Club History

The history of Adventurers started back in 1917 when the Primary Reading Course was introduced. This certificate eventually became part of the class requirements. In 1924 the Sunbeam class was taught in a second-grade classroom and a pin was awarded for completing the requirements. The awarding of the Busy Bee pin first appeared in 1928 as part of the commencement exercises at school, and by 1929 the term “Investiture Service” was used to describe the event where they awarded certificates and pins. The Busy Bee Pledge and Law also first appeared in 1929. 

The names used for this age group have varied over time and location and included Preparatory classes, Pre-Juniors, Pre-Friends, Pre-JMV, Pre-AJY, Pre-Pathfinders, Achievement classes, and Adventurers. 

By 1933, this group was known as “Preparatory Members”. The two predominant classes taught on the West Coast of the United States were Busy Bee and Helping Hands, while to the East they were known as Sunbeam and Builder. All of these classes used the same Pledge and Law, with only slight differences in the other requirements. 

By 1938 the term “Progressive Class Work” was used when referring to all the classes from Busy Bee up to Master Comrade. 

In 1940 the General Conference outlined two Missionary Volunteer Progressive Classes that were below the Friend class. They were Sunbeam and Builder. They had simple celluloid pins, and where neckerchiefs were desired, tan was used for the Sunbeams and jade green for the Builders.

 Because of so many other names being used for these classes, both in the U.S. and overseas, such as “Upstreamer,” “Junior Light Bearers,” “Sunshine Club,” and “Golden Rule,” the MV committee voted on June 10, 1946 that the Pre-Junior classes be named Busy Bee, Sunbeam, Builder and Helping Hands. 

In 1953 there was first seen a pre-Pathfinder Adventurers group, and by 1954 Adventurer camps started up in different conferences for boys and girls age 9 and later on for both 8 and 9-year-olds. 

The name Adventurers was used again in 1963 for a pre-Pathfinder group, this time at the Pioneer Memorial Church at Andrews University.