DeMolay and Squires Youth Programs

As a DeMolay Advisor, I am always troubled by the notion of how to market this amazing, nearly 100 year old organization. I know what these organizations are and what they mean to me, but, how do I translate that into something a parent or a potential member can tangibly comprehend? What makes these organizations different from all the other youth organizations? RELEVANCE! There is something to be said for and gained from our competitors and many kids find great enjoyment by belonging to them. For the kids who don’t, or those that can’t wait until they’re at certain level of membership in those organizations, I offer these recent articles from FASTCOMPANY.com, “These Are the Biggest Skills That New Graduates Lack”, Forbes.com “These Are the Skills Bosses Say New College Grads Do Not Have”, and a Business Insider Report relating to Harvard Admissions. There is a decent list of skills which most youth programs could never tackle but there are a core set of skills that without doubt are taken on and taught in DeMolay and Squires.

Public Speaking: DeMolay and Squires provide basic instruction and develop a confidence in speaking publicly. We do this in many ways, first and foremost is through our use of ritual. I know the word ritual scares most people and attribute it to religious acts or ceremonies, but consider this definition from Dictionary.Com “A detailed act or series of acts carried out by an individual to relieve anxiety or to forestall the development of anxiety”. Through continuous reciting of a members assigned part in participation of our public and private ceremonies, they relieve their anxiety of speaking publicly. There is ritual in many groups, named as an oath or motto to minimize the discomfort of association with being “ritual”. Comfort of speaking publicly is also developed through the presentation of ideas and suggestions to both your peers and the advisory council relating to all the activities undertaken by the group. Lastly, members learn these skills as they take their enjoyment of DeMolay and Squires and bring that forward into the world when they discuss the organizations with their friends, their friend’s parents and anyone else they feel they want to discuss our organizations with.

Critical Thinking, Ownership, and Attention to Detail: One of the greatest skills I learned from DeMolay was Critical Thinking. The uniqueness I often attribute to our program is the freedom the members have to steer the organization locally and in some cases at the state level and even the international level. Everything we do relating to chapter events is determined by the members. All of our fund-raising, charitable work, obligatory celebrations and fun activities are determined by your children. How does it happen? A member will present an idea during our meeting and the membership will vote on it. If the proposal moves forward solicitation for the formation of a committee to organize this event takes place or the proposing member may want to tackle it on their own. They will present the specifics on a set date and continue to move forward planning the event. Once the event is completed they will provide a post event briefing on what went right, what went wrong, and their synopsis of what could make this event more successful in the future. Advanced critical thinking development takes place during our state and international congress meetings. At these events, members formulate the governing rules of our organizations, like the U.S. Congress, these meetings are held to create, revise or repeal our bylaws and organizational constitutions.

Interpersonal Skills/ Teamwork: What I hope has become a recurring theme in what I’ve written so far is the development of teamwork and interpersonal skills. Nothing moves forward without the vote of the membership and the outcomes of events (success) are typically group attributed. We have multiple awards and decorations that are for individual accomplishments; however, the overall success of the chapter is dictated by teamwork. As a past member, I recall several meetings where members just disagreed. These disagreements would often extend our meeting length and at times may have jeopardized friendships but I learned and assess that my fellow chapter members learned valuable lessons about working together and that most disagreements should not be taken personally. As in adult life or sports, “You win some, you lose some”. This is true in the advancement of members through the officer chairs. Many of our positions are elected positions, so anyone interested needs to inform the chapter of their intent and should be nominated by another member, accept that nomination and deliver a stump speech on election night.

Leadership: Leadership skills are gained in many ways. The most noticeable is through our officer line. There are several positions in the chapter. The highest is the Master Councilor. This person has the responsibility for overseeing the meetings and establishing the themes and programs for the term (a period of 6 months or 1 year). As previously mentioned, the members dictate the course of the local chapter and adjustments to a term plan or the Master Councilor himself can be made through the vote of the membership. Referring back to teamwork for a moment, the most successful chapters and Master Councilors will collaborate with the other top two officers (Senior and Junior Councilors) in the creation of the term plan. Leadership is gained mostly through active participation in the chapter. Some of the most influential members are not the officers of the chapter but those members we refer to as “sideline brothers”. They are amazingly active in creating ideas and planning, however, they do not want to the perceived responsibility of “rank” or the “burden” of learning ritual. Without knowing it, they are learning all of the lessons and developing all the skills mentioned in the preceding paragraphs.

Design and Mathematics: DeMolay members and Squires often times assist in the creation of public information regarding their organizations. DeMolays, more so than Squires, often manage the social media and websites for their chapters. In doing this they continue to advance their skillsets in public speaking and learn basic design skills. In the past, DeMolay international has held contests to see which chapter(s) can create a series of video advertisements for the organization. While we have not formed to teach advanced Calculus, members do learn basic accounting principles through event management. For example, a dance to be held as a fundraiser: the event committee should explain to the advisory board in their proposal a description of where the initial funding coming from (the costs associated with the entertainment, facility, marketing, food, drink, decorations, etc.), who is to be invited (other Chapters and Assemblies from our sister organization or the public), anticipated attendance and projected donation. One of the critical positions in our chapters is the treasurer, a member who is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the finances of the group that is supported by an Advisor. This position exposes them to the basics of managing and balancing a checkbook and learning about expenditures and incomes.

All of these skills can be acquired through membership in DeMolay and Squires and are available to all members from the first day of membership. For almost 100 years (since 1919) DeMolay has instilled many politicians, actors, sportsmen and business leaders with the skills that have been sought by employers for decades. Today we still deliver the skills that many employers find lacking in today’s new hires.