SR-9 Conclave 2021

Greetings, fellow wears of the Arrow!

We hope this finds you well, staying safe, and finding a way to serve others.

Mowogo Lodge participated in the 2021 Section SR-9 Conclave this past weekend at Camp Patten in Lakeland, Georgia. For our newest members, Mowogo Lodge is one of eleven Order of the Arrow lodges that make up our section, SR-9, which covers large parts of Alabama and Georgia. The Conclave is an annual gathering where many of the aspects of the Order of the Arrow are celebrated and shared with brothers and sisters from around our region.

Competitions and evaluations are a tradition at Conclaves and Mowogo Lodge came ready to compete. The Pre-Ordeal Ceremony from our Jutaculla Chapter was recognized as an “Honor Ceremony Team” for their excellent performance. Our members demonstrated some athletic prowess by winning the Ultimate Frisbee and Volleyball tournaments. And, Brothers J.J. Murray and Parker Scott showed their skill in Native American events including specialized dancing.

Special shout-out to Mr. Kevin Jones, our Lodge Memorabilia Adviser, for developing a “Kim’s Game” for all of the adult advisers from all lodges represented to participate in. Using pieces from his own collection, Mr. Jones demonstrated in a fun way the importance of history expressed through patches, uniforms, and other forms of memorabilia. It was a hit and was well visited. The buttons he made to distribute for those that played the game also were a big item of desire as well. Many thanks to Mr. Jones and all those that worked with him to make this a big part of Mowogo’s presence at the Conclave.

Thanks to all of our members that served as event coordinators, evaluators, and judges including Alex Foster, Jackson Francis, Elaine Foster, William White, Jason Stribling, Britt Bramblett, Steve Back, John Hanes, Victor Keils, and so many others (if I missed someone, please excuse any omission). Special thanks to our Host Lodge, Withlacoochee, for their service. And much appreciation for our Section Leadership who had to do double duty to prepare for a Conclave after a difficult year.

Something historic also happened at this Conclave. Each Order of the Arrow section is run by youth leadership just as each Chapter and Lodge is. Two of our youth leaders stepped up to run for two of the three offices at the Section level and both won! Our Lodge Chief, James Chalmers, and our Lodge Vice Chief of Membership, Jacob Ball, now serve as the Section SR-9 Vice Chief and Secretary, respectively. There have not been many members of Mowogo Lodge that have been elected to a Section office. And there has been only one other time when there were two youth from Mowogo Lodge serving as Section leaders at the same time. That was in 1978 when Jimmy Camp served as the Area (instead of “Section”) Chief and Hubert Harper served as the Area Vice Chief (thanks to Frank Harper for the history!). These outstanding young men will represent Mowogo Lodge at a level beyond our community in Northeast Georgia. I have no doubt they will represent us very well indeed.

Thanks to all of members that participated and to all of our adult advisers for helping get everyone there and back safe. We can take this very positive event and use it to make our Pre-Camp Fellowship experience for our Ordeal Candidates something meaningful and purposeful. Our lodge leadership is planning to make that goal a reality!

Yours in Cheerfulness,

Rusty Royston
Lodge Adviser, Mowogo Lodge
Northeast Georgia Council, BSA