The 2018 National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC) will debut the ceremonies Exemplar Recognition program—the natural evolution of how we recognize the highest levels of ceremonial excellence.
NOAC currently recognizes teams who meet a high national standard as Honor Teams, determined by nationally-certified Evaluators. This reinforces that participation in Ceremonies Evaluations is not for the sake of ranking one team, method, or lodge over another. Rather, it is to motivate ceremonialists to achieve excellence, and above all, to improve the candidate experience.
The natural evolution and expansion of this program is to provide more rigorous, objective measures of a team’s achievement and to identify the teams that serve as role models—as lasting inspirations to Arrowmen throughout the Order.
These challenges are met with the new ceremonies Exemplar Recognition program, where qualified, outstanding ceremonial teams can achieve truly rarified status: being named as National Exemplars. As Exemplars, they will be widely recognized for their efforts in a lasting manner and serve as useful and inspirational examples for every lodge on a national stage—including after we depart from NOAC.
Those recognized as National Exemplars will have truly risen to the challenge. They must demonstrate their commitment to Consistency, Excellence, and Service by performing repeatedly at high levels against national standards, both in a video submission and again in a live demonstration at NOAC. If selected, Exemplars will serve as national role models, as their video will be posted on the ICE Portal with accompanying commentary as a training aid for teams across the nation.
Consistent with past NOACs, each lodge may send one (or more) ceremonies teams to Honor Team evaluations, and any team that qualifies is named an Honor Team.
This year, a lodge’s ceremonies team may also choose to seek recognition as National Exemplars, but only one team may represent each lodge for Exemplar evaluation. The team may demonstrate either the Pre-Ordeal or Brotherhood ceremony, and it must present the same ceremony both in the video submission and the live demonstration.
The Exemplar Recognition program is a rigorous process designed to challenge ceremonialists, identify the highest-quality teams in the country, and engage their ability to “Decide their Destiny” and serve as role models to their brothers nationwide. Lodges should prepare to give their outstanding teams a chance for unmatched recognition on the national stage, this summer, at the 2018 NOAC!
More information, including an overview of the entire process and guidelines for video submission, are provided on the ICE Portal at https://oa-bsa.org/resources/inductions. Please watch that space for continuing details on status and FAQs.