Piedmont Venturing Officers Association (VOA)

On April 28th, Sofia Stahl received the first Venturing Discovery Award in the history of Piedmont Council BSA!  Roughly 5 years ago, the Venturing program rolled out a newly designed series of 4 awards: the Venturing, Discovery, Pathfinder, and the Summit which is the ultimate award toe strive for, considered to be equivalent to Scouting’s Eagle Award. Each of the awards is progressively more challenging, requiring more participation in their crew, more demonstration of leadership, and training for personal development. To achieve the Summit Award, the recipient will have demonstrated considerable experience in planning extensive trips or projects, ability to mentor others in their leadership, have cultivated excellence in working and managing others, and have contributed to the success of their own crew.

Sofia showed considerable tenacity in attaining the Discovery Award, and is well on her way towards the Pathfinder Award. It takes someone with serious motivation to be the first in anything.  She’s taken it upon herself to pave the way for others in the Venturing Crews within Piedmont Council by organizing events that will make it easier for interested youth to pass the requirements.  At the PCSC crew retreat, Sofia sat through a Board of Review, consisting of a board of peers led by crew president Josh Rogers.  After some probing questions, the board deemed her work to be worthy of her receiving the award. Sofia’s attainment of the Discovery Award served to raise awareness of the Venturing Awards and sparked interest among peers to also strive towards getting more awards.

Sofia is a sophomore at Piedmont High School.  She was recently elected as co-VP Program in Piedmont Community Service Crew.  She is the President of Piedmont Service Squad which is a service club for middle school aged kids, run by leaders from PCSC.  She is the incoming co-president of Piedmont VOA, an consortium of the Venturing Crews in Piedmont. Learn More About Venturing Here!