Scouting Still ‘Chief’ Interest for Senior

When Dan Higham ’11 joined the Boy Scouts of America as a young cub, he never imagined that one day he would be one of the faces of the entire organization.

He began to take on leadership positions after joining the scouts in fifth grade. He then expanded to the Northeast regional level. A decade after he joined, Higham was elected the National Vice Chief of the Order of the Arrow in December 2008.

The Order of the Arrow is similar to an honor society. More than 180,000 members belong to the group, and Boy Scouts of America boasts national membership of more than 2.9 million youth members.

His job description as National Vice Chief is to “represent the organization and visit different places around the country.” Higham and four other regional chiefs hold their position for a year.

Higham, whose term ended in December 2009, spent most weekends traveling to different regions. He calculated that he spent five days’ worth of time on a plane this summer.

“Meeting the people was the best,” Higham says. “I like experiencing different things at different times with different people.”

Higham delivered the keynote address at the National Order of the Arrow Conference last August at Indiana University.

“It was intense,” he says of speaking in front of 7,000.

Higham has been to 25 states and attended 42 different events. Sometimes his travels may be a bit overwhelming. On one occasion he came back home to Binghamton from an event at 2 a.m. and had to be on another plane to another event at 11 a.m.

He says that the Boy Scouts of America has helped him to develop leadership skills. “I’ve learned how to be a leader and how to work with people,” says Higham, a human resource management major at Oswego.

— Stefanie J. Beekman ’10