OA Unit of Excellence

The Order of the Arrow Unit of Excellence Award is an annual award that seeks to identify those units, and the leaders within them, who excel at incorporating the OA into their annual planning. This award is intended to provide a tool for lodges to recognize, incentivize, and operationalize unit-level participation in Order of the Arrow programs. 

Leadership:

• Implement the Troop/Team OA Representative and Troop/Team OA Representative Adviser (Assistant Scoutmaster or Assistant Coach Designee) programs in your unit. 

• Every six months, ensure that the senior patrol leader (Troop) or Team Captain (Team) appoints or reappoints one Scout or Team Member to serve as Troop/Team OA Representative and the Scoutmaster/Coach appoints one adult to serve as Troop/Team OA Representative Adviser. 

• Feature an annual presentation at a Court of Honor by the Troop/Team OA Representative on the Order of the Arrow with a focus on the accomplishments of unit members. 

Participation: 

• Promote lodge events and provide transportation to all Arrowmen wishing to participate

• At least 50% of unit OA members attend at least one lodge event in addition to their Ordeal. 

Elections: 

• Schedule a unit election with the chapter election team annually. 

• Hold an election and have 70% of elected Scouts or Team Members complete their Ordeal. 

Planning: 

• Maintain an active planning process that prevents overlap between lodge and chapter events with unit events. 

• Review the local OA calendar with the Patrol Leader’s Council or Team Leadership during annual troop/ team program planning and schedule unit events so that 100% of troop/team programs do not overlap with any full-lodge events. 

Conversion: 

• Demonstrate the depth of your unit’s OA program through Brotherhood conversion. 

• At least 33% of eligible troop/team members seal their membership in the Order by converting to Brotherhood.

See this document for more information: 

https://oa-bsa.org/resources/forms#unit