Prism

Prism

Prism was a program that was developed for the summer of 2016 after the BSA requested that the Order of the Arrow find a way increase utilization of the Summit Bechtel Family Scout Reserve and participation at the new Summit Circle.

Prism was designed to be a four-day adventure and service program at the Summit. Prism included access to the entirety of the Scott Summit Center: BMX, mountain biking, skateboarding, archery, climbing, and more. Arrowmen also got to participate in a service project that allowed them to leave their mark on the Summit for future generations. The Prism program ended in a special rededication ceremony on the original grounds on which the Order was founded. The original Treasure Island Scout Reservation ceremony grounds were moved and recreated in their entirety at the Summit Circle. Famously known for being the birthplace of the OA, Treasure Island’s rich history is well remembered at the new grounds and features burden stones and relics from the original site.

Each Lodge was given eight spots to send Arrowmen to the Prism program as part of the inaugural year of the Summit Circle at the Summit Bechtel Reserve. Each session of Prism was hosted by a region, and the program ended at the end of summer 2016.

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New Brotherhood Ceremony

New Brotherhood Ceremony

In mid-2014, the Order of the Arrow released the newest revision to the Ceremony for the Brotherhood for official use effective January 1, 2015. The last revision was over fifty years ago in 1961.

During section conclaves throughout the country in 2013, the new text was introduced. In the largest effort of its kind, the National OA Committee sought feedback from Arrowmen around the nation regarding the proposed changes. Over 3,000 Brothers from 200 lodges in 45 sections viewed and provided feedback leading to over 3,700 responses.

In the old ceremony, brotherhood was focused on the level of membership, not as brotherhood itself. To many, the Brotherhood Obligation seemed unnecessary, the ceremonial tone administrative, the symbolism disconnected, and the principle character’s parts unequal.

The new ceremony addresses several of these shortcomings, while retaining familiar tokens and tests. It features a “legend within the Legend,” four balanced principle character parts, simplified administration of the Brotherhood seals, and a rich meaning for the two bars on the Brotherhood sash. This revision is written fully in verse where Brotherhood builds upon the lessons of the pre-Ordeal and Ordeal ceremonies.

Commended is Jay Dunbar for his leading role in the revision, as well as Tipisa Lodge, for serving as the demonstration lodge.

References:

http://www.oa-bsa.org/pages/content/the-new-brotherhood-ceremony

http://www.oa-bsa.org/pages/content/new-brotherhood-ceremony-information

http://www.oa-bsa.org/pages/content/new-brotherhood-ceremony-released

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The Advance! - National Meeting to Reflect on the OA's First 100 Years

During the weekend of August 1-3, 2014, the national Order of the Arrow committee, key volunteers, and members of the OA national staff met at the University of Charleston – Beckley Campus, in Beckley, West Virginia for a powerful weekend dedicated to looking at both the past and future of the Order of the Arrow.  Dubbed “The Advance!,” the event afforded participants an opportunity to reflect on the OA’s first 100 years, followed by an increased focus on how the Order might continue to grow in relevance and impact during its next century.  

No formal decisions were made regarding programs in the OA’s immediate future. Instead, the group looked inward and held discussions related to all aspects of the Order of the Arrow.  These topics included communications, outdoor stewardship, Cub Scout support and strategies regarding membership and retention.  During the three-day event, participants were challenged to not only explore the Order of the Arrow’s mission and purpose, but to share their personal experiences and ideas with one another.  Key programs and initiatives of the OA’s centennial anniversary were introduced, including the launch of the Arrowman Service Award.

The highlight of the weekend was a dedication ceremony at the Summit Circle, the OA’s new home at the Summit Bechtel Reserve.  The ceremony, conducted by the 2014 national officers, included an original test of Ordeal membership as well as a symbolic construction of the fire ring in the site.  The ceremony concluded with the national officers distributing candles and molded necklaces in the shape of an arrowhead containing a piece of rock from Treasure Island Scout Reservation.  The necklace was designed to symbolize the OA’s transition to its new home at the Summit Bechtel Reserve.  At the end of The Advance!, National Chairman Ray Capp presented the first 2015 National Order of the Arrow Conference promotional patches to

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Change in Lodge Number Usage

Lodge numbers were issued from 1926 until 2004. While it was a long tradition of the Order to use lodge numbers, they eventually became outdated and problematic. For all other purposes the national office was using council numbers. Lodge numbers were confusing and a relic of the past. Furthermore, the numbers had lost a great deal of their meaning by 2004. While the original numbers were given out in the order the lodges received their charters that practice had changed. The change was the result of councils and their lodges merging. In early years when two or more lodges merged together they would typically retain the lowest number. That way the number represented the order in which the OA had first come to the council.

But sometimes disagreement occurred within the new lodge over which number to use. Starting in 1972, new lodges formed because of a merger were given three choices on selection of their number. They could use one of the numbers of the merging lodges or they could use the next number not already in use or they could request the re-issuance of a number that was no longer in use. The first such example of reusing a number was the re-issuance of the number eight to Mascoutens Lodge of Racine, Wisconsin.

By 1990 a new option for lodge numbers was used, the lodge could use their council number if it was available.

With the diminished meaning and usefulness of numbers it was decided in 2004 to no longer issue lodge numbers. All records are now kept by the national office using the council number and lodge numbers are not used. It should be noted that the council number did not replace the lodge number and the local lodge may still use lodge numbers, but they have no official national usage and lodge numbers are merely historical artifacts of the early days of the Order of the Arrow.

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Del Loder

Del Loder’s Scouting career and OA history are lengthy and distinguished. In 2009 Del received the prestigious Order of the Arrow Lifetime Achievement Award. Del Loder has experienced a lifetime of wisdom and knowledge and he has spent his service in the Order imparting it to his fellow Arrowmen.

Del was introduced to Scouting at the age of seven when his father took him to a “Scout Circus” in Seattle, Washington. Years later while Del was a young assistant Scoutmaster, he made a list of Scout leaders that he wanted to meet. On that list was E. Urner Goodman, the founder of the Order of the Arrow. Surprisingly, the OA was not a topic on Del's agenda should he have the opportunity to talk to Dr. Goodman. Del wanted to speak with Dr. Goodman to learn how he went about organizing the first National Jamboree in the United States.

In May 1948, Del Loder met E. Urner Goodman. After the nineteen year-old Loder received the answers he sought, Goodman asked him a life-changing question. Goodman inquired about Loder's knowledge regarding the Order of the Arrow. Goodman walked Del through the Ordeal and Brotherhood process including Goodman’s own Vigil on the Devil's Tea Table. Loder would later say, “That was my beginning".

Del was elected into the Order in 1954. As a Scoutmaster at the time, Del made sure that his Scout Troop was registered for the first week of camp when the OA was to be chartered in his council. The first elected member of the OA in his council came from his unit that summer at camp, and Del was inducted on July 3, 1954. Del started as Adviser to the Historian in the new lodge and underwent the Brotherhood ceremony in 1955. He later became the Adviser of the Brotherhood Committee.

In 1956, his Lodge's Adviser, Ford Smith, was appointed to the National OA Committee, thus creating a void that needed filling. Loder's Scout Executive asked him to take over, but he turned it down. Del's commitment was to his Scout Troop, and he made it clear to his scout executive that he wished to continue service to his troop. In July 1958, Del was recognized with the Vigil Honor.

Although Del was not in the Order as a youth (Seattle had the Order of the Silver Marmot, a local camp honor society supplanted by the OA in 1954), he worked very closely with the ceremonies team as an adult. At that time, the Order of the Arrow was still more adult run in parts of the country than today giving Del a chance to experience being Meteu, the storyteller in the ceremonies.

Nearly ten years and multiple requests to be lodge adviser later, Del took over the role of Lodge Adviser in 1965, which he served for ten years. Meanwhile, Del attended the Golden Anniversary National Conference in Bloomington, Indiana where he realized that, though his lodge was in great shape, there were some problems. He instituted an effective training program for his youth lodge leaders and ensured that all his leaders knew the "ins and outs" of the OA. Del later served as Associate Section Adviser and then Section Adviser.

In August of 1974 Del was appointed to serve the National Council on the National OA Committee by the BSA President. Del was surprised that he was appointed (a testament to his character). At his first meeting, Del was asked to become the Chairman of the Ceremonies committee for the OA. Del, always having been interested in OA ceremonies, was thrilled to take on that position. He also knew that would give him the chance to work with Goodman. As a member of the National OA Committee, Del inherited what he deemed to be "a group of dedicated thinkers for ceremonies" (the Ceremonial Advisory Group or CAG).

Del's committee solved a great many of the problems in ceremonies that existed at that time. In 1975, Del was recognized for his unselfish service to the Order with the Distinguished Service Award. Meanwhile, Del served as the Western Region Area One Adviser concurrently with the National OA Committee. Del left the Ceremonies Committee in 1981 to become the Western Region Chairman. He "loved the position and the people with whom he worked," said Loder. "I traveled everywhere, and loved every minute."

Leadership and training has always been a passion for Del. In 1975, Del was concerned that there was no existing national OA Training program for lodge officers and advisers so he convinced the National OA Committee to re-institute the National Training Course and to create a new and improved training program (Brad Haddock spearheaded the effort as National Chief, while he was chief). In 1979, the program was fully functioning; the National and Region Chiefs would meet with Del to review the draft and plan. Del would ensure that the plan was enforced. This program developed into the National Leadership Seminar, and later the Lodge Leadership Development program. Del’s service continued when he assisted in the reformation of NLS and the creation of NLATS.

Del was appointed to the Founder's Council by then National Chairman Dr. Carl Marchetti. He served on the Council for two years, after which he was appointed National Vice Chairman of Lodge operations in 1993. This was also the first time he served the OA at a National Scout Jamboree. Del returned to the Founder's Council as Chair of the Goodman Society one year later.

In addition to his extensive list of accomplishments, Del has worked with OA Shows at seven National Jamborees, and worked on the OA training program where he trained in three of the four regions in the NLATS program. Del has attended every National Conference since 1959, attending a total of more than 28 national events. Throughout the past 65 years Del Loder has been involved in Scouting, his favorite memory is still the first time he stood in front of his Scoutmaster and held up the Scout sign proudly to recite the Scout Oath and Law.

Of the great many highlights in his Scouting career and in particular the Order of the Arrow, Del was given the opportunity to work with Goodman on the Ceremonies Committee during the last ten years of Goodman's life. Del sees the ceremonies as the most important part of the OA because they explain everything about the Order. His favorite part is in the Ordeal ceremony when Allowat Sakima says, "you are now entitled to all rights and privileges of the Order of the Arrow."

Del's advice to young Arrowmen today is,

Know the ceremonies; they are the core of the Order.

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100th BSA Anniversary

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) celebrated its 100^th anniversary on February 8, 2010. Since 1937, the BSA has held 18 National Scout Jamborees and has been host to a World Scout Jamboree. Prior to the 2010 National Scout Jamboree, the BSA held a 100^th Anniversary Parade on the national parade route in Washington DC Over 7,000 Scouts participated in the event. Following the parade, the BSA held the last National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. At the Jamboree, it was announced that all future Jamborees would be held at the Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve.

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Dabney Kennedy

Dabney Kennedy epitomizes the lifetime Scout and lifetime Arrowman. His life has been devoted to leading and serving the Order. Otena Lodge of Comanche Trail Council, Brownswood Texas, inducted Kennedy into the Order in 1950. He served as a youth officer in Otena, first as Lodge Secretary and then two terms as Lodge Chief. He then at age 18 became “Junior Lodge Advisor”. In 1952, a time when the Brotherhood Honor was treated by many lodges improperly as an award, Kennedy became the first Brotherhood Honor member in his lodge. In 1954 Kennedy became Otena Lodge’s first Vigil Honor member. The Vigil name selected for Dabney is a Sioux name Akikta, “One who works with determination”.

As an adult Dabney Kennedy served 20 years as Lodge Adviser, 22 years as Section Adviser and more than 40 years as part of the National OA Committee or its Founder’s Advisory Council. Kennedy is credited with creating and designing the Founder’s Award. He has participated in more the 35 national events including serving as Program Chairman for more than ten NOACs. It was Kennedy that recognized the need for one-year national officer terms and the benefits of national OA events every summer. Dabney received the OA Distinguished Service Award in 1969 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

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Obama Elected President

After a historical election, Senator Barack Obama from Illinois was inaugurated as the first African-American President of the United States. Continuing a long-standing tradition of service, Scouts traveled from around the nation to join the Amangamek Wipit Lodge in participating in the Inaugural Service Corps. Scout service for the 56^th Inauguration included distributing American flags and helping to support logistics for over two million attendees on the National Mall in Washington, DC.  Following in the footsteps of all presidents since William Howard Taft, President Obama became the Honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America.

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Treasure Island Closes 1913-2008

After 95 years Treasure Island Scout Reservation, the birthplace of our Order in 1915, ceased operation as a summer camp after the 2008 season. At the time of closing Treasure Island was the oldest continually operated Scout camp in the nation. Treasure Island fell victim to its location, an island in the middle of the Delaware River.

The camp over the years had endured floods, but the floods of 2005 and 2006 proved too costly. The camp had re-opened in 2007 and 2008, but the sanitation needs and other improvements necessary to run the camp were too expensive, especially with the risk of another flood.

Volunteers maintain the camp for the local council. Many still hope that the camp that Goodman watched over on that night in 1915 that he kept his vigil will one day serve Scouting again.

2, Founders, Goodman, OA, Scouting

Fourth Lifetime Achievement Award

Del Loder is the fourth Arrowman to be awarded the OA’s most prestigious honor: The Lifetime Achievement Award. Del is a Vigil Honor member of T'Kope Kwiskwis lodge in Seattle, WA and has been involved in scouting for over 65 years.

Del was inducted into the OA on July 3, 1954, and became a Brotherhood member in 1955 and was recognized with the Vigil Honor in 1958. Del has served the OA in many capacities including: Lodge Adviser, Associate Section and Section Adviser, National OA Committee member, Western Region Area One Adviser and Western Region Chairman.

Del has served on the National OA Committee in a number of capacities since 1973, and he received the OA Distinguished Service Award in 1975. Del, in serving his beloved Order of the Arrow has touched so many lives.

Following is an excerpt from Del Loder’s speech upon receiving the award at the 2009 NOAC:

To employ the Power of One you first have to understand, know and actively believe and follow the Tenth point of the Scout Law, a Scout is Brave. As I remember as I memorized it over 65 years ago: A SCOUT IS BRAVE, he has the courage to face danger in spite of fear, to stand up for the right against coaxing of friends or jeers and threats of enemies. Defeat does him down. With this in mind and in your habit memory you can begin to use the power of one. But remember you must be brave. You will know that in the beginning of the Power of One, you must understand that in each one of us there burns a flame of independence and integrity that must never be allowed to go out. That as long as it burns within us we cannot be destroyed. We will find the truth . . .

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Leadership in Service Award

At the 2004 NOAC, the National OA Committee announced a new award aimed at honoring the Order’s heritage of service. To earn the Leadership in Service Award, an Arrowman provided 8 hours of service to his/her local camp and provided 6 hours of community service through a lodge or chapter run community service project. The award could be earned three times. The first time an Arrowman earned the award, he received a blue ribbon with a suspended red arrowhead attached at the bottom. The ribbon could be worn as a temporary device on the field uniform. Arrowmen earning the award subsequent times would be awarded with a device to wear on the ribbon. The Leadership in Service Award was active for the years 2005-2007.

2, Awards, OA, Scouting

Third Lifetime Achievement Award

In 2006, the third Legacy of Servant Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dabney Kennedy.

Dabney Kennedy was born in March 1936, in Stephenville, Texas, a little town about 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth. He enrolled in Cub Scouting and earned the Arrow of Light. When old enough, he became a Boy Scout, serving first as patrol leader and later as senior patrol leader. He earned the Eagle Award, with palms, and then went on to join Explorers and earn that program’s Silver Award.

Kennedy was inducted into the very small Otena lodge in 1950. The lodge was so young that there were no Brotherhood Honor members in it at that point. In 1952, Kennedy became Otena’s first Brotherhood member and was bestowed this honor by Karankawa Lodge. In 1954 he was in his lodge’s first class of Vigil Honor members and received the name “Akikta” which is interpreted as “One Who Works With Determination.” Kennedy served as lodge secretary, two terms as lodge chief, and at the age of 18 he was appointed to be the “junior lodge adviser”. Kennedy attended as a youth numerous area meetings, and got to know E. Urner Goodman.

He served on the camp staff and later became the camp director. At the National Jamboree in 1957 at Valley Forge he served on the OA Service Corps and led his lodge delegation to NOAC in Lawrence, Kansas in 1958. Since 1958, Kennedy has participated in and played an instrumental part in the production of over 30 national events for the Order. He served the Order as the program chairman for over ten National OA Conferences (NOAC) where he was responsible for most of the coordination of NOAC.

Dabney is a recipient of the OA Distinguished Service Award (1969), Silver Beaver (1970), and Silver Antelope (1989). He has served as Cubmaster, Troop Committee Chairman, Council Camping Chairman, Lodge Adviser of Colonneh Lodge for 20 years, and section adviser for 22 years. He was appointed Vice Chairman of Program in 1985 for the National OA Committee, a post he held through 1996 – and he served as the lead adviser for NOAC and other national OA events during those years.

These accomplishments, however impressive themselves, cannot begin to describe the positive influence and mark Dabney has left on the Order. Kennedy also made an impact on the Order as a whole by designing and creating the Founder’s Award. As a visionary of his time, he realized the need to have a national event every summer and the importance of electing new national youth officers for one-year terms instead of two-year terms. Dabney was appointed to the National OA Committee in 1970 and quickly got involved in the development and implementation of the Order’s national programs. He helped to create the OA 60^th Anniversary / Bicentennial Award, rolled out in 1975, and later NOAC participation awards and the OA 75^th Anniversary Award. He created the OA’s history in coins and guided the production and preservation of the video footage of Dr. Goodman.

Outside of Scouting, in 1964 Kennedy graduated from the University of Texas, School of Pharmacy and had a very successful career as a pharmacist. Most notably, he spent 30 years working for the Dow Chemical Company as a Regional Sales Manager, National Sales Trainer, and National Safety Manager. He married his wife Peggy Jean in 1960 and has two sons that are both Eagle Scouts and members of the Order.

When he received the Lifetime Achievement Award, he wore the sash Goodman gave to Carl Marchetti—the same sash Marchetti wore to receive his Lifetime Achievement Award. Kennedy wished that all future recipients would wear the sash when accepting the award.

When asked about his strong and continued magnetic passion for the Order of the Arrow he responded that the most rewarding part of continued service was being able to watch young boys grow and develop into strong, mature leaders through the Order. He went on to say that a NOAC is so important and unique because the youth volunteers set the standard. NOAC allows young leaders to breathe new life and ideas into the Order and gives them a chance to nurture their strengths as young men and the leaders of tomorrow.

Those who are acquainted with Dabney and have benefited from his counsel know first-hand of his effectiveness as an adviser and mentor, of his persistence and determination. He is known to be inspired and inspiring, motivated and motivating. He is passionate about everything he undertakes, an innovator and a peacemaker. Arrowmen of all ages admire him. Dabney Kennedy is truly an inspirational leader and the Order of the Arrow is fortunate to have such a devoted volunteer who seeks, and challenges others to seek, the higher vision.

2, Awards, OA, Scouting