HIGH ADVENTURE CAMP FOR 2008 Greater Pittsburgh Council will be holding a weeklong camp this summer for Venturing Crews. The event will be based at Camp Twin Echo. Camp will begin on July 6 and finish on July 12. The activities were selected from those requested in your Venturing surveys. Some of the highlights will be White Water Rafting, Climbing, Shooting Sports, Backpacking and Biking. As with all Venturing events, music, food and socializing will be key elements of the week. For more information contact Rob Matuska at 412-325-7978 or at mailto:rmatuska@bsamail.org. You can also get information by attending any of the VOA meetings. VENTURING LEADERSHIP AWARDS All nominations for Venturing Leadership Awards for youth and adults are due to the council office by March 1. Be sure to turn the nomination forms in to your District Executive. For more information contact Rob Matuska at 412-325-7978. New Venturing Positions   Three new positions have been added to the Venturing Crews. These positions count as leadership positions for the Gold and Silver Award as well as a position of responsibility for Boy Scout advancement toward Eagle. They are Crew Historian, Crew Guide and Crew Quartermaster. COUNCIL VENTURING PROGRAM The Venturing Committee is currently recruiting adult volunteers to be a part of the planning of future Venturing activities. The council’s Venturing Committee is chaired by Jack Getkin from the Conestoga District. The committee meets on the third Wednesday of each month. The meetings are held in the Bicentennial Room at Flag Plaza and begin at 7:30 p.m. Meetings are open to anyone interested in the Venturing program. Please contact Jack at jackg@herrmann-assoc.com or 412-341-9255. You can also contact Rob Matuska at 412-325-7978 or rmatuska@bsamail.org. To locate a Venturing crew nearby, please visit our council website at www.gpc-bsa.org and click on the Venturing logo on the welcome page.

SKI AND SNOWBOARD DAY  IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!! The response to the 3rd Annual Snowboard & Ski Day has been overwhelming! We have more than twice the number of participants than last year already registered. What would normally be good news is actually bad news. If we add any more people, the slopes at Mystic Mountain will be overcrowded.   The rental of skis could take over an hour, lift lines would have a 30 minute wait and safety would become a concern.  For this reason we have to limit participation this weekend to only those who registered in advance.  We are extremely sorry about any inconvenience this might cause you or your unit.  This change is in your best interest as your day of skiing would be not be enjoyable with a huge crowd. THE GOOD NEWS: Mystic Mountain is offering us a second weekend of snowboarding & skiing on Saturday, March 1 and Sunday, March 2.  It will be a duplicate of this weekend including the same great price!   In order to avoid the overcrowding, we will need advance registration via e-mail (GPC_Venturing@verizon.net) or telephone (412-922-8949) by Tuesday, February 26.   We will not be accepting forms or money in advance – you will bring the registration form with you and pay when you arrive.  This allows you more flexibility as there would be no penalty in the event your numbers change. Attached is a copy of the new form.  You can also download them at the website http://ski.306-bsa.org. Thank you for your understanding.  Please let us know if you can join us for Weekend #2!    What is the VOA?   VOA stands for Venturing Officers’ Association. We develop an annual program plan of events to bring Venturing youth and crews together from throughout the council. Our annual coordinated program consists of youth leadership development programs, like the Venturing Officer’s Leadership Conference, and Venturing Leadership Conclave. Skill based activities, such as the annual ski and snowboard weekend, and special “Fall Activity”, which features a new skill area each year. High adventure programs such as the GPC-VOA Superactivity conducted every other year and RangerQuest – which is a weeklong sampling of local high adventure opportunities. We also work to support the operations of the council by providing Venturing support to leadership development, summer camping, youth advancement, adult recognition and membership recruitment. We also foster communication to and between crews throughout the council through our web site www.gpc-venturing.org. To support these efforts we conduct monthly meetings at Flag Plaza the third Wednesday of each month from 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. You can become involved through representing your district, becoming elected to the VOA as an officer, or volunteer to serve as a chairperson or staff member for a VOA sponsored event. Every crew is invited to send a representative to the VOA meetings to help develop VOA events.