Has anyone heard of this? (AOL arrow question)

[Eliza]

I was reading the Arrow of Light arrow thread

 

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=300199

 

and sites on the web about the homemade arrows with custom striping or beautiful purchased arrows &/or plaques. I presumed that these were for boys who had actually earned AOL.

 

Now, I just found out that our pack gives every Webelos II an arrow -- basically a stick with brightly dyed yellow & blue feathers and no tip, $3.99. So the boy who joined this October and has been to maybe two meetings gets the same arrow as a boy who has attended every meeting and event and worked extremely hard for his AOL.

 

I am not looking to change or complain -- I can't see any benefit in that. But I am wondering if giving everyone an arrow is common, or is it unusual?

[pchadbo]

Speaking for our pack we give the boys who have EARNED thier arrow of light an arrow, the others did not EARN one so they do not GET one. Now this year all of our Web IIs have earned thiers including one scout who worked his backside off after joining us for his first pack function at Camp for a week.

[denleader09]

I am not sure how our pack does it since last year's Webelos all received the AOL award. This year, not all the scouts are getting it in this year's Web 2 den so I will know for sure. I think what we do is that all of the Webelos 2 boys get a career arrow so that shows the journey and then the boys who get AOL get a plaque. But I guess it doesn't make sense to get an arrow when you don't do it. I'll have to ask because I know some of my boys will get it next year, but I don't think that all of my den will. I want the AOL to be a special award since I feel that the boys will really have earned it.

[clemlaw]

OK, I'm going to sound like an old crumudgeon here, but I do just want to point out that all of the hoopla surrounding Arrow of Light, "Crossing Over", etc., is a fairly recent development.

 

I know that I received Arrow of Light in 1972, because I still have the patch. (I wore it on my Boy Scout uniform, although I don't recall if it ever actually got sewn on to my Cub Scout uniform.)

 

But I have absolutely no recollection of the ceremony at which it was awarded. I do recall being handed a BSA membership form. But I don't remember any arrows, plaques, bridges, etc. I do distinctly remember my first Boy Scout campout, which would have been a few weeks after I filled out the form.

 

Having said that, I don't see anything wrong with giving everyone in the Webelos den a $3.99 arrow, especially if that somehow encourages them to join Boy Scouts, where they'll really start having fun.

[Greaves]

our Pack gives arrows to the boys who have earned the AoL, and certificates of graduation to the boys who are crossing over the troop without it.

 

 

[CalicoPenn]

I crossed over in 1972 as well, the month I turned 11, having earned the AOL a couple of months before (yep - wore it on my Cub Scout uniform) - this was back when Cubs did things by age, not grade level. Crossover ceremonies occurred as needed, not all at one time. Here's the thing, we did have a bridge - and it was being used when I was a Wolf Cub so it was around for at least 3 years. It looked older than that. I wouldn't consider 1972 recent.

 

However, we never got arrows. On the Cub side of the bridge, our WDL removed our Webelos neckerchief and our Cubmaster handed us a Boy Scout Handbook. On the Scout side of the bridge, whoever was representing the Troop put our new Boy Scout neckerchief on us and shook our hands with the Scout Handshake. Still, no arrows.

 

Other Packs had other traditions. Some, like Clems, apparently never used a bridge or did much in the way of crossover hoopla. And you know what? That is just fine.

 

Some Packs will give arrows only to lads that earned the AOL. Others will give arrows to every Webelos II. And still others won't give arrows away at all. It's just a tradition of the Pack - and isn't dictated to the Packs as something that must be done, or done in any certain way, by the BSA.

[ScoutNut]

Well, personally, I don't see the benefit to kicking boys out of a Pack in February/March simply because they have not earned an award as fast as other boys.

 

That said, I think it is a great idea to give a "career arrow" to all Webelos Scouts who are leaving the Pack. The arrow can be done however the Pack, or Webelos den leader, want. It can be fancy, or plain. Basically it is striped with different colors for each year the boy has been in Cub Scouts. Some Packs use different types, and colors, of cording, some just use sharpies. It might also have different trinkets on it depending on what awards the boy has earned. Each arrow is different, and specific to the boy who is receiving it.

 

The AOL award is not a wooden arrow.

[Lisabob]

We made arrows and a plaque for each boy who earned AoL. This was a labor-intensive process because the decorations on each arrow differed, depending on what each boy had done in his time as a cub scout. Some boys had arrows that were highly decorated, while others were much simpler. The boys knew what all the decorations meant (better than the parents!).

 

But yes, we only presented them to boys who earned the award.

 

Personally, I would have liked to see us present them as the boy completed the award and not at a B&G/cross over event, after which time the boy was never seen nor heard from (in the pack) again.

 

Would've been nice to do as an individual recognition through the year, rather than all the hoopla surrounding a whole den at once.

 

 

[Eliza]

I love the idea of arrows that are individually decorated -- our pack has not had that tradition.

 

Yes, we know that the award is not the arrow -- but when a boy sees a beautiful arrow -- several adults we know have them hanging on their walls -- and starts looking forward to something like that... Well, it is a disappointment. As an adult, I know that a job well done is its own reward, but to a 10 year old, that is a more difficult concept.

 

But, perhaps we can do some striping or decoration on the arrows we do buy and something (a feather?) for religious awards. That could make it better. And, as I haven been given the job of getting the arrows, I would feel comfortable asking about that.

 

And thanks for all the posts about different traditions -- it is always helpful to get a broad perspective!

[Eliza]

LisaBob

We were posting at the same time. I really like the idea of individually decorated arrows. I will order the ones we usually get and see if anything can be done.

 

None of the boys earned his AoL early - most are coming in just under the wire. But I do agree with you about boys getting recognition as they advance, rather than waiting.

[tdk101]

We made them for our boys last year - first time ever our Pack has done this. We used the colored threads that are used for cross-stitch and made bands for each rank that the boy earned. We had seen some that were painted but that was not working out as well. They were time consuming but came out awesome and the boys loved them. I am happy to see that the Pack is continuing the tradition this year as well.

 

Also all of our boys did not earn the AOL at B&G. The ones that were done and wanted to move on did and the rest finished at the end of the school year. Some went to Boy Scouts and some wanted to do sports instead.

[Eliza]

tdk

How did you keep the thread from slipping off the arrow? Glue? Or just tightly wound on?

I've seen things on web with different colors for Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and gold & silver arrow points. I wonder about compass points for Webelos and religious emblems -- are they recognized?

[Scoutfish]

What I have seen is pretty much what ScoutNut describes.

 

Cubs who are crossing over get Career Arrows. They are wooden arrows mounted to a long retangular stained board. The arrows are divided into 4 colors ( orange, yellow, light blue, dark blue) to represent the ranks of Cub Scouting and have silver ang gold stripes within each color to represent arrow points or compass points earned during that rank.

Extra stuff like colord tassles dangling within in a color may represent special awards.

 

Arrow of Light Awards are the same as above, BUT ... have an added gold sunray, or sunlight design added to the top of and the whole length of the retangular board that the arrow is mounted to.

[Eliza]

Scoutfish -- I like what you have described. To me, it seems important that all the boys do not receive EXACTLY the same arrow, ie that there is a way of recognizing that some boys have worked extremely diligently, while at the same time not marginalizing the boys who were not able to work as consistently.

 

I'll have to think about this (ASAP) -- in our pack the ceremony is memorable -- there is a "fire" (dry ice and so on) on stage, and as each boy goes up to get his arrow from someone dressed as a Native American (more or less), the arrow flashes in a burst of light (using flash paper).

 

I'll probably post later with questions about the specifics of arrows -- found a 2006 post from here with a lot of good ideas....

[tdk101]

I tied each color off in knots and used a dot of glue. This years are being done by continuing the strand and then winding the next color over it. There are only 2 knots - 1 at the beginning and 1 at the end. This method uses a little more thread but the end result is much neater.

 

We did Tiger(orange), Wolf(red), Gold arrow (gold), silver arrow (silver - however many they earned), religious emblem (purple - if they earned one), Bear (aqua), Gold arrow (gold), silver arrow (silver - however many they earned), Webelos (navy blue), Webelos activity pins (grey - one for each one), religious emblem (purple - if they earned one), arrow of light ( royal blue, yellow, royal blue). White bands were put between each rank and black bands separated each arrow or webelos pin. I hope that makes sense. They were personal for each boy. Use a piece of tape to label each arrow.

 

We ordered arrow that had blue & gold fletchings. We used rawhide string so the boys could hang them. My wife made nameplates with her scrapbooking tools and we included a color key so the boys would know what each color meant.