In this email you will find:

AROUND THE WORLD WITH A NEW GENERATION OF EAGLE SCOUTS

Spirit of Adventure bookAcclaimed author Alvin Townley (Legacy of Honor, 2007; Spirit of Adventure, 2009) will attend NOAC 2009 to discuss the extraordinary Eagle Scouts he met while writing his latest book, Spirit of Adventure. Alvin traveled around the world to discover Eagle Scouts in their 20s and 30s who are leading lives of adventure and purpose as they continue the adventure of Scouting. He found these young men everywhere, including volunteering with the Peace Corps in Africa, teaching rock climbing skills on Nevada cliffs, exploring coral reefs off the Australian coast, and preparing for takeoff aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. For more information, visit www.AlvinTownley.com, then meet Alvin at NOAC, where books will be available.

PROGRAM FEATURE: AMERICAN INDIAN TRADING POSTS AT NOAC

At the 2009 NOAC you’ll have the opportunity to visit 2 American Indian trading posts. Buffalo Chips from Billings, Montana will be on hand with a full array of craft supplies, kits and ready-made items to meet all your crafting needs. Beads to bells, feathers to fur - a one stop Indian shop located in room 111 of Woodburn Hall (located next door to the IU Student Union). Written Heritage from Folsom, Louisiana will have a large selection of books, CD’s, DVD’s and videos covering clothing, culture and history. They’ll have storybooks, calendars, and music, as well as a large inventory of Full Circle videos. Written Heritage is located in room 104 of Woodburn Hall (located next door to the IU Student Union). Both trading posts will be open on Sunday, August 2nd from 8:30 am till 3:30 pm, Monday the 3rd & Tuesday the 4th from 8:30 am till 5:00 pm

LOGISTICS INFORMATION: PARKING

Parking on campus at the dorms is limited. Passes can be purchased from the dorm desk when the guests check in at their respective dorms. The cost for a dorm pass is $5 per day and weekends are not charged. Tickets will be written for vehicles parked without passes. Dead storage of vehicles in the designated area is free.

PROGRAM TOOL: STAY CONNECTED WITH NOAC MOBILE

NOAC Mobile InterfaceNOAC 2009 offers another digital tool for Arrowmen to use to keep up with the latest Conference news, happenings, schedule changes and the weather. The NOAC Mobile website (http://m.oa-bsa.org) is compatible with most PDA devices including iPhone, Blackberry, and Treo. The site is available now. Start to check regularly for news alerts.

2010 HIGH ADVENTURE DATES ANNOUNCED – APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE NOW

We are pleased to announce that the 2010 applications for OA Trail Crew, OA Wilderness Voyage and OAWV: Canadian Odyssey, have been posted to the national high adventure website (http://adventure.oa-bsa.org). There will be 9 sessions of each program, including the new Canadian Odyssey Voyage, running from early June through mid-August. The OA Ocean Adventure program is currently in revision to give Arrowmen the opportunity to leave an even greater impact on the areas Sea Base serves, at a lower cost to the participants. Details about the program, as well as the application, will be available later this summer.

Each year the OA's High Adventure programs continue to grow in popularity and have been filled to capacity for four straight years. As such we encourage Arrowmen to apply as soon as possible. For more program information including promotional flyers, videos, participant testimonials, newsletter articles, scholarship form templates, website banners, training syllabi and more, visit the resources section of our website. Past participants can share their OAHA experiences by emailing them to OAHighAdventurePromotions@gmail.com.

For those Arrowmen attending NOAC, we hope to see all past participants and staff members at the OA High Adventure Gathering on Monday August 3rd from 9:30 pm until 10:30 pm at the IU Tennis Center. OA High Adventure will also have informational areas at the Experience, TOAP, and during Founders Day. We look forward to seeing you there.

Arrowmen In Action: Living Life To The Fullest

What started out as a great father-son adventure one August morning turned into a quick lesson in emergency preparedness for two Arrowmen last year. Charlie and Hap Stokes, Brotherhood members from Lakeview, Minnesota, were hiking up the 14,259-foot Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado last August when they had to put their Scout skills to use. The two had just completed two weeks at Philmont and were ready to take on a mountain that Hap had wanted to climb since he was a boy. They brought plenty of water, extra clothes and rain gear and even started early enough in the day to reach the peak before the daily thunderstorms hit. “We did everything right,” said Hap of his and his son’s preparations. “But, in this case, it didn’t matter,” he said.

The walk up the mountain was as leisurely as it could be. They stopped to take pictures and admired the well-known scenery along the way. But when they reached to summit of the mountain, the pair noticed dark storm clouds quickly making their way towards the mountain. One of the reasons for making the climb that day was to spread Hap’s dad’s ashes, so they quickly did that, took a few pictures and began their descent back down the mountain. After hiking a little over a mile down the mountain the decided to stop and put rain gear on, something that many of the other hikers on the trail that day chose not to do. A few hundred feet later, they were being pelted by hail and surrounded by lightening. At one point, the hail was hitting so hard that the pair decided to stop with a group of others and seek shelter. "It was hail," Hap told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "I'm bald. It hurt, man. I was getting pelted."

After a while, the father-son pair decided they had to continue down the mountain or risk being sitting ducks in a lightening storm. They led a group of several people down to a shelter and collected other stranded hikers along the way. Once they got to the shelter Charlie and Hap sprang into action, using the skills they had learned in Scouts to help their fellow hikers. “[Scouting] trained us to help those who were less prepared than we were,” said Hap. They emptied their backpacks of the extra clothes and distributed their water. Eventually someone was able to call for help and handed the phone to Hap. The rangers told him that those who could walk down should do so. While Hap encouraged others to leave, he and Charlie stayed behind to help those who couldn’t leave until more help had arrived. Eventually another group of hikers, including two physicians, arrived at the shelter where Hap and Charlie had huddled with others to escape the storm.

The physicians arrived just in time, because Charlie noticed that his dad was starting to experience hypothermia. “He was so busy helping other people he didn’t help himself,” Charlie told the Pioneer Press. Hap credits his son’s leadership abilities with helping to keep him safe. “It was just natural for Charlie to pick up the leadership role,” he said. Charlie immediately ordered his dad off the mountain and the two made it back safely.

For their heroism and actions that day, the pair was awarded the National Medal of Merit at a surprise Court of Honor held by their troop. The honor meant a lot to Hap and Charlie, whose family’s Scouting heritage goes back several generations. Still, Hap credits his action to the training he received as a Scout. “Any number of people are trained to provide service. The real motivation is to just execute that training.”

FEATURED TRADING POST ITEM: ARROWCORPS5 COMMEMORATIVE COFFEE TABLE BOOK - Only $29.50
ArrowCorps5 Commerorative Coffee Table Book

The ArrowCorps5 Commemorative Coffee Table Book is available for order. This hard cover coffee table book is packed with color photographs and illustrations that tell the story of the Boy Scout's largest service project since World War II. A copy of the ArrowCorps5 Highlights DVD is also included. The publisher is aiming to have the book ready for NOAC; otherwise, it will be mailed to all purchasers shortly after NOAC. Purchase a copy today and reserve your NOAC 2009 items at the same time! Due to economic conditions, we are reducing order quantities significantly. You are strongly encouraged to order items in advance as we anticipate that we will have a limited amount of inventory on-site. Visit the Order of the Arrow Trading Post online today!

Remember the Power of One

“Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

REMINDER: FEE DEADLINE HAS PASSED!

The $395 conference fee was due to the national office by May 31, 2009 (postmarked date). Conference fees paid after May 31, 2009, will incur a $55.00 late fee (total $450.00). All late fees were due to the OA Director no later than June 30, 2009. If you have not submitted the conference fee for your entire contingent please make that a priority this week. The conference fee includes five night’s housing, 14 meals, program, and support materials, registration materials, and recognition items during the six-day conference.

Questions?
The answers to "Frequently Asked Questions" are on the NOAC Website at http://event.oa-bsa.org/events/n2009/faq.htm. Please send any questions regarding NOAC to nept@oa-bsa.org. Questions regarding your lodge contingent should be directed to your lodge contingent leader.
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