That's right - the Order of the Arrow has finally entered the digital age, and we are now accepting online registrations for candidates, members, and Elangomats to attend the Ordeal Weekends this year!

Click here to register online now!

Please consider registering online, as this will greatly reduce the amount of time required at check-in on Friday evening of the Ordeals.  It also ensures data accuracy, avoids the possibility of misplaced paper forms, and helps the Ordeal Administration team plan ahead.  You can register everyone in your family at the same time, and sign up for more than one ordeal at once.  One secure transaction for the entire season!

The adventure of a lifetime awaits, will you heed the call? I can personally attest to the power and challenge that the Order of the Arrow high adventure programs possess. Section W-1N is accepting scholarship applications that cover the cost of your trip, leaving you with only the cost of transportation for a two-week adventure. You have your choice to provide service and trek at one of our national high adventure bases:

OA Trail Crew at Philmont has 48 spots left. One week repairing trail on the ranch or surrounding forests earns you a no-holds-barred trek of your crews choice around Philmont. Skip the waiting list, you can go now!

OA Wilderness Voyage is a two-week canoeing trip in the Boundary Waters wilderness of northern Minnesota. Northern Tier staff provide the adventure of a lifetime canoeing like the voyageurs of old. Enjoy your week of service and then explore like you have never imagined. Still plenty of spots left!

OAWV: Canadian Odyssey allows intrepid arrowmen to travel north of the border to repair portage trails in Ontario, Canada. After a week up north, your crew travels back to base. Witness the majestic beauty of the north country, you wont ever view the night sky the same again. 19 spots left!

Make your summer one filled with epic adventure. Meet Arrowmen from across the country, travel on the cheap and leave with enough memories to keep you going until next summer. Register at http://adventure.oa-bsa.org/.

Yours in Service,
Evan Skandalis

Does your chapter have the quality chapter requirements for Winter Camp staff met? Have 10 youth staffed at Camp Sheppard for your chapters weekends? My goal as Service Vice-Chief is to help chapters succeed in service and in turn get quality chapter. That is why I want to inform you about the Camp Sheppard work party that will be happening the weekend of March 19th-21st. As some of you may know this has been a no-snow year for Sheppard, and thus we have the ability to do tasks that otherwise would not be able to be done in the winter. In past weekends we have been able to accomplish great deeds.

Please contact me at service@tkopekwiskwis.org with your name, chapter and any special skill sets/ useful tools that you can bring. Please be at Sheppard on Friday at 7pm and expect to leave camp by 12 on Sunday.

Yours in Service,
Evan Skandalis

Be a part of the council's largest gathering of the year and provide cheerful service. There will be an opportunity to represent the T'Kope Kwiskwis Lodge at the council's annual recognition dessert and meeting, held March 31st at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.

T'Kope will be presenting and promoting ArrowCorps 502 for the first time at a council event and distinguished chapter and lodge advisors will be receiving the Silver Beaver. If you look at the below invitation then you can see which Scouters from your district will be recognized:

The program promises to be a good time with all aspects of the council being on display. You will be expected to represent the OA and T'Kope Kwiskwis Lodge in a professional manner. You may be asked to open doors, greet and usher or serve dessert. It is a great opportunity to network and see those who make the program run. Please be in the Benaroya Hall lobby at 5:30 in your full, crisp and cleanly Class A with sash. There is free parking in the garage underneath the Hall. Please contact Evan Skandalis at service@tkopekwiskwis.org if you are interested.

Yours in Service,
Evan Skandalis

To celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America the T'Kope Kwiskwis lodge has just released a new lodge flap commemorating this historic milestone. The patch is an eagle, the symbol of the 100^th Anniversary and of the Boy Scout of America, done in the Northern Formline of the Pacific Northwest Coast 1^st Peoples.

The background color is kaki and was designed to match as close as possible the BSA uniform. The words, "100 years BSA", and "T'Kope Kwiskwis" are ghosted in this same color below the wings. There is also the "WWW" ghosted in black on the eagle's chest. With all of the lettering matching the background color, only the wing stretched eagle is easily seen.

The patch will be available at lodge events including the up coming April Ordeal at Camp Pigott April 9^th-11^th 2010. Happy Birthday BSA!

We encourage everyone to congratulate our latest brothers who sealed their membership in the Order by going through the Brotherhood Ceremony at the Sahaptin Mox Khan'-nice Chapter sponsored Brotherhood held on the Kitsap Peninsula February 4th, 2010.

Mikel A

Michael N

Christopher N

Connor S

Stanley W

Christopher Z

Congratulations to you all!

If it's been 10 months since your ordeal and you want to step up to the Brotherhood, the next lodge Brotherhood ceremony is during the April Ordeal at Camp Pigott, April 9-11th 2010. Email us at inductions@tkopekwiskwis.org or contact your Chapter Chief for more information.

Recently a series of major contributions have been made to the Chief Seattle Council to build re-build the longhouse at Camp Pigott.  This wonderful news came almost seven years to the day that the old longhouse was taken down. With these contributions the council believes that it is possible the structure will be built starting in 2010, but only if we finish raising the needed funds. We are now over 80% to our goal of $500,000. We need a decisive wave of support that will make the new longhouse a reality. We now have less than $100,000 to raise! That is an achievable goal, but we need your help!

There are several things you can do at this time!

This year T'Kope will continue its dedication to provide quality OA staff to Camp Sheppard's Winter Camp. Participating in your chapter's service weekend at Sheppard is a great way to boost chapter fellowship, earn community service hours, and gain a keener understanding of the workings of the BSA camping program. At your weekend you can expect to be fed, housed and partied out in return for supervising the tube runs, preparing and serving food in the kitchen, sanding the trails and spreading WWW throughout camp. Each chapter is assigned one or more weekends for this service. Check the lodge calendar to see when your chapter's weekends are or ask your Chapter Chief!

Yours in Service, Evan S. - Lodge Service Vice Chief

Attention to all Ordeal Members, if it has been over ten months since your Ordeal you are now eligible for Brotherhood. This means that you have served your troop and are now ready to attain further knowledge in our brotherhood of cheerful service. If you contact your Chapter Inductions Vice Chief they will help you on the trail to Brotherhood. Also if you know somebody who is eligible for Brotherhood please encourage them to go through, this will help to earn Quality Lodge. There is a Brotherhood Ceremony at all Lodge functions, the next of which would be the April Ordeal at Camp Brinkley (April 9-10)

In Brotherhood,
Ryan M.
Lodge Inductions Vice Chief

In case you have not heard, the unit election season is upon us. A unit election is when OA members go out to all of the troops and elect candidates for the Order of the Arrow. This is a great opportunity for you to serve your fellow scouts. All of the chapters have or are putting together unit election teams to go around to all the troops in your district if you are able to help with any unit elections you should contact your Chapter’s Inductions Vice Chief or your Chapter Chief.

Thank you,
Ryan M.
Lodge Inductions Vice Chief

It is with great pleasure to announce to you the beginning of the search for the 2010 T'Kope Kwiskwis Vigil Honor Class. This process over the next few months will allow you, the members of the lodge, to nominate eligible candidates for consideration by our committee.

From the Guide for Officers &Advisers: The Vigil Honor is a high mark of distinction and recognition reserved for those Arrowmen who, by reason of exceptional service, personal effort, and unselfish interest, have made distinguished contributions beyond the immediate responsibilities of their position or office to one or more of the following: the T'Kope Kwiskwis Lodge, the Order of the Arrow, Scouting, or our Council's Camps. Under no circumstances should tenure in Scouting or the Order of the Arrow be considered as reason enough for a Vigil Honor recommendation.

The year ended with some exciting news, the last of the standing chapter totem poles was identified. The tall slender pole stands down the hill from the longhouse site and has been without a name for many years as its oral traditions faded. Longtime lodge member Tom Bingaman stepped forward and identified the pole as belonging to the Tillikum Chuck chapter. Tillikum Chuck means Water People. This chapter broke away from the Hyas Eena Chapter and served the Renton, Maple Valley and Tahoma School districts in the 1970s'. Later it was reabsorbed into the Hyas Eena Chapter and the history of the pole began to fade.

Since the opening of the E. Packard Longhouse, Chapters were encouraged to carve and raise their own totem poles. Over the past 40 years some have been lost, some survive and new ones have been raised. There are currently eight Chapter totem poles at the longhouse site.

The Tillikum Chuck pole is toped by an eagle holding two salmon in its talons. The great bird is catching the salmon from the bounty of the Cedar River, which is also the name of the district that Tillikum Chuck served. The Eagle is feeding the salmon to Frog, who represents man to some Pacific Northwest 1^st peoples groups. The bottom figure is that of Beaver, the symbol of Hyas Eena, from which Tillikum Chuck split.

Today the area covered by Tillikum Chuck is serviced by Hyas Eena and Wau Wau Talapus.

We want to give a special thanks to Tom Bingaman for stepping forward with this information and allowing the lodge to better understand its own history.

Even though all the poles have now been identified we are still looking for people to step forward with old photos of the longhouse site and its poles to put on the website. We want to make sure our history and traditions are preserved and then shared so that future generations of arrowmen can enjoy and understand them.

There is a tremendous amount of activity this winter at Camp Pigott as we work to complete 24 construction projects prior to the opening of the 2010 summer camp season. The resulting new facilities will help us provide an outstanding summer camp experience while also adding several key features that will be available for year round use. We are excited about these upgrades and additions and can’t wait until summer when Scouts can enjoy all that Camp Pigott has to offer.

ArrowCorps 502 update

On Friday the 13^th of November, Arrowcorps 502 leadership met with Kevin Bacher, Volunteer Coordinator for Mt. Rainier National Park. This was a critical step in the development of the ArrowCorps 502 program. Discussion topics ranged from partnerships with other youth conservation groups to training and possible service areas. We look forward to working in the future with Mr. Bacher. He is a great resource for the project and expressed an enthusiasm to make this project a reality.

After the meeting, the core four team traveled to Fall Rally, anxious to converse the details with the Lodge. Great enthusiasm has been seen from within the lodge, everyone wants to be a part of what is sure to be the largest service project T’kope KwisKwis has ever undertaken. Currently the Core Four group is looking for capable, qualified leaders from within the lodge to plan and perform service of epic proportions. Be sure to check out the ArrowCorps 502 link on the lodge website for more information.

Other service news:

-The Camp Parsons arboretum shelters are currently in the stages of planning. The two shelters to be constructed will provide a haven for Parsons to educate Scouts and school groups in the arboretum.