As a Boy Scout for 10 years, Clark Farley has always demonstrated excellence determination for success. Since a young age Farley has showed interest in the outdoors and took his enthusiasm by joining Cub scouts at the Age of eight. “My first experience with Boy Scouts of America was when I became a member of Cub Scout Pack 633 in Longhorn Council Arlington, Texas,” stated Farley. As a child Farley’s Grandpa has always inspired him “My grandpa has always been a great inspiration to my cousins and me.  As I look forward, I hope to follow his great example and continue his legacy.”

Farley described his first initial years of Cub Scouts as “new adventure.” “Cub Scouting gave me new opportunities that I wouldn’t otherwise experienced.  As I learned, my interest grew,” said Farley. Cub Scouts is based on the Merit Badge system and Scouts progress and earn badges for certain completed tasks. The topics range from athletics to backpacking to cultural awareness and Scouts complete these tasks receiving badges which leads to progressing in ranks.

“The Pack took us to camps where I learned everything like how to shoot a bow, sew a button, lead a camp song, clean a campsite, tell a story, treat animals, and assist a fellow cub with First-Aid,” Stated Farley. Clark described the information learned at Scouts as “Valuable skills that prompted me to become an informed citizen at a young age.” 

After the completion of Cub Scouts Farley continued his Scouts career to Boy Scouts and began to become more heavily involved in his troop and the Boy Scouts of America Association. “I really enjoy the responsibility of being a leader and I began to become determined to create a troop that was as efficient as possible,” stated Farley.

Farley moved on to state some  problems that occurred. “In my Troop there was a lack of communication between patrols and as the Troop’s Senior Patrol Leader (the top youth leader position in Boy Scouts) I hoped to counteract issues among the Troop. I started the implementation Patrol Leader Council meetings to help them do their job better and serve more in a mentor-style role.” With the implementation of the Patrol Leader Council the issues amongst patrols were eliminated and “Our Troop was functioning better than ever,” stated Farley. Farley stated “This even lead us to be awarded 3rd Patrol and Honor Troop Award at Camp Parsons which was a huge honor and that memory still serves a special spot in my heart.” Farley moved on to state “The gratifying experiences we had together that summer plus receiving this camp honor has also motivated me and other scouts to continue onward toward the highest award in Boy Scouts.”  

Following completing his Eagle Scout Farley stated “I wanted to continue my involvement in BSA post Eagle Scout and I began to miss the adventure aspect Boys Scouts had to offer.” Farley began to research options of how to remain involved in the BSA and discovered the Venturing program.

The venturing program is a youth led program that allows members to “acquire life skills and gain experiences that will prove to be valuable regardless of where your future takes you, all while having a blast: leadership, event-planning, organization, communication, responsibility.” Farley stated that the program was opportunity to “create a crew that is relative and interesting to teenagers and motivates individuals to become active in the outdoors.”  Farley meet with advisor Matt Strother and immediately began to take actions to create a Venturing Crew in Silverdale, Wa. “One night at a campout Clark approached me with the his ambitious idea of creating a Venturing Crew. We ended up staying up until like one in the morning sharing ideas and opinions on how to create and establish the Venturing Crew,” stated Crew Advisor Matt Strother.

After running ideas and creating a rough plan Farley began to work on the creation of the venturing crew. “Throughout the summer I worked side by side with Matt Strother filling out paperwork and thinking about the logistics of creating a Venturing crew,” stated Farley. Farley implemented his leadership skills and remained persistent throughout the process. “The hardest part was the length of time it took to create and finalize the paperwork, I was just so excited to get the crew established,” stated Farley. After the finalization of paperwork and working out the last minute kinks Crew 1548 was formed. 

Later after reflecting on his journey through Boy Scouts Farley stated that “Boys Scouts of America and the Venturing BSA are two programs that have dramatically shaped my life for the better. These programs continue to help boys on their journey to become men teaching them valuable life skills and lessons.”