manage, and conduct the service activities. Special Programs and Events. As part of their programs, Varsity Scouts were encouraged to incorporate special programs and events on a regular basis. These could include district, council, regional, and national events as well as joint activities with neighboring teams or other groups, including activities involving girls of similar age. Varsity Scouting shared the Aims and Methods of the Boy Scout program. History Origins Varsity Scouting was the brainchild of Dr. J. D. Mortensen, a prominent thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon in Salt Lake City, Utah, and an influential member of the Boy Scouts of America. He served for 13 years on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Young Men Mutual Improvement Association (YMMIA) General Board and for several years as chairman of its General Scout Committee. He wrote numerous manuals and supplements for the YMMIA. He served on the faculty at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, as advancement chairman for the Great Salt Lake Council, and as a chaplain at four national Scout jamborees, and was a recipient of the Silver Beaver Award, Silver Antelope Award, and the Silver Beehive Award for his work in Scouting. Program development Dr. Mortensen formed a Task Force to develop a Scouting program for 14- to 15-year-old young men in 1975. He asked five other men to assist him in his effort, namely: Alva D. Greene, President of Area 2 in the BSA's Western Region Ross J. Taylor, Executive Director of Area 2 Boyd R. Ivie, Scout Executive of the Great Salt Lake Council Burton F. Brasher, Former member of the YMMIA General Board Verl L. Stark, Area 2 Wood Badge Coordinator The Task Force labored to identify a program theme that would appeal to the young men in the targeted age group. They wanted a program that would encourage the young man to continue along the trail to Eagle, but one that would also encourage "bigger" and more challenging activities. They wanted it to be Scouting, but a version that would be viewed to be different from traditional Scouting. They wanted it to be more advanced, one that would hold the interest of a young man entering High School, a more "Senior" version of Scouting. While driving together on their way to a Scouting function in Pocatello, Idaho, Dr. Mortensen proposed they call their program "Varsity Scouting". The name fit. Everyone in the