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Future is bright, Scouts leader says at annual lodge banquet
WARREN
Josh Johnston, elected 2016 chief of the Boy Scouts of America’s Order of the Arrow Wapashuwi Lodge 56, said he’s excited and looking forward to the year ahead.
Johnston, 17, of Southington, has been involved in scouting since 2004 and is working toward becoming an Eagle Scout. He has completed his Eagle Scout project, which was working to improve Maltby Cemetery, a family cemetery at County Line-Turnpike and Stroups-Hickox roads.
Interviewed during Saturday’s Wapashuwi Lodge 56 2016 annual winter banquet at Sorrento’s Banquet Hall here, Johnston, a senior at Chalker High School in Southington, said he’s humbled to have been chosen chief.
He and others were installed into office Saturday.
The lodge is part of the Greater Western Reserve Council, which serves Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Mahoning and Trumbull counties, and the eastern portion of Portage County. The Order of the Arrow, scouting’s National Honor Society, focuses on leadership development, membership extension, adventurous programming and broader service to scouting and the community.
Also celebrated Saturday was the National Order of the Arrow’s 100th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of the Wapashuwi Lodge.
The future of scouting in Northeast Ohio is bright, said Jason Wolf, Greater Western Reserve Council scout executive.
Wolf said youth and adult members of the Order of the Arrow are phenomenal examples of scouting’s principles who have been called by their peers to uphold and be examples of scouting’s honor society.
“I’m very proud of the youth who lead the Order of the Arrow. They have taken upon themselves the responsibility of leading the organization to new heights by inspiring newer members and being willing to accept leadership positions,” Wolf said.
“At the rate this lodge is growing, the future looks very bright,” he said.
The Order of the Arrow has over 170, 000 members nationally in lodges affiliated with more than 270 local BSA councils.