The Youngest National Officer?
Posted in Scouting News by John E. Pannell on January 12th, 2008 at 8:33 am Recently I saw on Facebook that the current OA National Chief, Jake Wellman, had celebrated his 18th birthday. That sparked a question in my mind: Who was the youngest national officer in the Order of the Arrow?
Originally national officers, like the National Committtee, were all adults. First they were chiefs of the Grand Lodge, later National Conference Chiefs. As the role of National Conference Chief evolved, it was decided this position should be held by a youthful member of the Order of the Arrow. In time it was codified that the national officers had to be under 21 at the time of their election.
The scope of the Order’s programs grew and the term of the national officers was reduced from two years to one. National officers now have to be youth members, under 21, of the Order for their whole term. Now the officers generally cannot be older than 19 at their election.
It is theoretically possibly for a 20 year old to be elected to national office as the elections are not held on a fixed date every year. I am told Ken Hager, the 2007 Northeast Region Chief, was elected on his 20th birthday with his term ending one day before his 21st birthday.
So I asked the folks on arrow-l, who was the youngest national officer? This sparked some discussion.
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