What is Exploring

Exploring is part of the Learning for Life career education program for young men and women who are 14 (and have completed the eighth grade) or 15 through 20 years old.

Exploring's purpose is to provide experiences to help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults. Explorers are ready to investigate the meaning of interdependence in their personal relationships and communities.

Exploring is based on a unique and dynamic relationship between youth and the organizations in their communities. Local community organizations initiate an Explorer post by matching their people and program resources to the interests of young people in the community. The result is a program of activities that helps youth pursue their special interests, grow, and develop.

Explorer posts can specialize in a variety of career skills. Exploring programs are based on five areas of emphasis: career opportunities, life skills, service learning, character education, and leadership experience.

Career Opportunities

Develop potential contacts that may broaden employment options
Boost self-confidence and experience success at school and work

Life Skills

Build physical and mental fitness
Experience positive social interaction

Citizenship

Encourage the skill and desire to help others
Gain a keen respect for the basic rights of others

Character Education

Help make ethical choices
Fulfill one's responsibility to society as a whole

Leadership Experience

Acquire leadership skills to fulfill one's responsibilities in society

Goals

Young adults involved in Exploring will

Gain practical knowledge of and experience in a career
Engage in a program of activities centered on career opportunities, life skills, citizenship, character education, and leadership experience to encourage the development of the whole person
Experience positive leadership from adult and youth leaders and be given opportunities to take on leadership roles
Have a chance to learn and grow in a supportive, caring, and enjoyable environment

Methods

The methods of Exploring have been carefully chosen to meet the needs of young adults.

Voluntary association between youth and adults. Because Exploring is voluntary, youth are receptive to new ideas, experiences, and relationships. For the Explorer, these relationships provide a connection to new ways of thinking and acting as well as a new identity as a responsible young adult.
Ethical decision making. Exploring asks young people to be responsible for themselves, for a program of activities and experiences, and for other people, thereby providing numerous opportunities for youth to make effective and ethical decisions. These opportunities are enhanced by the influence of capable adults and structured activities.
Group activities. Exploring activities are interdependent group experiences. Success depends on the cooperation of all.
Recognition of achievement. Recognition might come through formal awards, but it also is achieved through the acknowledgment by peers and adults of a young person's competence and abilities.
Democratic process. Explorer posts provide exposure to democratic ideals and skills that are needed throughout life.
Curiosity, exploration, and adventure. Curiosity is encouraged and a sense of exploration and adventure is developed through new experiences that provide opportunities for youth to acquire new skills and participate in action-oriented activities.

Post Specialties

Every Explorer post specializes in a specific career program area. More than 100 different specialties have been organized, ranging from accounting to zoology. Some specialty programs, such as the following, have grown to include a national committee, activities, and staff support.

Medical and Health Careers: The American Medical Association and other national health organizations support the establishment of posts in hospitals, clinics, medical centers, schools, and other health-care organizations. These posts render valuable community service and give members an insight into a variety of career opportunities.

Law Enforcement: This specialty is endorsed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriff's Association and is helped by other national law enforcement organizations and industries. Posts can provide assistance in crime prevention and traffic control.

Aviation: The aviation specialty encompasses a range of programs, including maintenance, operations, construction, flight attendants, airport management, and aerospace. The Federal Aviation Administration supports this growth, along with aviation organizations, unions, and industries.

Law and Government: The American Bar Association and other organizations support the high interest of many youth in law or government participation through Exploring. Law Day activities, mock trials, and other law-related activities provide firsthand experience in America's legal and court system.

Engineering: Many national engineering societies endorse this specialty area of Exploring. Its goal is to promote post programs that open and expand Explorers' understanding of the many opportunities in engineering and technology.

Skilled Trades: The Skilled Trades specialty area includes posts that are organized around interests in auto repair, cosmetology, electrical, carpentry, and construction, to name a few.

Business: Through the Business specialty area, young adults become prepared for many types of careers, from accounting to financial planning. Many posts organize their program around knowledge of business planning and practices in addition to career preparation.

Communications: This specialty is endorsed by the Broadcast Education Association, International Association of Business Communicators, National Association of Broadcasters, National Press Photographers Association Inc., Public Relations Society of America, and Women in Communications. The Exploring program can serve as an effective outreach program that exposes high school students to careers in communications and public relations.

Others: In addition to the above, other popular Explorer post specialties include conservation, computers, firefighting, music, science, rescue, radio-TV, architecture, photography, and journalism.

Ethics in Action

An important goal of Exploring is to help young adults be responsible and caring people, both now and in the future. Exploring uses "character education activities" to help young adults develop the ability to make responsible choices that reflect their concern for what is at risk and for the people involved. Because a character education activity is a problem-solving situation, leaders expect young adults to use empathy, invention, and selection when they think through their position and work toward a solution.

Post Activities

What an Explorer post does is limited only by the imagination and involvement of its leadersobuild a glider, make an electric car, produce a play, conduct a mock trial, or teach disabled people to swim. Posts across the country today are experiencing all these adventures and many more. All that is needed are concerned adults who are willing to share a little bit of themselves with today's youth—tomorrow's citizens.

Getting Your Post Up and Running

Organizing posts is easy for an organization to do if it follows these steps:

Conduct an annual survey in community high schools to determine student's career and hobby interests.
Call a meeting of key people within an organization, with an Exploring representative in attendance. This representative explains special-interest Exploring, describes key volunteer positions, and plans the recruiting of adult leaders.
Have a meeting between the post committee and Advisors and the Exploring representative. Explain the responsibilities of adult leaders. The Exploring representative also discusses program ideas and helps develop a one-year program, which is reviewed and adopted.
Have the organization's top executive write a personal letter to each young adult selected from the survey, inviting the youths and their parents to attend an organizational meeting. Follow up this letter with a personal invitation from a member of the organization to each prospective Explorer.
Have the first meeting, involving young adults, the post committee, and selected consultants. Make plans for the installation of elected youth officers.

What Youth Want

Exploring research has revealed these major points:

High school students are interested in careers/vocations.
Teenagers want a broader experience that supplements career information with practical, "hands-on" experience and is tailored to their cultural backgrounds.
Teenagers want to belong to a group that provides a safe place from which they can address the issues that affect them as they grow and develop. These issues include becoming more independent, developing social relationships, undergoing psychological changes, reaching sexual maturity, and re-evaluating values.

Program Support

Learning for Life Staff

Learning for Life provides Explorer posts with the following support:

Professional and volunteer staff to help the post succeed
Recruiting, training, and guiding of a volunteer district/division support staff organization
An annual Explorer program planning conference
An annual career interest survey of all high schools in the community
Activity planning and the use of Learning for Life facilities, such as camps

Liability Insurance for Participating Organizations: General liability insurance covers the participating organization on a primary basis for any responsibility they may have on Exploring-related matters without asking the participating organization or its own insurance to be involved.

Adult and Youth Leader Training: Learning for Life provides basic and advanced adult leader training sessions along with an annual post leader workshop, quarterly Advisor meetings, and an annual Explorer program planning conference.

National Awards, Activities, and Scholarships

Explorer Awards

Explorer Activities That Enhance Explorer's Participation Include

Explorer Scholarships

For More Information

For more information on Awards, as well as how to earn them, click here.

What is Exploring?