Yokahu Lodge

Every new Executive Board of Yokahu Lodge assumes office after the annual Convention, early December, and just before the end of the year. Any youth Arrowmen, not turning 21 during the upcoming year, of any level (Ordeal, Brotherhood, Vigil Honor) is eligible to run for a position in the Executive Board, which is composed of:

• Lodge Chief: highest authority in the Lodge. Oversees the Lodge and its officers and sees that his statutes are met, presides Lodge meetings of the Executive Board, coordinates committees and appoints their chairmen, coordinates the functions of Lodge Officers, serves as Chairman of the Awards Committee and the Vigil Honor Committee, if Vigil. The Lodge Chief also appoints its Voluntary Lodge Adviser for the year, with the approval of the Council Executive, after being elected in the Executive Board elections.

• First Vice-Chief: will act as Lodge Chief in the absence of the Lodge Chief or if the latter vacates or leaves the position in any way. Serves as Chairman of the Elections Committee, which is responsible in overseeing that the election of Ordeal candidates for the Lodge take place.

• Second Vice-Chief: will act as supervisor of the Ordeal Ceremony Committee, Brotherhood Ceremony Committee, Ordeal Ceremonial Area Committee, Brotherhood Ceremonial Area Committee and Elangomat & Nimat Committee.

• Third Vice-Chief: will act as supervisor of the Camp Promotion Committee, Service Committee, Health & Security Committee and the Bylaw Amendments Committee.

• Lodge Secretary: custodian of the official documents, keeping them up to date. Maintains a record of attendance of the Executive Board meetings and Lodge meeting discussions, is custodian of all correspondence of the Lodge and maintains all records of the Lodge. Will act as supervisor of the Membership Committee and Communications Committee.

• Lodge Treasurer: custodian of the financial reports of the Lodge. Properly maintains everything related to budget and finances of the Lodge, including but not limited only to bill payments and collection of other items and information regarding merchandise inventory for sale. Prepares a budget for the year, determines costs and makes economic plans with fundraising projects and archives any Lodge accounting documentation received. Will act as supervisor of the Finance Committee.

Committee chairmen are appointed by an Executive Board member in charge of its supervision. The operational committees are:

• Awards: reviews specific qualities met by Chapters and Arrowmen, worthy of being recognized at the end of the year.

• Brotherhood Ceremonial Area: cleans, conditions and prepares the Brotherhood ceremonial area for the induction.

• Brotherhood Ceremony: rehearses and conducts the Brotherhood ceremony.

• Bylaw Amendments: receives amendments to change or modify any part of the Lodge Bylaws.

• Camp Promotion: coordinates mutual-interest events between the Lodge and Camp Guajataka.

• Communications: manages social platforms, emails, creative content and the Lodge bulletin.

• Elangomat & Nimat: coordinates and sorts candidates into patrols and assigns advisers for each patrol during induction procedures.

• Elections: issues blank ballots to Chapters and sorts filled-out ballots accordingly after they are returned. This committee collaborates with the Lodge Secretary in maintaining a list of registered candidates for Ordeal and Brotherhood ceremonies.

• Finance: sells Lodge and OA merchandise at various Lodge and BSA events.

• Health & Security: medical and security emergency at Lodge activities. This committee collaborates with the camp's infirmary in activities held at Camp Guajataka.

• High Adventure: researches camping areas with the inclusion of high adventure at a low cost; provides recreational activities at Lodge events.

• Membership: keeps record of current and new members.

• Ordeal Ceremonial Area: cleans, conditions and prepares the Ordeal ceremonial area for the induction.

• Ordeal Ceremony: rehearses and conducts the Ordeal ceremony.

• Service: coordinates and carries out all service project activities in both the Ordeal induction process, the Brotherhood induction process and other Lodge activities.

• Vigil Honor: reviews and approves Vigil Honor nominations; plans, executes and conducts the Vigil Honor ceremony.

There are four main activities in the Lodge's calendar. The Retorno is celebrated on a weekend between March and April; its purpose is to reunite the Lodge's Arrowmen to lay out and distribute the year's activities and the chapters in charge of running each one, it also serves as a chance to meet the new Lodge Executive Board for the year. Halfway through the year, the Lodge celebrates its high adventure activity between August and September, in order to challenge each Arrowmen's outdoor skills. In October, the Lodge celebrates its Guateke (from the Taíno language, meaning gathering), a fellowship event in which chapters participate in various competitions such as ceremony, regalia, dialogue, sports, triathlon and trivia; the highlight of the Guateke is the youth nominations for the positions of the Lodge Executive Board during the Fall Assembly. Finally in December, the annual Convention serves as the conclusion of the Lodge's year, similar to a "Court of Honor", in which different recognitions and awards are handed out based on service during the year and the youth elections for the Executive Board are held.

Other activities include the start-of-the-year Lodge Leadership Seminar followed by the First Executive Meeting, both taking place the same day early January, the Second Executive Meeting between March and April, the third and final Executive Meeting between late August and early September and a service project.

Inductions are celebrated four times a year, usually once a month from May to August. The induction weekends are called Ordeal/Bros, which began in 1993, since both Ordeal and Brotherhood ceremonies take place at the same time. The Vigil Honor is celebrated as an independent activity from Saturday evening to midday Sunday on the weekend of Thanksgiving, strictly open to Vigil Honor members and candidates.

The 2008 NE-2A Section Conclave took place at Guajataka Scout Reservation, marking the first time that the Yokahu Lodge hosted such event and the first to be held outside the United States. The event had a record attendance of 500 Arrowmen including the National Chief and Vice-Chief, Northeast Region Chief and many Section Chiefs. In this Conclave, the Section changed from NE-2A to NE-5A with the Section losing and acquiring other Lodges. At his event, a Yokahu Arrowman became the second Puerto Rican to become a Section officer, winning his candidacy for Section Vice-Chief.[1]

Yokahu hosted the NE-5A Section Conclave on August 2016 at Guajataka Scout Reservation for the second time in its Lodge history. More than 350 people from New Jersey and Puerto Rico attended the event, including the Order of the Arrow's National Chief, Northeast Region Chief and NE-5B Section Chief (also, NE-5 Section Co-Chief). In this Conclave, the outgoing Section Chief from Yokahu Lodge, who became the third Puerto Rican to become a Section officer, passed on his position to another fellow Yokahu Arrowman elected as Section Chief of NE-5A and, subsequently, NE-5 Section Co-Chief. He became the fourth Puerto Rican to become a Section officer, the second to become Section Chief and the first back-to-back for the same position for a Yokahu Arrowman. This Conclave marked the final one as Section NE-5A before its merger with NE-5B to form one NE-5, acquiring an additional six Lodges to the five that NE-5A already had.

In 2002, Yokahu Lodge hosted the Order's National Leadership Seminar for the first time which included visits from the National Chief and Northeast Region Chief. Yokahu again hosted the NLS for their membership's attendance in October 2014 and included visits from the Northeast Region Chief and the National Vice-Chief.