"he who speaks truly"
"he who speaks truly"
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The National Order of the Arrow Conference was held from
8/2 - 8/6 at Iowa State University, Ames Iowa, and 19 participants represented
Octoraro lodge 22. The theme of this NOAC was "Memories of the Past, a
Vision for the Future". This NOAC represents the 50th anniversary
of the integration of the OA into the Scouting program. The Scouts and
leaders who attended the conference enjoyed 5 days of fun, fellowship and
training. The delegates all have lots of new insights and The next NOAC will be held in Knoxville, TN in August 2000. YOU should plan to attend.
The Vice Chief's Bonnet Dear Brothers, On behalf of the Lodge Committee and the Officers, I would like to welcome each and everyone to our annual Fall Fellowship Weekend. I hope everyone has had an enjoyable summer. Our lodge has had a very busy summer. We had a very successful Lodge Committee Training Day in August. Over 25 brothers came to learn more about their positions and the lodge in general. Our lodge sent a contingent of 20 brothers to the NOAC in Ames, Iowa. They all had a great time and learned a lot of new and interesting things about our order. Lastly, many of our lodge brothers worked on summer camp staff and helped our OA programs run very well. Brothers "Stick" Smith and Andrew Coe served as the OA Camp Chiefs this year. Having these two young men at camp really helped out our Lodge Chief, John Callahan. These two helped to alleviate some pressure and stress put on John, so on behalf of the lodge I would like to say thank you to those individuals. As I commented before this is our Fall Fellowship weekend. So I encourage each and every one of you to go and work very hard Saturday morning. After lunch the festivities will begin. As usual, we will have the ever popular Horseshoes, volleyball and other assorted sports that will be announced at breakfast. In closing, I challenge each one of you to continue your devoted service to our reservation throughout this weekend. I am sure that each and everyone of you will work your hardest to continue making our camps better for the youth of our council. Yours in Brotherhood, Matt Griffin
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As the National Committee heads in new directions for the Order of the Arrow, the Lodge Committee has also looked for new innovations to improve Octoraro #22. To do this, the officers first decided to meet at Camp Horseshoe to train the relatively new committee in leadership skills, to present organizational tactics, and to verse them in the Order of the Arrow's goals and methods.
The committee met down at Horseshoe on August 8th to discuss these things and much more. In the morning, the committee ate breakfast and then went right into lodge organization, OA fundamentals and an OA version of "What would you do if…", where committee members were given practical situations to solve. After a hearty Horseshoe lunch, the committee reconvened to discuss the goals of the lodge as well as the responsibilities and goals of each of the committees. The officers gave their suggestions and many new ideas and methods were formulated. To conclude the summit, advisors came to the OA Lodge to partake in a committee meeting where parliamentary rules were followed more firmly than ever. As a result, the meeting concluded in record time. The attending members of the committee left with a wealth of new ideas and goals, and the paths in which to achieve them. Look for some changes in policy this weekend and evaluate them for yourselves. Has there been an improvement? If not, the committee wants to know what the problem is. And they won't wait until next August to fix it either.
Fundraising Updates
News Tid-Bits
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During the summers of 1999 and 2000, the Order of the Arrow will embark on a new program adventure at the Charles L. Sommers High Adventure Base in Ely, Minnesota. Like the OA Philmont Trail Crew, the Northern Tier project will focus on cheerful service and fellowship. Arrowmen from across the country will restore damaged campsites, reconstruct worn portages, and build new trails on islands within the U.S.–Canadian Boundary Waters. During the two years of operation, the program will be open to any OA member between the ages of 16 to 20. Before the Northern Tier project is kicked off in 1999, many details of the program have to be planned. To become familiar with the Boundary Waters, a team of experienced Arrowmen has been assembled to serve this summer on the Charles L. Sommers staff. These Scouts will design the essential program elements that will be used in the upcoming summers. |
Charles Brown and John Harple Vigil Honor Brothers of Octoraro #22
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All too many people out there are oblivious to what service means, and they are ignorant of its great importance in today's society. So why you think that membership in the order and our lodge means that you are always dutiful in your obligations to provide service to scouting and the council camps, reminding yourselves of these few things will make sure that you don’t take the value of service for granted. Service is: Giving of yourself and your time,
Saying hello to all you see,
Being a steward to the surrounding Earth,
Going beyond our daily grind,
Seeing the fault in what you do,
Lending a hand to those in need,
Finding a passion as to be sad no more,
Expressing what you carry inside,
The poem may sound as if service is a selfish thing, where
we take care of ourselves and find a passion and such. But taking care
of ourselves leaves us in a better position to help others, and it leaves
society with less to worry about.
Conventions Corner Although all the conventions have ended for this year, it is time to start thinking of what is to come. Next year the conclave will be hosted by Wyona #18, and their small camp means delegate spots are sure to be slim. Sign-ups will be held this weekend so make sure you at least put down your name. As you have already heard, the NOAC is a worthwhile experience that has many activities to offer. Few ever get to experience the NOAC, so Ed Dougherty, the Conventions Chairman, would like to share some more NOAC experiences. "On Thursday August 6 1998 our NOAC Contingent returned home from Iowa with a lot of memories and fun experiences. First I would like to say that Brother Bill Jackson's nickname of "Big Dancer" fits him well. Mr. Jackson was up and dancing in the aisles at every evening show. At the Theme show he did a wonderful rendition of "YMCA" and "Shout". We were all waiting for him to jump on the floor and do the "Worm"! The most important part of the NOAC is training. The three training sessions that each delegate attended were fun and educational. We each chose our own classes and they ranged from Web Page design to Lodge Record keeping. These classes will prove beneficial to the Lodge as well as the Delegates for years to come. During recreation time, we enjoyed the pool tables, bowling and patch trading. Our ghost patch was popular the first couple of days. Many lodges used a very popular two piece patch set, which paid for their entire youth contingent to attend the NOAC. We had the opportunity to get together with members of our new section on Tuesday evening. We had a great time with our Section Vice Chief, Jordan Hitchens. On Wednesday night Mr. Bruce Sanders arranged for our
Lodge to sit in the VIP Section with Blue Heron Lodge for the Theme Show.
We have been invited to their Fall Fellowship in October. If anyone would
like to attend, please see me sometime during the weekend.
-Ed Dougherty, Conventions Chairman
If you have any comments, suggestions, ideas, or articles
for The Wulamoc, please contact Andrew Coe at arc150@psu.edu.
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For those of you who want to know who needs to do what
for this lodge to run, here is a list of the youth members in the Lodge
Committee. If anyone would like to know how to contact any of these people,
either to get involved in their committee or to sign up for one of their
functions (i.e. unit elections), contact any of the officers or email Andrew
Coe at arc150@psu.edu. These people are more than willing to accommodate
you with whatever you need, so don't hesitate to contact them or get involved
on their committee.
As the OA creeps toward the 21st century, the National OA Committee is looking for some new "visions" for the Order of the Arrow. The National Committee feels that the OA is well past its time for an overhaul, so it has come up with some goals for the organization. These include being recognized as Scouting's "National Honor Society", being an integral part of every council, maintaining our service, activities, adventures and training for youth and adults as models of quality programming and leadership development that enrich, enhance and support Scouting, and to help extend Scouting to more of America's youth. The change to "Scouting's National Honor Society", as opposed to the recent designation of "Scouting's National Honor Camper Society", is due to the expanding focus that the committee wants the OA to have. Although they wish to maintain and even strengthen the OA's outdoors program, the National Committee also wants to put greater emphasis on leadership development and broader assistance to Scouting and the community. With any great plan there must be a course of action.
The National Committee has planned several things that will undoubtedly
change the way a lodge functions, but has done so with improvement in mind.
Quality Lodge requirements are going be changed, participation in the National
Leadership Seminar will be extended, lodge adviser training networks will
be established, public relations campaigns are going to be iniated, and
scores of other steps to success will be launched in the next few years.
More information on the OA's strategic plans can be found at http://www.oa-bsa.org/other/splan/.
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ideas to help our lodge improve, grow and prosper in the future. Many of
our representatives participated in The Outdoor Adventure Place (TOAP),
Volleyball (our lodge finished 8th in the nation), the Founders
Day Pow-Wow, the Goodman Gala, Visions of the Founder, and many other exciting
events. Arena shows were held every night. Many competitions were held
including ceremonies, dance and sports. Videos of the 1998 NOAC will be
shown at this weekend; don’t miss it! Some items of interest which were
announced at the NOAC are as follows: The traditional Indian head
will be replaced with a new national symbol for the OA, an arrow. The name
"Brotherhood of Honor Campers" is being changed to "Scoutings’ National
Honor Society"; the national executive committee feels that this better
represents what the OA really means to its members and provides a clearer
definition to the public.
