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The Ohana Award PDF Print E-mail

Highlights:

 

The Ohana Award is earned by our Scouts who demonstrate an exemplary level of appreciation and understanding of family

 

 

 

 

Scouts have the option of researching their family tree, helping others research their family tree, organizing a family reunion, or a gathering of friends.extended family

 

Ohana is a Hawaiian word meaning “family.”  We have developed an award for our Scouts who demonstrate an exemplary appreciation and understanding of family.  This Award is about the 3 F’s:  Family, Friends, and FUN.  We promote strong families and strengthen family values, and offer our Scouts this award as a way of better appreciating their family and friends.

 

 

Though our Scouts might not realize the irreplaceable quality of this portion of their lives, we do.  The time in our Scouts’ lives also belongs to parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and everyone who loves and supports them. 

We appreciate our Scouts live in the present while looking toward the future with a glimpse of the past.  Therefore, periodically, our Scouts are asked to name their ancestors to create a connection from the past to the present.  For example, “My name is Mary, and my mother’s name is Sarah and my father’s name is David.  My mother Sarah’s mother is Henrietta and my father David’s mother is Natalie…”  We encourage each of our Scouts to realize they are a part of a long line of ancestors.  The Ohana Award takes this concept one step further by giving our Scouts the opportunity to fully explore and discover their family tree.

Our Ohana Award has three parts:

In the first part, one option for our Scouts is to research and determine their family genealogy as far back as they are able to trace it.  Genealogy sites online can be of great help with this.  Our Scouts can present the information in the way that seems best to them, such as presenting it as a drawing of their family tree, in report form, or even in video tape form.  Information includes the names and countries of origin our of Scouts’ ancestors and what they may have contributed to America.  Another option is to help others find their family by interviewing and assisting those such as new immigrants or families of holocaust survivors to help them trace their families. black and white picture of family A third option is for our Scouts to do their own biography, in writing, video tape, or whichever medium appeals to them the most. 

In the second part, our Scouts relate what they love and value most about their families.  Scouts can include parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, honorary family, and ancestors.  Again, it may take any form from a written report to a video tape to a play.  It is important that the Scout feel they are communicating the information in the best way to them.

 

In the third part of this award, our Scouts plan a family reunion or gathering of friends who have become family.

  

It is our Scouts’ responsibility to contact family or friends, set a date, and plan the budget.  Our Scouts may even choose to include family they have discovered in the first part of the project!  Reunions and gatherings do not have to be expensive and can be held in a backyard over a barbeque, at a local restaurant, or in a family church or temple.  Our Scouts then make a presentation about what they learned about their families from this experience.

 

Projects are reviewed and evaluated by their fellow Scouts.  Evaluation criteria include how the project went, quality of the presentation, and equally importantly if the Scouts gave their best.   

 
Adventure Scouts USA