Upcoming Events. Table of Contents

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1 Blue Heron Lodge #349 Fall 2015 Table of Contents Chiefly Speaking..2 Patch History....2 Chapter Reports and Meeting Information...3 SR-7A Conclave...4 Ceremonies Team Update.4 Upcoming Events October 23-25: Fall Fellowship December 5: Lodge Leadership Development Conference and Holiday Banquet. March 18-20: March Ordeal April 29-May 1: SR-7A Conclave Local Scouts Excel at National Conference Scouts from Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake in Contingent.5 Holiday Banquet...6 Get a Clue.7 A Note From the Editor 7

2 Blue Heron Lodge Patch History By: Bill Stine In 1994, Blue Heron Lodge undertook its greatest task in the history of the lodge. Work began on the construction of the Brian Gregson Memorial Welcome Center and Lodge Museum Building at Pipsico Scout Reservation. The center was built to honor former Lodge Chief Gregson who disappeared in a surfing accident in The building was financed by the many donors who gave time and money for the construction. Additional funds were raised by the sale of patches, many of which are now in collections and treasured by the purchasers. These patches included many flap designs, jacket patches, neckerchiefs, hats and other items. Many additional donations came in for the chairs that grace the porch of our magnificent building. At the 1996 Fall Fellowship, the building was formally dedicated to Brian and the doors were opened to all in attendance. Since then, the building is open at every event for check in and many go to browse our lodge history in its museum. Additional display cases were made through the sales of a special patch set that came out in Our building is now heading to its second decade of use and now is in need of maintenance. Recently, new windows were installed but more work needs to be done. (Continued on Page 5) -Chiefly Speaking- As we now begin another school year, sadly our lodge year is almost over. We should take a moment to recognize the many accomplishments our lodge has achieved so far this year. First and foremost, congratulations again to all new Arrowmen who went through their ordeal this year in March, May, or August, as well as all those who completed their brotherhood induction. There are always many opportunities to serve, whether it be in your own chapter, or the lodge, so be sure to reach out to those around you, and find a way to get involved! This year, we had the amazing opportunity to show lodge spirit on our Order s Centennial Year at Conclave and NOAC, and boy did we show spirit! At the Annual Section Conclave, our 100 th Birthday Celebration theme stole the show, topping off with our Birthday Dance party on Saturday afternoon! Likewise at NOAC, our lodge contingent made Blue Heron proud amongst the 15,000 Arrowmen. We were crowned National Champions in multiple events throughout the week! A huge thank you goes out to all who attended either event! We have had a historic centennial year thus far, and it s not over yet! Still to come are our Fall Fellowship, Lodge Leadership Development Conference, and Holiday Banquet. You don t want to miss the chance to be a part of the OA s 100 th Anniversary Celebration, so make sure to sign up, bring a friend, and come on down! As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns at atpeluso@cox.net. Yours in Cheerful Service, Anthony Peluso 2015 Blue Heron Lodge Chief

3 Chapter Meeting Information Albemarle Albemarle Chapter has two separate village meetings: The Pasquotank Village (Elizabeth City) meeting is at 7pm the first Tuesday of each month at the Pasquotank Ruritan Club at 2213 Main Street Ext., Elizabeth City, NC The Roanoke Village meeting is at 7pm the second Tuesday of each month at the American Legion Building at 302 Lake Dr., Kill Devil Hills, NC Cape Henry Meetings held the first Tuesday of every month, 7:00pm at the Church of the Holy Family on Great Neck Rd. Elizabeth River The chapter meets the first Thursday of each month (except July) at 7:00pm at Great Bridge Baptist Church on South Battlefield Blvd. Arrowmen should enter at the rear of the church by the playground area and go upstairs to the youth room. Merrimac Merrimac meets every first Wednesday of the month at 7:30 at St. Andrews United Methodist Church on Elmhurst Avenue, Portsmouth, VA. Please check the Merrimac Facebook page or Blue Heron website for any changes to the meeting schedule. Powhatan Meetings held the first Wednesday of every month, 7:30pm at Wesley Memorial Methodist Church s Scout hut at 288 East Little Creek Road. The hut is located under the I-64 bypass Princess Anne Meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 7:30 at the LDS church on Princess Anne Road Albemarle -Chapter Reports- I would like to see as many Albemarle members at the upcoming centennial Fall Fellowship, I would like to challenge my fellow chapter members to help us place higher in the fellowship competitions. We have seven new members for the year of 2015, and we are looking forward to more members in the coming years. We will be having a ceremony rehearsal and a low ropes course camp out next year to strengthen our teamwork before spring camporee. We will be practicing the callout ceremony so we can have a seamless and successful callout. Austin McCloud Chapter Chief Elizabeth River It has been an outstanding centennial year so far! Through your hard work and dedication, we have truly excelled as a chapter. Thanks to you, we have provided excellent service to Camp Moonyah, pulled off an excellent call-out ceremony at Three River s Spring Camporee, and represented ourselves well at all lodge events and the National Order of the Arrow Conference in August. I cannot wait to see what you do next! As you know, our year is not done yet, so I challenge each and every one of you to continue your involvement in the Order. Come to a chapter meeting, or even go to Fall Fellowship. Whatever you do, I look forward to seeing you there! Mark Schools E. River Chapter Chief 3

4 -SR-7A Conclave- Ceremonies Team Update Hello 2015 has been a super year for the lodge ceremonies team. We are up to eight Arrowmen, which make up two teams to conduct our lodge ceremonies at each OA event. If anyone would still like to join us...we are the best team in the OA, please send me an at gchoffman@aol.com Blue Heron made a fantastic showing at Conclave this year! We certainly had the most spirit there with our birthday party celebration and birthday cake. We also had one of the best showings in the sport competition in many years. Thanks go to Devin Reed for organizing all the sport teams. Also, I d like to thank all who helped build, paint, transport, and assemble the big cake. Another special thank you goes out to the cook crew for putting together our monster sized sheet cake. Let s keep the spirit going for next year s Conclave at Camp Powhatan. Don t forget, we will be hosting Conclave 2017 at Camp Pipsico! If you would like to help with Conclave 2017 in anyway please contact me at segreiling@verizon.net. Who s so fine?! Seth Greiling 2015 Conclave Contingent Chairman 2017Conclave Host Chairman Thank you, Sincerely, Yours in Cheerful Service Ryan Hoffman Blue Heron Lodge Ceremonies Chairman 4

5 Blue Heron Lodge Patch History (cont.) (Continued from Page 2) The lodge has issued a new special patch set for raising funds to help with the maintenance of the Gregson Center. This set consists of two four inch and two eight inch circular patches. They all have the same design but one set is a day scene and the other is a night scene with a different border. A donation of $60 will get you the entire set of four patches but the patches can be received for donations in any multiple of $10. These patches are available at all events and in the chapters through their custodians. Your donation will help our lodge as the building is our responsibility and we need to maintain it for those that have passed through its doors and for all that will pass through in the future. Local Scouts Excel at National Conference Scouts from Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake in Contingent By: John Scheib Members of the local chapter of the Order of the Arrow, the honor society for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), joined more than 14,000 other Scouts and Scouters at the National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC) last week at Michigan State University. The 89-member strong contingent from BSA Tidewater Council s Blue Heron Lodge participated in the event, which celebrated the 100 th anniversary of the Order of the Arrow and culminated in members taking the #DaretoDo challenge to perform at least one selfless act of service every day for 100 days. Three of its members, Taylor Bobrow, Preston Marquis, and Noel Falcon, were honored with the prestigious, national Distinguished Service Award, given for service at the state, region, or national levels. Nine members of Blue Heron Lodge were also honored with the Centurion Award, which highlights service contributions that have inspired others to follow in their footsteps: Taylor Bobrow, James Ogelsby, Nicholas Anoia, Thomas Webb, Preston Marquis, John Matroni, J. Edgar Parker, Jeffrey Irving, and Donald Simons. In addition, Blue Heron Lodge won three national titles at the conference. Seth Greiling won the conference-wide member networking contest Spark, Brendan Kane won the OA Jeopardy Competition, and Daniel Schneider won the onehalf-mile-long obstacle course race The Order of the Arrow Warrior Challenge. Blue Heron s flag football team went undefeated to win the 2015 NOAC Championship in that event. The lodge s NOAC contingent leader was Charles Pitchford, a rising freshman at the Virginia Military Institute. Being the 100 th Anniversary of the Order of the Arrow, this was the largest contingent we have ever sent to [NOAC], and I could not be prouder of the way our lodge performed, Charles said. A number of Blue Heron Lodge members served on conference staff behind the scenes, including youth members Brendan Kane, Will Scheib, Andrew Sorenson and Brendan Switts, and adult members David Beedie, Jeff Bobrow, Mike Coley, Noel Falcon, A.J. Kelly, Michael Kiser, Preston Marquis, John Matroni, and Judy Weissner. A.J. Kelly starred on stage in two of the evening shows, Brendan Switts and Andrew Sorenson staffed various events, and Brendan Kane and Will Scheib served as Next Generation Trainers, instructing Scouts and Scouters from all over the country. Blue Heron Lodge is led by youth Lodge Chief Anthony Peluso, a rising-senior at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School. After the final show at NOAC 2015, everyone there knew who Blue Heron Lodge was, he observed. 5

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7 A Note from The Editor It has truly been an incredible year. Together, we have had the opportunity to celebrate a century of service, an accomplishment any organization would be proud of. And let me tell you, after reflecting on all that we have done, I am proud to call myself an Arrowman. But as our year comes to an end, we need to decide; where do we see ourselves in the future? How will we achieve that higher vision? And that is my challenge to each and every one of you: Find your place in our lodge. Discover how you will leave your legacy. Henry Ford, founder of Ford motor company, summarizes this well. If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. Keep this in mind as we prepare for I cannot wait to see what you all have to offer. In the meantime though, I look forward to seeing you all at the Fellowship later this month, as we wrap up or outstanding year. As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns. Brendan Switts Vice-Chief of Admin Does your Chapter have what it takes to find out whodunit? Come to Camp Pipsico on October 23 rd -25 th to find out! Go to 9 stations with unique and different challenges that test your teamwork, physical skills, luck, and brain power! Experience the biggest Lodge event of the century with live music, food, and fellowship! Compete with other Chapters in a life size Clue game, Volleyball, Lodgeball, Ultimate Frisbee, Tug of War, and Flag Football! Help your Chapter contend for the Spirit Award and the Blue Heron Golden Arrow! Register by going to and printing out the 2015 Event Registration Form. Next, fill out the form and turn it in to the Scout Office at 1032 Heatherwood Dr. See you at Fall Fellowship! Will Scheib 2015 Fall Fellowship Chairman 7