National OA Newsletter Dec 08- Feb 09

The National OA office releases a quarterly newsletter, and while you can have it mailed to you, it's also available as a PDF. You can grab the Dec 08-Feb 09 edition here.

This eight page newsletter is a great resource for arrowmen and others interested in what's happening in the Order. This edition includes information about the OA ScoutReach Mentoring program; lots of information about last summer's ArrowCorps 5 and the upcoming NOAC; as well as articles on leadership, the OA High Adventure program, and Philbreak (a great looking alternative to Spring Break on the coast).

Go grab a copy and learn more about what the OA has to offer.

Chapter Members Helping at a Pinewood Derby

Three members of the Chapter were on hand at the Pinewood Derby held by Packs 37 and 747. These young men serve as Den Chiefs, helping the Cub Scouts learn to love Scouting.

"We had a great time and showed a lot of OA spirit!" Said Mike, the Wolf's Den Chief.

Whether they were setting up the track and chairs for the Cubs' families, helping get cars onto the track at the start of the race, or shooting video of race finishes, these OA Den Chiefs were right in the middle of all the fun.

Serving as a Den Chief is a great way to use the leadership skills that you're learning in the OA, and to fulfill leadership requirements for advancement in the Scout and Varsity programs. What are you doing to help Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, Varsity Teams, or Venturing Crews?

Hey, We're on Twitter!

Twitter is all the rage. It's the latest way to share news with the world 140 characters at a time. Now, it's the latest way for us to share the most up-to-date facts about chapter and lodge activities. Follow us and stay informed.

The Chapter at Klondike 2009

The Lakota Chapter attended the Cascade District Klondike on Jan 23 and 24, 2009. Three youth members and two adults were there — one of the adults was splitting time with his troop, with whom we camped. Our numbers might have been few, but we had a great time and made a difference at the Klondike as well.

We had been asked to provide an activity, so we took up some long bamboo poles to play Giant Pick-up Sticks. Our reach went well beyond that though.

We were able to spend time with some adult members who haven't been as involved with the chapter lately. This was a good chance to talk with them and in a couple of cases explore ways that they can contribute to the chapter going forward.

It was also great to let our members, who were there with their units, see us having fun and serving the district. One of our newer members commented after the Klondike that he thought we ran the funnest game up there — just wait till he sees the fun we have at chapter activities.

One of the biggest benefits of our being up there was that we could conduct a unit election. This was a great kick-off to our spring election drive. The troop elected five scouts and nominated one adult. That puts us at thirteen candidates who are eligible to attend the Ordeal we'll be holding as part of our May Fellowship. I hope you're planning to attend.

Council of Provo-Orem Chiefs

There are five chapters in the Provo/Orem area, but none of us is really as active (or as large) as we'd like to be. Late last year, we started talking about working together to run several activities during 2009. Last night we held a first meeting of our chapter chiefs and advisors.

We started out by building a timeline of our activities in 2008 with post-it notes on a 2'x4' calendar. Then we reviewed the monthly chapter report and quality chapter award requirements to see what kinds of things we should be focusing on during the coming year. With those two exercises providing a foundation, we tried to brainstorm activities that our chapters could get together for. Finally, we selected several that wanted and put them onto a 2009 calendar. Some highlights over the next several months include: a Game & Movie overnighter on the 20th and 21st (hosted by the Higihillen chapter), a March service project (hosted by the Sioux Chapter), and a Fellowship on May 15th and 16th (hosted by us). We'll also be trying to get our arrowmen to the section Conclave in April and the Lodge TePee week in June. It's gonna be great!

The meeting went well. The Chiefs got a lot of work and planning done while getting to know each other. They've planned to meet again at the overnighter in February, and will plan further councils after that. This should be a great step forward for the OA in Provo and Orem.

Lakota Chapter Officers at District Roundtable

Last night, Chris (our chapter chief) and Mike (our vice chief) both made presentations to the scoutmaster's breakout session at roundtable. Taking on this kind of role in the district is a great way to show the value of the OA.

Chris talked about the upcoming Klondike, and gave an overview of what Scoutmasters can expect there. After this short presentation, he led everyone into an adjacent room and we played a round of giant pick-up sticks. It was a good rehearsal for running the game at Klondike, and the attendees seemed to enjoy it.

Mike taught a 10 minute class on cold weather camping. His slides are below, you can get much more information from the Boy Scout Fieldbook's chapter on Cold Weather Activities.



It was great to have the Pleasant Grove Ranger District come out and do a presentation too. We've been working to build a strong relationship with them, and hope to cooperate with them at our Fellowship this May.

We also passed around a sign-up sheet for unit elections. We had two units request elections this month. I think the presentations helped with the increased level of interest. Let's do what we can to continue to show people that the OA is a valuable asset to individual scouts, scouting units, and the district.

New Year's Road Trip

In December, we heard that the Sahpeech chapter was going to hold a Fellowship with a Brotherhood ceremony in Gunnison on January 2-3. Since we had an Ordeal candidate and a Brotherhood candidate just waiting for the opportunity, we decided to take a road trip.

On Friday afternoon, we packed up our gear (and lots of warm clothes) and dinner to eat on the road, and we headed off. The youth talked about scouting, movies, and the things they'd done over Christmas break, then they settled in to a discussion of the OA and upcoming chapter events.

We weren't the only travellers at the fellowship. There were two young men from the Nez Pierce chapter, two young men and an adult from the Sioux chapter, and one from the Todebeda Cheda Toonle chapter down in St. George. It was pretty cool to see arrowmen and candidates from all over the lodge.

The candidates, elangomats, and other arrowmen present put in a lot of service. We cleaned an elementary school from top to bottom, mounted a bunch of video projectors on classroom ceilings, and shoveled a lot of snow to clear the elementary school and nearby High School. We even retired a flag while we were there.

Before wrapping this up I'd like to welcome Ian, our newest Ordeal member, and congratulate Mike, our newest Brotherhood member. Mike's also the Ordealmaster for our upcoming May Fellowship and he's looking for elangomats to serve there, if you're interested please send an email to lakotasecretary@gmail.com and I'll pass your name and contact information along to him.

Thanks to the Sahpeech arrowmen for all the work and planning you put into this.