Trailblazer Order of the Arrow members . . AND willing volunteers!

CAN YOU HELP AT STEARNS CAMP MAY 15TH?

The Northern Star Council hosts a fantastic scouting weekend May 21-23 at Stearns Scout Camp near Kimball. STAR CAMP is expected to attract about 13,000 scouts . . and Stearns needs to be ready for company! Will you help out?

Ted McLaughlin is OA Advisor for the Minnehaha Falls Chapter of the Metro Lakes District. Ted writes,

"The weekend before Star Camp the Minnehaha Falls Chapter is doing its Conclave at Stearns.  The Chapter has decided to host anyone and everyone who wants to come up and help get things ready for the big event.   We will take care of feeding everyone lunch on Saturday, so that way you don’t have to worry about food. And one nice thing about this is that while there is a minimum age to be on Staff for Star Camp, there is NO minimum age to come out and help prepare for Star Camp!  Feel free to bring everyone and anyone who is willing to come help.    They don’t even have to be in the OA. ...  

We also don’t know yet if we are going to be doing this on Sunday or not.  My personal goal is that we get enough people to come up on Saturday so we don’t have to keep working on Sunday.  So let’s push to get absolutely as many people there on Saturday as we can, and then have Sunday be a day of rest, (I think I heard that somewhere).

One last thing, if you want to encourage some of your Ordeal Candidates to come to this Conclave just to provide some extra manpower feel free.  We are also doing Brotherhood as part of this event as well, so feel free to have a bunch of people come and we will happily put them to work getting ready for Star Camp.  We are going to have a LOT of work to do.

More information will be coming as we get closer to the event, for now just encourage all of your people to put the date on the calendar.

Thanks.

Ted"

So, Trailblazer . .  If you can help, let Dan Hurley, Mike Cain, or Chuck Bredeson know. How about a big bunch of cheerful service MAY 15th at Stearns?

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And, here's another note from Ted to Trailblazer OA Advisor Dan Hurley:

Totanhan Nakaha Lodge   Order of the Arrow  Attention members of the Order of the Arrow   Dear Daniel ,  This coming May 21st - 23rd, the Northern Star Council will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America with a monumental campout!   The name of this event will be Star Camp, and we are expecting 7,000 Boy Scouts, 6,000 Cub Scouts, and 500 Venture Scouts to participate in this event.   So I'm sure you are asking, "What's this mean to me?"  Well first off, it means that you are hopefully going to have a very good time at this event.  The next thing is that with 13,000 Scouts at one eventit means that we need some help.  As members of the Order of the Arrow we are committed to Cheerful Service, and this is a big opportunity for that.  This applies to both youth Arrowmen as well as adult.   Attached is a list of the events we are working on so far for this event.  We hope to have well over 100 activiities.  This means we would like to recruit up to 600 volunteers to run the events.    The list below is not a complete list by any stretch of the imagination, and it's also not 100% certain that every item on this list will make it in to this event.  That's where you come in as well.   For many of these events we need experienced people to run them.  For example for the fly casting event we need an experienced fly fisherman, (or 3 or 4 for that matter), to come in and teach Scouts how to cast using fly fishing poles.  We also need aviation enthusiasts to run the Aviation Action Area.  The same is true for MANY of the events below.  We are hoping to find enough volunteers that we won't have to have everyone work the whole weekend.  If we get enough people then we just have event staff work 4 hour shifts and then spend the rest of the time with their Troops having fun.   We also need many volunteers for events that don't require anything other than a cheerful personality and a willingness to help.  We will be having a number of events for the Cub Scouts that will require lots of staff to run, (remember there will be 6,000 of them :-).   If you have ever wanted to get a job at a Cub or Webelos Day Camp, this would be very good experience for you.  Or if you have worked as staff at Cub or Webelos camp we would really like to talk with you as well.   For the adults, while we really need your help with this event, what we are also hoping to find is people with CONTACTS.   As you scroll through the list below if you see something where you know someone in that line of work, or someone who has a hobby doing it, or someone who has 'stuff' that would work for it, and you think they would be willing to help out with this event, PLEASE let us know.  Because we would prefer not to have businesses getting multiple calls from different people on this, please let us know before you call them.  If you already have a personal, or working relationship with that company/organization, and you feel that you would be the best person to contact them, we will be glad to have you do so.  If you don't have that relationship, don't worry, we will be happy to make that call for you.  We just need the info.   And if you are the type who ran a Camporee 15 years ago, and still have some of the stuff tucked away in the back of your garage, and you think the Scouts would enjoy doing that again at this event, once again please let us know.   For 13,000 Scouts we need a LOT of events to keep them busy, entertained, and having fun, (and maybe learning something as well :-).    If you have an idea for something that doesn't appear on the list, but you think we should look into, let us know that as well.  We are open to ALL ideas.   For anyone who would like to be on staff, (and this means YOU), please go to the following link and fill out the staff interest form.  Don't forget to check the Program option. http://www.northernstarbsa.org/ActivitiesCivicService/Local/starcamp.aspx     (I'm supposed to note that I'm not supposed to recruit Scoutmasters for staff because they will be needed by their Troops, but I'm a Scoutmaster myself so what the heck.)   We are organizing the OA Service Corp for this event, and they will be in charge of all youth Staff.  The OASC will help with all aspects of the Star Camp event, ranging from helping direct traffic, help with parking, helping staff the activities, and helping with the Stage Show on Saturday night, and more.   For youth who would like to be on staff our age requirements are this.  For Scouts 16 or 17 you have the choice of camping with your Troop, (because they might want you around a little bit also :-), or you can camp with our OASC, (this is especially true if your unit is not attending Star Camp).  Simply fill out the form at the website above and indicate that you want to be on the OASC.  Also please send me an email and I will make sure your name is on the list.   At the moment Scouts 14 or 15 can not be on Staff  for this event.  We are expecting to get that rule changed soon.  For now if you are 14 or 15 and would like to be on Staff just send me an email and I will add your name to the list.   OA members under 14 will have to stay with their Troop and just have fun at the event :-).  If you Troop is not planning on attending the event, you should HIGHLY encourage them to do so.  This will be one event that you do NOT want to miss.   Here is the list of event ideas we are working on so far.  Some of them have people who have volunteered to help work on it, but ALL of them could use more help.  Some need people to take the entire "Action Area", other's just need help with the specific event.  If you would like to be an "Action Area Coordinator", PLEASE let us know as soon as possible.  These people will have a huge impact on how much fun the Scouts have at this event.   Thanks for taking the time to read all of this, and I hope to see you at the Star Camp experience!   If you are have more questions or cannot wait to get involved (believe us, we need people as soon as possible), please contact one of us at the numbers or email below  Ted McLaughlin Action Area  Chair (952) 948-4134 - day (612) 845-3062 - cell ted.mclaughlin@toro.com     Doug Farmer  - Draftee   (952) 427-5225 - Day (763) 424-6424 - Home (763_ 242-0775 - Cell farmer.doug@comcast.net     P.S.  Please feel free to use the following list to start promoting Star Camp in your units as well.  Even if we don't get every one of these events, it's going to be a fantastic experience.   P.P.S  We are also going to have ALL 126 Merit Badges represented at this event, (yes sunshine there are 126 MB's for 2010), as well as every Cub Scout Belt Loop.  We need a lot of staff for all of those as well.   Aquatics Action Area: Scuba Snorkeling Fishing (casting) Fly casting Fly tying Canoe portage relay Bucket brigade obstacle course R/C boats   Climbing/Ropes Action Area: COPE Course - (we need help building more and manning it) Portable climbing towers New Rappelling tower - (same as above) Zip lines Spar pole climbing Flying squirrel Obstacle course   Communications Action Area: "Ham" radio / MNYARC Semaphore flags across a lake Tin Can Radios Crystal radios Morse code sending Technology & Scouting Foreign languages   Cultures Action Area: Native American Village Native American Dancing Pipe Keepers Scottish Pipes Zulu District El Sol District Sons of Norway German Folk Dancers Swedish Institute Hmong Display Foreign exchange students who are scouts in their home country - (if you know of some, please let us know)   Emergency Prep Action Area: Jaws of Life extractions Putting out car fires Water Ball (the ultimate water fight) Trying on firemen's gear Rappelling from helicopter by firemen/NG Rollover vehicle Sandbagging with Corp of Engineers K-9 demos Sheriff's posse Red Cross Salvation Army Disaster relief Sheriff's Command RV Lots of Military "Stuff"   Environmental Action Area: Leave No Trace Fish Prints Animal Tracks & furs Conservation BASS Groups Pheasants Forever Clean Lakes Water Quality testing Greenhouse gas displays   Historical Action Area: Day in life of 1910 Scout Dutch oven cooking Meat smoking Tin can stoves Rural life - hay bale toss Old time games - horseshoes Old time games - marbles belt loop old time games - hoop roll Bucking bronco Whip cracking Crow River Ranger's Posse Blacksmithing Glass blowing Box ovens How to kill a rabid dog Rendezvous/Foxfire camp Branding irons Antique photography 1st MN re-enactment group Lawn bowling / bocce ball Historical flag ID Flag folding Old Cub Scout badge identification Old Boy Scout badge identification Build a log cabin (giant Lincoln logs)   Pioneering Action Area: Catapult building Trebuchet building Signal Tower building Monkey bridge (across water), both building and walking across Rope making Giant knot tying Gateway building 2 man buck saw competition Building a real fort Block and Tackle lifting   Ranges Action Area: Black Powder Crossbows BB Guns Archery Adlattls Slingshots Tomahawks Water balloon giant slingshots Tennis Ball Cannons   Aviation - Space Action Area: Radio Controlled plane & helicopters Water Rockets Pop Bottle Rockets Model Rockets Powered Parachutes State Patrol & NG Helicopters Free Fall Fan Space Shuttle Simulator & astronaut Hot Air balloons Air Force F-16 on a trailer Air Force Mini-F22 go cart NASA booth   Sports Action Area: Punt, Pass, Kick Various sporting games with MN Olympic, Professional & Collegiate athletes Bounce House Bungee Trampoline Inflatable obstacle course Inflatable slides Earth Ball Bowling Stilt relays Three legged Race Ultimate Frisbee games Soccer (with a few challenges thrown in to make it exciting :-) Games running around throwing balls at each other :-) Any other game we can find to wear out the Cub Scouts :-)   Survival Action Area: Building shelters Matchless fire starting Rescue relay Military Survival Smoke filled house Tunnel Crawl GPS Orienteering Submerged car Downed Power line SAR Dogs   Team Building Action Area: Bridge Out Swamp Rat Dragon's Lair Tower Climb All Aboard Spider Web Over the Wall "Spool Unwind" Relay "Pole Unwind" Relay Norwegian Ski's Jacob's Ladders   Wheels Action Area: Mountain Boarding Mountain Bike Course Push Cars Skateboard park BMX Trick Biking Team Extreme   Automotive Action Area: Monster Truck Race Cars Hot Rods Taking apart car parts like transmissions and carburetors Cut away engine blocks that you can crank and see inside

 

 CONGRATULATIONS TO A NEW SLATE OF 

O A  SECTION

OFFICERS

Heard the latest? Here are the results of OA officer elections for Section C-1A. Voting took place Saturday evening, Sept. 12th, during the Sectional Conclave at Fort Sisseton State Park just west of Sisseton, South Dakota. Over 200 Arrowmen from several Councils ranging from west central South Dakota to western Wisconsin converged on the historic fort for a beautiful weekend of training and fun. Elected to lead the Section's Brotherhood of Cheerful Service for the coming year are:

 

Addison Hendricks from Virginia, MN and a member of Ka'Niss Ma'ingan Lodge #196 was elected Section C-1A Chief.
 

Kevin Van Duyn, Tetonwana Lodge #105, from Coleman, South Dakota

near Sioux Falls, will serve as Vice-Chief.

Josh Ensign of Ka'niss Ma'ingan Lodge #196 lives near Duluth'swestern city limits and is Section Secretafor the year ahead.      

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