other honor societies?

[Jeffrey H]

Besides the Order of the Arrow, are there any other "honor societies" in the BSA? Just wondering. I've been out of the BSA for a long time and just came back as an adult leader.

[purcelce]

The OA is the only national society. Several councils have their own honor society. A few that I have been in contact with are:

 

Tribe of Mannasseh (Okaw Valley Council)

Tribe of Mic-O-Say (Pony Express and Heart of America Council)

Firecrafters (Crossroads of America Council)

 

[Wisumahi]

Hi, Jeffrey,

 

One of the oldest still in existence is the Tribe of Tahquitz, Long Beach Area Council, Long Beach California.

 

Most of the early societies converted to Order of the Arrow lodges. In Southern California, the Tribe of Siwinis, serving both LA Area Council and Arrowhead Area Council, passed into oblivion and those councils started OA lodges named Siwinis (252, still in existance) and Wisumahi (478, now merged), respectively.

 

There was a second Tribe of Tahquitz that served the Riverside County Council; it, too, became an OA Lodge, Tahquitz (127, now merged). There apparently was also a loose confederation between the two Tribes of Tahquitz.

 

Yet another was the Tribe of Gorgonia that Served the Orange Empire Council. It became San Gorgonio Lodge (298, now merged).

 

Not very many exist today since the OA became so popular and offered a number of advantages in terms of organization and national support.

 

In Brotherhood,

 

Wisumahi

[emb021]

In terms of current groups, there are several.

 

There are only 2 councils that do not have OA lodges. They use Tribe of Tahquitz (Long Beach) and Tribe of Mic-O-Say (Pony Express).

 

Several councils have groups alongside the OA: Firecrafts, Mic-O-Say, Wolfeboro Pioneers, and several MOS-based groups.

 

Here are two sites with info on these groups:

 

Scout Honor Societies (past and present): http://usscouts.org/usscouts/honorsociety/honorscout.html

 

MOS-based groups: http://www.flyingember.com/mic.html