The ceremony team, in back, put on an excellent ceremony and despite its being indoors, it was very impressive.
12/11/01
As the rains poured down outside, Patrick, along with the other 10 members of his Webelos den, were presented with their Arrow of Light Awards in a ceremony on December 11th. The Arrow of Light is Cub Scouting's highest award and represents the completion of their Cub Scouting days.
Our Pack typically holds the ceremony at the Bear Creek Park with an outdoor, fireside ceremony, but the weather turned nasty on Tuesday and we were fortunate to have been able to relocate at the last minute to the Epiphany Lutheran Church where we usually held our den meetings.
The impressive ceremony was conducted by members of the Order of the Arrow in Native American costuming. Each of the boys was presented with a "career arrow" (made by his parent), marked with colored threads to represent the various awards and honors that each has earned as a Cub Scout. Patrick, along with 2 others, were recognized with the "Super Achiever" award for earning all 20 ActivityBadges -- only 7 are required for the A.O.L.
As a gift to the boys, I made each a wooden display plaque to hold their arrows, and you can see Patrick's pictured below.
Also part of the activities was a "bridging ceremony" where
the boys are welcomed into Boy Scouting by the Scoutmaster of their chosen
new Troop. After visiting four troops in our area, Patrick has joined Troop
1177 sponsored by our church, Foundry UMC.
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Here's Patrick, wearing his new Troop 1177 neckerchief and holding his career
arrow and plaque. The ceremony team, in back, put on an excellent ceremony and despite its being indoors, it was very impressive. |
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Luna Lassiter, one of our den parents, made this beautiful (and DELICIOUS!)
cake for the boys. Our Pack had a total of 20 boys earning their AOL, 11 from our Dragon Patrol and 9 from the Viper Patrol. |
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On December 1st, Patrick and I attended the annual Scout Fair at the Astrohall. Troop 1177's booth was the construction of a monkey bridge and here's Patrick making his way across it. |
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Troop 1177 has an excellent program, focusing on a boy-led system, encouraging advancement and leadership through regular outdoor activities. Our first campout with them is coming up in January at Lost Maples State Park near Kerrville. |