and alsohelps train and mentor presidents in lower tiers. The president has manyother responsibilities, and is necessary for a successful Venturing program intheir council.The VP positions that are available are: Vice President of Administration,Vice President of Program, Vice President of Communication, andMembership.If you think you are up for the challenge, get ready and apply for this yearselections! If you have any questions you can email us [email protected]! https://twitter.com/NEPABSAVOA http://nepabsavoa.tumblr.com/ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs6Lhb5hg-P6gOCCCsf2OXw https://www.facebook.com/pages/NEPA-Council-Venturing-Officers-Association/485868761534738