Queen's Own Scout Troop 5
Initiative Summary
A historical scouting programme patronised by Queen Liliʻuokalani, weaving Hawaiian cultural elements through traditional scouting. It works through outdoor skills, community service, and cultural education.
The troop’s device is a layered satin rosette in the red, white, and blue of the Hawaiian flag, centred on an enamelled badge: a crown above, the Queen’s cipher within, and around it the word Onipaʻa — steadfast, immovable — Liliʻuokalani’s own motto.
It is worth pausing on that choice. Onipaʻa was the motto of a sovereign who was deposed and imprisoned and did not yield, and it is worn here by young people learning knots, first aid, and service. The device sets the standard the programme asks of them, and it does so without a word of explanation on the uniform itself.
STREAMY in Queen's Own Scout Troop 5
| Letter | As applied in this formation |
|---|---|
|
S — Sciences |
Environmental science and conservation |
|
T — Technologies |
Modern scouting tools and techniques |
|
R — Reading, Research & Remuneration |
Hawaiian history and legend; study of Indigenous practices and their applications; the economic value of community service |
|
E — Engineering & Electronics |
Building and maintaining scouting equipment; electronic devices in the field |
|
A — Arts & ʻĀina |
Art and craft grounded in Hawaiian culture; environmental stewardship and sustainability |
|
M — Mathematics, Mele & Moʻomeheu |
Mathematics applied to outdoor navigation; traditional music and chant; Hawaiian cultural tradition and Queen Liliʻuokalani’s legacy |
|
Y — You |
Personal leadership and teamwork |
- ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi value — Kuleana: responsibility.
Reading and Research
- The Hawaiians of Old — Betty Dunford
- Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits — Caren Loebel-Fried
- Native Planters in Old Hawaii: Their Life, Lore, and Environment — E. S. Craighill Handy and Elizabeth Green Handy
Where Nā Koa o ka Mōʻī looks to the Kingdom’s guard, Queen’s Own Scout Troop 5 looks to its civil life. Scouting gives the portfolio its outdoor, service, and navigation grounding — and its ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi value, kuleana, is the same word the cultural stewardship standards in §17 turn on. A learner meets the concept here first, in the form of a duty owed to a campsite and a patrol, before meeting it later as a duty owed to knowledge.