2012 National Order of the Arrow Conference

Fun fact: John Rehm did not plan on running for National Chief until shortly before the National Planning Meeting in December 2011.

“I think the defining factor was the big ‘what if’ question. It was my second year as a section chief and I swore I would never run for a third term, so this was going to be the end of my years as a youth officer. I figured if I won, sweet, and if not, it meant I could finally go back and focus on just my lodge for awhile, helping out where needed,” he says.

If you were to ask him now what made him run, he would tell you about a conversation that he had two years ago with a camper at Camp Karoondinha’s Trail to Eagle first-year camper program. “[The scout] knew very little about the OA and my involvement in it, but he told me how much he enjoyed taking Trail to Eagle and that I inspired him to help more with his troop and doing chores at home. It was just something about that conversation that convinced me to just go for it,” he says.

When John was elected, he was shocked and, probably more importantly, in a state of disbelief, saying that “It honestly didn’t hit me that I was chief until the May [BSA Annual] Meeting in Orlando, Florida.”

A sophomore at Susquehanna University majoring in Public Relations, John hopes to get involved in Public Affairs, or go to graduate school, preferably at Columbia University or the University of Pennsylvania. John’s average day usually begins by reporting for work at 7:30 AM in the IT office at school. After brunch and a quick nap, he’s off to classes until the late afternoon, when he goes back to work for an hour. Then comes some club meetings, followed by homework, until he finally calls it a night at around 11 PM.

A member of Woapeu Sisilija Lodge in Susquehanna Council, John joined Scouting like most Scouts do—through the Cub Scout program, primarily through the support of his parents. Back then, John was playing baseball, too, and started to dislike both Cub Scouts (for the excessive arts and crafts programs) and baseball (because of the other players). “My parents told me that I had to choose which one,” he says, “and since the baseball uniform didn’t fit as well I chose Cub Scouts. Sort of embarrassing but that was the defining factor.”

After flirting with the idea of quitting Cub Scouts, he was convinced by an adult leader to join Troop 623 of Susquehanna Council, and he wound up ascending to Eagle Scout, while on the way serving as Patrol Leader, Troop Guide, and Senior Patrol Leader. In the OA, he served as Activities Chairman, then as Lodge Chief and as a two-term Section Chief. By far, his favorite thing about Scouting has been the fact that the participants have been so varied. “The fact that guys from all across the country who may be star athletes, theater majors, or trying to find out their place in the world, can have a common interest binding them together,” he says, “where normally they may never even to talk to one another.”

John finds keeping himself organized about meetings and emails are the most challenging part of his job as National Chief; but meeting Arrowmen on the road at lodge events, National Leadership Seminars, or on OA High Adventure trips (John participated in an OA Wilderness Voyage trek this past June at Northern Tier) makes everything worthwhile.

After NOAC, John will go back to school and go back to serving on the National Order of the Arrow Committee and on the National Committee of the BSA. He’ll also be helping at various National Leadership Seminars and visiting lodge events until his replacement is elected at the 2012 National Planning Meeting. But John tells us that he only wants to be remembered for one thing.

“I want to be remembered as Johnny Rehm,” he says, “the friendly short guy.”