Exploring is an interactive, worksite-based career education program of

Learning for Life Learning for Life (LFL) is a United States school and work-site based youth program that is an affiliate of Scouting America. It utilizes programs designed for schools and community-based organizations that are designed to prepare youth for th ...

, an affiliate of

Scouting America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

. Participants in the program are called ''Explorers''. The program serves youth in 6th-8th grades (Exploring clubs), and coeducational teenagers and young adults who are 14 through 20 years old (Exploring posts). Exploring units (clubs or posts), are sponsored by local businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, and usually focus on a single career field, but can also introduce youth to a variety of career fields within a single unit. Prior to 1998, the Exploring program was the main BSA program for older youth and participants were called Explorer Scouts. The program included both career-focused posts, and posts with an emphasis on outdoor activities. The outdoor posts became the BSA's

Venturing Venturing is a core program of Scouting America for coeducational teenagers and young adults ages 14 (or 13 and graduated the eighth grade) through 20. It is one of Scouting America's three programs for older youth, the others being Sea Scouts and ...

program.

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 Sea Scouts are a part of the Scout movement, with a particular emphasis on boating and other water-based activities on the sea, rivers or lakes (canoeing, rafting, scuba, sailboarding). Sea Scouts can provide a chance to sail, cruise on boats, ...

Air Scouts Air Scouts are a part of the Scouting, Scout movement with a particular emphasis on an aviation themed programme and/or flying-based activities. Air Scouts follow the same basic programme as other Scouts, but they devote certain amounts of time ...

, Explorer Scouts,

Rover Scouts Rovers or Rovering is a programme associated with some Scout organizations for adults, originated by The Boy Scouts Association in the United Kingdom in 1918 to provide a programme for young men who had grown up beyond the age range of the Boy ...

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 of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, a year after she ...

and

Camp Fire Girls Camp Fire, formerly Camp Fire USA and originally Camp Fire Girls of America, is a co-ed youth development organization. Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America. It is now gender-inclusive, and its p ...

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, Sea Explorers reverted to a standalone

Sea Scout Sea Scouts are a part of the Scout movement, with a particular emphasis on boating and other water-based activities on the sea, rivers or lakes (canoeing, rafting, scuba, sailboarding). Sea Scouts can provide a chance to sail, cruise on boats, ...

program, while the rest became the new

program. Exploring is now a worksite-based career education program for young men and women 14 through 20 years old.

Current programs

There are many different programs with Exploring. * Arts and Humanities Career Exploring Field * Aviation Field / General Interest / Career Exploring * Business / Small or Large Exploring Field * Communications Career Field Exploring * Engineering & Technology Career Field * Fire & Emergency Service Exploring Field * Healthcare Career Field * Law, Government, & Public Service Field *

Law Enforcement Exploring Law Enforcement Exploring, commonly referred to as Police Explorers or Police Scouts, is an American vocational education program that allows youth to explore a career in law enforcement by working with local law enforcement agencies. Founded on ...

* Science Career Exploring Fields * Skilled Trades Career Exploring Field * Social Services Career Exploring * Hobbies Exploring

References

External links

* {{Scoutorg BSA Boy Scouts of America Learning programs American military youth groups

History

Current programs

Further reading

References

External links