The Boy Scouts of America Learning for Life Explorer program is opening doors for youth ages 14 to 21 to figure out what career they want in the future. Exploring posts are available in a variety of fields including education and law enforcement.
"This is a career exploration program. It basically provides experiences for young people to prepare them for careers," said Linda Willis, Learning for Life and Exploring director for the Caddo Area Council Boy Scouts. "What we do it connect organizations and businesses in the community and partner them with young people who are interested in that particular field."
Exploring posts usually meet about twice a month and provide hands-on activities for youth to learn about the profession of their interest.
"It's designed to be hands-on and not another lecture class," Willis said. "It's to give them hands-on experience in this particular field."
The vision statement for exploring is to "shape the workforce of tomorrow by engaging and mentoring today's youth in careers and life opportunities."
"We look at it as three outcomes from exploring. One is you decide it's the career you thought it was and you want to pursue it. Or two it's not what you thought and it's not a good fit for you and you choose to go another direction. Or three you learn a lot of great information, you meet new friends, made good contacts with adults in that particular field. It's not your choice but you have good life experiences out of it," Willis said.
To get involved, call the Boy Scout office at 903-793-2179, visit exploring.org or speak with a school counselor.
"We reach out to schools and we're in constant communication with school counselors, teachers and educators in our area to let them know which posts are available," Willis said.
There is an annual fee of $40 for organizations to participate. That includes registration to the national program and provides liability insurance for them. For youth participants there is an annual fee of $33 which includes registration and provides medical insurance that covers them anytime they're involved in an exploring activity.
"There could be assistance available if someone needs it. We don't want anyone turned away from the program because of that," Willis said.
Current and prospective Exploring posts include law enforcement, education, fire/EMS/law enforcement, aviation, engineering, health careers, pre-law, skilled trades, parks and sports management, STEM-TC, veterinary science and volunteer.