Thousands of Boy Scouts from across the country have converged on campus and in East Lansing in hopes to learn the history of the organization, all while developing valuable life skills.
The Boy Scouts of America's National Order of the Arrow Conference began Saturday and is being hosted by MSU. The conference will continue through Thursday and is meant to help teach scouts a range of skills, including leadership and survival skills.
The conference, which began in 1948 and is held every two years, is always hosted by a university, said Clyde Mayer, the program's national director.
"There are certain requirements that a university must be able to fulfill before we pick them, and MSU followed these requirements," Mayer said.
He added that this year's conference was one of the largest in the organization's history, with about 800 more participants than average because of the size of the university.
Event organizers said there were more than 8,000 scouts participating in the event but did not give an exact figure.
Chuck Gagliano, assistant vice president of Housing and Food Services, said the event could be beneficial to MSU and the East Lansing area.
"I can definitely see something like this increasing local interest in Boy Scout activities," Gagliano said. "I can also see something like this being very economically beneficial for the city. When you have 8,000 people go into town and use the local services, it definitely helps the city out."
Aspects of American Indian history and culture were also focuses of the event, as organizers stressed how important their history is to the Boy Scouts of America.
"We have lots of interest in Native American culture," Mayer said. "We have brought some Native American guest speakers and have other Native Americans teaching the boys certain activities that Native Americans perform."
One of the conference activities included an American Indian powwow dance competition held in Demonstration Hall. Hundreds of boys competed in the event and were judged on how accurately they performed the dance.
George Cornell, a professor of Native American Studies, said he's glad participants are being taught American Indian culture, but hopes American Indian descendants are involved in some way.
"I am just curious in the degree of contact with Native American people the Order of the Arrow has had," Cornell said.
Carl Jennings, a member of the Choctaw tribe and a volunteer at the week's events, said even though many of the scouts care more about doing the crafts than learning about the history, it is still important the scouts learn as much as they can about the culture.
"The more information they learn for the culture, the more empathy they will have for (American Indians)," Jennings said. "This new crop of scouts especially shows interest in the Native American community compared to scouts of the past."
Jason Kerschke, a chief of the Okemos Council and a volunteer at this week's events, said the importance of the conference is in not only how it helps scouts like his own, but in the skills it teaches them, as well.
"The whole premise is to try and teach kids additional leadership and Boy Scout skills to the boys who come to this event," Kerschke said. "The Arrow can be considered the (National Honor Society) of Boy Scouts."
Mayer said the organization is meant to teach boys life skills, but added they are also trying to help local organizations.
"One of our focuses from this event is to support local councils who would like to benefit from this," Mayer said. "By teaching and showing all these skills, these councils can take back this information to their lodges and use it to teach their own scouts these additional skills."
Eddie Bohl, a 13-year-old Boy Scout from New York who participated in the conference, said he would be able to use the things he learned at the conference for the rest of his life.
"These skills I learn today will be skills I will be able to use when I'm older," Bohl said. "I can take these skills and learn new ways to succeed in life."
