bearess Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Huh. Maybe I’ve just always been to weird troops, then! Crossover and AOL are always simultaneous round these parts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2Eagle Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 The AOL is a Cub Scout award; our Pack, and the Packs in the area present the award with an appropriate ceremony. Crossover is considered a troop function and performed by the troops. Our troop conducts the crossover at a troop meeting. Some Packs have multiple troops attend a Pack meeting to have the cubs crossover to the respective troop they're joning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuzzard Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 (edited) 4 hours ago, NJCubScouter said: I am curious, how would you answer your own question? I'll take a stab at it... On 7/26/2018 at 10:01 PM, qwazse said: Why should a youth bother with O/A if they can't get a deeper understanding about what we admire the most from the native American mystique? Looking at antecedents OA borrowed from, why would an adult join a service organization without the Masons' "mystical" mumbo jumbo? And yet, Rotary and Kiwanis and Jaycees etc seem to do OK. Ignoring solely adult concerns like the grail and networking and business opportunities, the 2 factors youth and adults are looking for in a group are the chance to do meaningful stuff and the opportunity to associate with others they find admirable. So for OA... The ceremony teams are one opportunity to do both meaningful stuff and be admired. But is that really the best example of either OA's or Scouts' mission. I'm not sure. The uniform method is about being a visible force for good in the community not impressing folks for its own sake. Despite its tradition as a quasi-religious secret society, I don't see much about that aspect of the OA in either the aims or the methods. On the other hand the new formulation of OA as a camping/service honor society has lots of untapped potential. Why hide your light under a bushel, only displaying it for ceremonies and helping out at camporees and camp maintenance. These are Scouting's best, let them help more widely. I happen to think the quintessential OA experience isn't ceremony team but rather trail crew. That seems to be a more public facing role for Scouting's best. Let OA take that ethos of service and bring it to the wider scouting community and the general public. For instance have OA lead a Scout's wide conservation service day, on say Teddy Roosevelt;s birthday in October. Scouts want to emulate older role models. Let OA members demonstrate this in a very public way.If Cubs see these Scouts leading on a yearly basis, they will be suitably impressed if these Scouts come in a regular uniform to give them a charge at Crossing Over. My wife and 9yo son are going up to volunteer at a trail race tomorrow. I'm getting 11yo son off to camp. We volunteer with various trail crews on the SHT. We have plenty of friends who do similar work. The combination of supporting something you love and working with people you like is way more powerful than some borrowed mythology. Edited July 28, 2018 by oldbuzzard ETA Changed TR's B'Day from Sept to Oct 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashTagScouts Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 2 hours ago, T2Eagle said: The AOL is a Cub Scout award; our Pack, and the Packs in the area present the award with an appropriate ceremony. Crossover is considered a troop function and performed by the troops. Our troop conducts the crossover at a troop meeting. Some Packs have multiple troops attend a Pack meeting to have the cubs crossover to the respective troop they're joning. Not necessarily. In our area, most Packs have the crossover at Blue and Gold, and yes the troop(s) send representatives, but the night is the Packs to plan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearess Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 3 hours ago, HashTagScouts said: Not necessarily. In our area, most Packs have the crossover at Blue and Gold, and yes the troop(s) send representatives, but the night is the Packs to plan. Same here, although it isn’t linked to Blue and Gold. Obviously the Crossover/AOL joint ceremony isn’t as common as I thought. However, I do think that it’s common enough that having the option of joining the scripts into one cohesive ceremony would be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle94-A1 Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Different areas have different traditions. Even within the same pack, things may be done differently than in the past. My pack has no set ceremony. We've attempted to use the OA the past few years, but the chapter is dying out, and have had no success the past 3 years. So we have used non-OA ceremonies. The pack also did AOL and Crossover as the Webelos earned it. They had 3 to 4 ceremonies in a year. It got a bit too much, and they went to one night for both ceremonies. And I've seen Webelos receive their AOL, but not continue on in Boy Scouts. Some Webelos do not do the Cross Over Ceremony. We had to many doing the ceremony and receiving the troop necker and never seeing them after that night. We remove their Webelos neckerchief, and tell them they will receive their troop necker when they earn their Scout rank. Troop does an old Investiture Ceremony for their necker and rank. Back on topic. I've used ceremonies teams to reinvigorate the chapter in the past. We have some interest in ceremonies now, and I was going to work with a team again. My son's WDL has twins in the OA who are interested in ceremonies, but they read the new policy and scripts. They are thinking of either not doing it at all, or going rogue. While cheerful service is the heart of the OA, Native American imagery was the soul of the OA. It inspired and motivated. I know there is talk of going back to the original black robes Goodman and Edson used. In my area they will not work. My chapter had folks do OA Trail Crew that used black robes for their ceremony and brought it back to the chapter. Our Brotherhood team used them briefly as we got tones of complaints. Complaints about the the robes ranged from being "satanic" to the robes being too close to the KKK. They stopped using them and went back to Native regalia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldscout448 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 In the opening ceremony at NOAC today, all four principles wore black robes. No native american regalia at all. A nod to our beginnings on Treasure Island, or a harbinger of things to come? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jameson76 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 8 hours ago, Oldscout448 said: In the opening ceremony at NOAC today, all four principles wore black robes. No native american regalia at all. A nod to our beginnings on Treasure Island, or a harbinger of things to come? The whole black robe thing will be a hard story to sell. Many will think it's some sort of nod to Star Wars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle94-A1 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldscout448 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 (edited) I want a red lightsaber! And we could all get Darth Vader outfits. Impressive, most impressive Edited July 31, 2018 by Oldscout448 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagledad Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 BLACK ROBES! Talk about secret societies. Cult? Sacrificial virgin Webelos? I'm one of the lucky ones, my sons made it through Boy Scouts in the nick of time. Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrifty Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 I don't know why there is a problem with black robes. Black robes are cool! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldscout448 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 So at the risk of being called a capitalist imperialist, anybody want to buy a big drum? Quickly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattR Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 On 7/25/2018 at 10:24 AM, John-in-KC said: It will be a discussion topic at NOAC. 12 hours ago, Oldscout448 said: In the opening ceremony at NOAC today, all four principles wore black robes. No native american regalia at all. A nod to our beginnings on Treasure Island, or a harbinger of things to come? Isn't this just part of the discussion? Rather than black arm bands they went with robes. Quite imaginative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jameson76 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 44 minutes ago, Oldscout448 said: So at the risk of being called a capitalist imperialist, anybody want to buy a big drum? Quickly? Gonna be a glut on the market...better sell quick and take the first offer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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