 I never thought I would one day achieve the Queen’s Venturer Award. I remember attending my brother’s award ceremony several years ago. It had the same atmosphere ?anticipation, excitement, and of course, relief. I had come a long way to earn this award and in the process, learned more than I ever could in my whole scouting experience. On this trip to Victoria, I met forty other award recipients who have worked hard and are the result of countless hours of devotion to scouts. The Venturer motto, “Challenge? is our basic guideline in which to head to our destination. We challenge ourselves on a daily basis not solely to be successful, but to learn, grow, and have new experiences. This, to me, is what it means to be a scout and is the foundation for the scouting experience. The award ceremony brought such figures as Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo, the Honourable Murray Coell, and Pacific Coast Council Area Commissioner John Chow to the event. Their words of wisdom reminded us that our future is in our hands and it is up to us to make change if we see something wrong. Whatever the path we go on, we would always have scouts as our root in which to make decisions. In addition to the award ceremony, we were also invited to a Navy Ride back to Vancouver. It was interesting as the sailors took us around for a tour and accompanied that with activities. For example, they had many guns on board and we had fun pretending to aim and shoot. Also, all sailors on board were trained to be firemen and some of us had a chance to put on firemen suits. All in all, I would like to thank my Venturer Advisor, Scouter Joseph Ng, for guiding me along and everyone at scouts for helping me through this time. Even though the Venturer award journey has come to an end for me, I will still continue to learn and grow in this world. As they say, the sky is the limit!
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