Tsisqan Lodge, like many lodges, had a challenging year with decreasing membership and continued obstacles from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite this, Tsisqan still had another amazing year.
Early in the year, the lodge held their first-ever virtual Workshop Weekend and only second-ever fully virtual lodge event. The event had around 30 members participate in a variety of online games and activities.
In 2020, the lodge was unable to meet to induct its 2020 Vigil Honor candidates. In March, Tsisqan held a special Vigil Induction weekend at Camp Baker to bestow the Vigil Honor on six deserving Arrowmen; Dustin Graves, Owen Land-Stockwell, Luka Schaefers, Tycho LeGrue, Ron Lamie, and Marvin ‘Butch’ Shumway.
In April, the lodge was finally able to gather in-person for its Service Weekend at Camp Baker where members provided cheerful service to the council’s flagship summer camp. Most notably was the construction of 13 new picnic tables to support outdoor dining during the summer.
Following a successful return to in-person events, Tsisqan Lodge held two in-person inductions where the lodge welcomed 33 new members. 14 Arrowmen became Brotherhood members in 2021. During the Spring Induction at Camp Baker, the lodge recognized its 2021 class of Vigil Honor recipients. The six recipients were Calvin Johnson, Devin Hunt, Dylan Hurlimann, Jackson McCullough, Jason Stubbs, and Eugene Regan.
The lodge closes out the year with an amazing Annual Fellowship with over 105 Arrowmen in attendance. The theme, ‘Brotherhood Royale’ was centered around James Bond/spies featuring tons of fun activities including shooting sports, climbing, ziplining, knife throwing, scavenger hunts, competitions, and much more. The weekend concluded with the annual awards banquet, theme show, installation of the new lodge officers, and auction.
Other highlights from the year include:
- The launch of The Hoofbeat, a new monthly e-newsletter sent to dues-paid members
- Connecting the lodge leadership with lodge members using Slack
- Launched official shows and auction committees
- Celebrated the 75th Anniversary of Camp Melakwa with a commemorative lodge flap
- Made huge strides in unit elections by using the new induction tools in Lodgemaster, achieving a 95% unit visitation rate.
- Finishing the year with over 2,300 hours of service to the council’s camps (that is an average of over 9 hours per lodge member!)
Tsisqan Lodge also wants to thank Fred Linton for his service as lodge adviser over the past two very challenging years. Fred has decided to step down for personal reasons, effective at the end of 2021. Mark Stueve has been appointed as the new lodge adviser starting January 1, 2022
Tsisqan now plans to hit the ground running in 2022 by holding its first-ever Polestar: Induction Leadership Training event, revamping its Workshop Weekend, launching new lodge merchandise, and preparing to send its largest contingent ever to NOAC next summer.