Several area Scouts recently joined the honor society of the Boy Scouts of America.
The honor society is known as the Order of the Arrow and each local council has its own lodge.
Central Minnesota Council’s lodge is known as Naguonabe Lodge.
“Naguonabe Lodge welcomed our first five youth female members this weekend during our fall conclave at Parker Scout Camp,” Zach Vogt, lodge adviser, stated in a news release.
To be eligible for membership in the Order of the Arrow a Scout must:
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Be a registered member of the Boy Scouts of America.
Have experienced 15 nights of Scout camping while registered with a troop, crew, or ship within the two years immediately prior to the election. The 15 nights must include one, but no more than one, long-term camp consisting of at least five consecutive nights of overnight camping, approved and under the auspices and standards of the Boy Scouts of America. Only five nights of the long-term camp may be credited toward the 15-night camping requirement; the balance of the camping (10 nights) must be overnight, weekend, or other short-term camps of, at most, three nights each. Ship nights may be counted as camping for Sea Scouts.
At the time of their election, youths must be under the age of 21, and have one of the following ranks corresponding to the type unit in which they are being considered for election: Scouts BSA First Class rank, the Venturing Discovery Award, or the Sea Scout Ordinary rank or higher, and following approval by the Scoutmaster, Crew Advisor or Sea Scout Skipper, be elected by the youth members of their unit.
“The requirements are the same for all Scouts regardless of gender,” stated Vogt. “Each Scout must also complete our ordeal weekend and then they are welcomed into membership in our lodge.”
“It is special to be part of the first group of girls to become youth members of the lodge,” Kayla Grady-Toole stated. “We know we are the first to complete our ordeal, but we don’t want to be the last and hope there is a large group to come to our next conclave.”
In addition to the five young ladies the lodge welcomed 21 other new members over the weekend.
“Two of the girls inducted into the lodge this weekend are from our Brainerd troop for girls, Kayla Grady-Toole and Kylissa O’Connor, and two are from our boy troop 43, Loren Decker and Eric Johnson; we also have one from our Pillager troop for boys Josh Anderson,” stated Vogt.
“Becoming a member of the Order of the Arrow is very special for me because I am now a third-generation member,” Johnson stated.
Scouting is often a family activity and becoming members of the Order of the Arrow is no exception.
“This weekend I got to work side-by-side with Josh as we both completed our ordeal,” stated Mike Anderson, assistant scoutmaster Pillager Troop 77.
The Order of the Arrow is the brotherhood of cheerful service and its members can often be found working on projects around camp and they are also often the leaders of their units working to improve the scouting experience for all the members of their unit.
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