Successful Elangomats

Kyle Waiss (he/him)

kyle.waiss@kanwatho.org

Flight Path IV: Inductions Management�11:00 AM

Polestar Chapter 6

Video start: 00:49:40 Video end: 01:02:24 Run time: 13 minutes

Check Your Bearing

Review questions

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1. What are the primary functions of the Ordeal?

2. Why are elangomats so valuable to the candidates in the Ordeal?

3. What do candidates demonstrate by meeting each of the tests of the Ordeal?

4. What is the Quest for the Arrow?

5. What are the three steps in the Quest for the Arrow?

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Possible Answers

1. What are the primary functions of the Ordeal?

Answer: to model how to overcome real life challenges through experiential learning; to reinforce that leadership begins with leadership-of-self; to present a vision of the Arrow; to transmit our values; to reaffirm and further develop role models

2. Why are elangomats so valuable to the candidates in the Ordeal?

Answer: They are “allies” who “Guide.”

3. What do candidates demonstrate by meeting each of the tests of the Ordeal?

Answer: Night Alone: affirms strength in the face of perceived isolation; Scant Food: reveals the candidate’s resilience; Silence: enables self-awareness by actively listening to ourselves and the world around us; Arduous Labor: demonstrates willingness to selflessly serve others

4. What is the Quest for the Arrow?

Answer: It is a metaphor for our “hero’s journey” to seek, see, and find a “higher vision” of ourselves, as represented by the Arrow’s ever onward and upward flight.

5. What are the three steps in the Quest for the Arrow?

Answer: Seek; See; Find

A Mirror for the Inside

Video start: 00:00:00 Video end: 00:01:52 Run time: 2 minutes

Big Point:

Elangomats are catalysts in the candidate’s experience

What is the role of the elangomat? What about the “Ordeal Master”?

Differing Roles, Differing Responsibilities

Elangomat

• Trained prior to Ordeal weekend
• Oversees a crew of 6-8 candidates
• Undertakes all of the tests of the Ordeal alongside their crew members
• Communicates silently through the power of example
• Does not deal with non-compliant candidates directly
• Serves as a table guide during the Aim High Orientation

Ordeal Master

• Trained prior to Ordeal weekend
• Responsible for the Ordeal in its entirety
• Coordinates work projects, food, emergency plans, logistics, first aid, schedule, etc.
• Assigns candidates to crews before they arrive
• Deals with non-compliant candidates
• Communicates with elangomats and project leads

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Big Point:

The more logistical concerns an elangomat has to deal with, the less they are able to fulfill their primary purpose to the candidate.

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Standard Ordeal�Through the Lens of the�Elangomat

Friday

4:30–7:00 pm

• Camp set up.
• Elangomats meet together. Re-emphasize the importance of their role and assure they understand their responsibilities.
• Arrowmen (not necessarily their elangomats) greet candidates on arrival and assist them individually with check-in.
• Form elangomat crews, based on geographical proximity if possible.
• Ordeal Master or elangomats deliver a brief orientation covering safety and an overview of what to expect.
• Snack / cracker barrel / meal.

1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

CANDIDATES ARE NOT UNDER A VOW OF SILENCE

Friday, cont.

7:00–8:30 pm

• Fellowship, and Team Building activity.
• Elangomats give each of their candidates SOA booklet #2 and allow time for them to read it and stow it with their personal effects for later reference. (As role models, elangomats also read the booklet.)

Complication: a candidate asks their elangomat to interpret SOA booklet #2, saying that they don’t understand what it is saying.

1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

CANDIDATES ARE NOT UNDER A VOW OF SILENCE

Friday, cont.

8:30–9:30 pm

• Pre-Ordeal Ceremony. Begins after sunset, when possible, to take advantage of the awe-inspiring effect of dusk/darkness and to highlight the 15 blazes. Ceremonialists who have memorized the text and practiced together in advance conduct the ceremony. Each ceremony should be conducted for smaller numbers of candidates & elangomats—but in no case may there be more than 50.

Complication: a candidate doesn’t step forward when prompted by Allowat Sakima in the ceremony.

1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

Friday, cont.

9:30–10:00 pm

• Night Alone. Starts no earlier than 9:30 to keep it from being too long. Candidates are placed in keeping with Youth Protection Guidelines.
• Members meeting. Review work projects and emphasize the importance of their example as role models. Encourage them to take time to work in silence with crews in accordance with Induction Principle 4—Member’s Compliance and 7—Generosity.

1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

Saturday

7:00–8:00 am

• Crews gather and wash up.
• Ordeal Overview. Elangomats (or the Ordeal Master if in plenary session) read a scripted reminder (the Elangomat’s Morning Talk) to their crews about the meaning of the tests of the Ordeal.

(No discussion sessions are held during the Ordeal until the Aim High Orientation.)

• Elangomats and candidates read SOA booklet #3 in silence, and then stow it with their personal effects for later reference.
• Scant breakfast, with choices to accommodate dietary needs.

Complication: in the morning, you find one of your candidates playing a game on their phone before everyone else was awake.

1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

Saturday, cont.

8:00–11:30

• Work projects, chosen for meaningfulness.
• Members join in with candidate crews for short or long periods as their duties allow, working quietly alongside elangomats and candidates, projecting an air of warmth and friendliness.
• Two mandatory 10–15-minute hydration breaks—more may be necessary, depending on weather conditions.

Complication: sudden rain turns the trail that your crew is building into a mudslide, and the tools you have aren’t working on the drenched ground.

1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

Saturday, cont.

11:30–12:00 pm

• Scant lunch, with choices to accommodate dietary needs. Maintain silence through lunch.

Complication: a candidate doesn’t take anything from the limited offerings at the lunch table. Further investigation reveals that the last of their dietary-restricted meals was taken by another individual.

1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

Saturday, cont.

12:00–3:30 pm

• Meaningful work continues. Members join crews as in the morning.
• Two mandatory 10–15-minute hydration breaks.

3:30–4:00 pm

• Clean up, change into Scout uniform.

Complication: a candidate who is allergic to bee stings is stung by one during the work project.

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1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

Saturday, cont.

4:00–6:00 pm

• Aim High Orientation & Fellowship. The pledge of silence is lifted for this.
• Begins with a period of fellowship and a snack (e.g., a ration of cookies, an ice cream social, fruit, juice, milk) so that candidates can focus on new information without being distracted by hunger.
• Review key aspects of pre-Ordeal ceremony and tests; prepare candidates for the Ordeal ceremony, suggesting that they look and listen well. Explanation and outline of the 6-month Journey to Brotherhood and the meaning of the Quest for the Arrow.
• Crews break out to help each candidate formulate a personal plan for continuing involvement with and service to their unit.
• Administrative details, chapter connections, upcoming event promos, and an overview of chapter/lodge/section/national program.

1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

CANDIDATES ARE NOT UNDER A VOW OF SILENCE

Saturday, cont.

6:00–7:00 pm

• Full evening meal. The pledge of silence remains lifted. Encourage meaningful interaction: discussion, possible Q&A, and fellowship between members and candidates.

Complication: As you’re finding a seat with your food, you notice that all of the candidates of another elangomat’s crew are seated away from the rest of the members.

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1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

CANDIDATES ARE NOT UNDER A VOW OF SILENCE

Saturday, cont.

7:00–10:00 pm

• Elangomats and candidates read SOA booklet #4 in silence, and then stow it with their personal effects for later reference.
• Ordeal ceremony. Begins after sunset, when possible, to take advantage of the awe-inspiring effect of dusk/darkness and to highlight the 15 blazes. Ceremonialists who have memorized the text and practiced together in advance conduct the ceremony. Each ceremony should be conducted for smaller numbers of candidates & elangomats—but in no case may there be more than 50. If groups of candidates must wait for later ceremonies, quiet fellowship activities should be planned. Candidates resume the pledge of silence on the trail to the ceremony.

​

1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

Saturday, cont.

7:00–10:00 pm, continued

• If there are to be subsequent ceremonies, new members should be encouraged to stay to witness them.
• Cracker barrel. Fellowship and connection with chapters. Candidates receive their new member packets with patches, any other items and information, and SOA booklet #5 for later reading.

​

1. Purpose
2. Eligibility
3. Candidate’s Compliance
4. Members’ Compliance
5. Discretion
6. Importance of the Individual
7. Generosity
8. Focus
9. Symbolic Progression
10. Active Membership

CANDIDATES ARE NOT UNDER A VOW OF SILENCE

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