| Scouting in Guam | |||
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| Website Aloha Council site | |||
Scouting in Guam is in a state of development and growth. Scouting has existed on the island since at least the 1940s, and may have been developed as early as the 1920s. [1]
Boy Scouts of America has been in Guam since the creation of the Guam Council in 1947. Although being absorbed into the Direct Service Council in 1956, the Chamorro Council was chartered in 1970, before merging with Kilauea Council (based in Hilo, Hawaii) into the Aloha Council of Honolulu in 1973. It is now administered as the Aloha Council's Chamorro District.
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 2.3 million youth participants and about one million adult volunteers. The BSA was founded in 1910, and since then, about 110 million Americans participated in BSA programs at some time in their lives. BSA is part of the international Scout Movement and became a founding member organization of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1922.
Guam is an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States in Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States, along with the Northern Mariana Islands. The capital city of Guam is Hagåtña and the most populous city is Dededo. The inhabitants of Guam are called Guamanians, and they are American citizens by birth. Indigenous Guamanians are the Chamorros, who are related to other Austronesian natives of Eastern Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Guam has been a member of the Pacific Community since 1983.
There have been American Scouts overseas since almost the inception of the movement, often for similar reasons as the present day. Within the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), these expatriate Scouts are now served by two overseas Councils and the Direct Service program. Within the Girl Scouts of the USA, the USAGSO serves such a purpose.
The Chamorro Council's Order of the Arrow lodge was Achsin Lodge #565. When its council merged, Achsin also merged with Kamehameha Lodge #454 and Pupukea Lodge #557 to form Mokupuni O Lawelawe Lodge #567. When selected a new name and number for the lodge, they took 5 from Kamehameha, 6 from Achsin, and 7 from Pupukea. The lodge later changed its name to Na Mokupuni O Lawelawe. [2]
The Order of the Arrow (OA) is the National Honor Society of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), composed of Scouts and Scouters who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives as elected by their peers. The society was created by E. Urner Goodman, with the assistance of Carroll A. Edson, in 1915 as a means of reinforcing the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. It uses imagery commonly associated with American Indian cultures for its self-invented ceremonies. These ceremonies are usually for recognition of leadership qualities, camping skills, and other scouting ideals as exemplified by their elected peers.
For girls, there are Girl Scouts of the USA Overseas on Guam, served by the Guam Girl Scouts Council in Hagåtña.
Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as simply Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized after Low met Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, in 1911. Upon returning to Savannah, Georgia, she telephoned a distant cousin, saying, "I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight!"
