Besides conclave, most Arrowmen are unaware of the section’s role: supporting lodges.
To help build the skills needed to help their lodges, section officers and advisers attend the section officer seminar, or SOS, every year. SOS is a forum where officers can exchange inventive ideas from around the region. These conversations and training sessions with other officers and national leadership provide them an opportunity to learn and grow as leaders for their section.
“This event focuses on enhancing leadership and programmatic offerings for each section,” explained this year’s Gateway Region SOS Coordinator Andrew Line. “It aims to develop each officer and adviser’s goals for the year, aligning them with similar goals from around the region (2022).”
On Oct. 21-23, the Gateway Region’s twenty-four sections will meet in Kansas City, MO, to begin “sculpting the foundation,” while the twenty sections of the Eastern Region gather in Charlotte, NC, to work on “forging the future.” Attendees are provided an opportunity to befriend, bond with, and learn from their counterparts. They will be given a chance to network and bounce their ideas off their fellow officers. At the Eastern Region SOS, networking and fellowship opportunities include an assortment of unique excursions, like mountain biking, rock climbing, and kayaking.
“I can’t wait to meet all the section officers that I haven’t met yet, learn about how they handle things in their sections and find ideas to bring back and ultimately better my section,” commented Section G1 Chief Jasim Ali (2022).
Just like LLD, officers and advisers will attend a variety of training where they will learn how to grow themselves, their section, and the lodges. Both regions will offer a session on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and how it can be better implemented across the board.
According to Line, attendees will learn how to “incorporate the voice of every Arrowmen (2022).”
Besides DEI, officers will learn how to foster others, utilize resources to support the lodges, and develop strategic and innovative thinking skills. At the end of the weekend, officers will take home an actionable plan to achieve their goals.
“I was able to connect with people who knew what it was like to be in my shoes,” reflected former Section NE-6A/E10 Secretary Elliott Morton, who attended in 2020 (2022). “The courses taught me what I needed to be an officer and helped me develop skills that will serve me far beyond section office (2022).”
The officers and advisers from around the country will spend plenty of hours planning future success for their sections. Attendees will surely take home the connections and lessons needed to continue championing the lodges they support. Most of the work at the section level happens behind the scenes and SOS serves as an impactful forum for officers to receive support from other officers and national leadership.