ARCH - Mentors/Teachers/Students

[Debbie Dewart]

Gilli has proposed that the archers of the kingdom begin a program of
formally taking on students following the example of knights, dons, laurals,
pelicans, etc.  The argument against this seems to be that  we, the archery
community,  are not far enough  developed to start this kind of program,
that we don't have the recognition to take this kind of step.

I  personally am in favor of formal mentoring.  The tradition of taking
students both formally and informally has been in existance almost since the
beginning of the SCA.  Mentoring is both a very medieval and a very modern
practice.

Let me use the equestrian community as an example.   The equestrians have a
similar situation to ours.  It is hard to find places to practice, not every
event site has a place suitable for equestrian activities, like archery for
safety reasons, equestrian activities must take place off in the middle of
nowhere.  There are equestrians  who feel they work hard and don't get the
recognition they deserve in terms of awards.  Yet, the equestrians have a
formal mentor/student program.  This program was started by Viscount Sir
Jerald of Galloway about a year and half ago.  After consultation with
others, Sir Jerald settled on the name "Equerry" for formal students.  Sir
Jerald specifically stated that the taking of an equerry was not  limited to
those few peers in the equestrian community but was for any experienced SCA
equestrian.   Now  admittedly, Sir Jerald's equerry program is for SCA
equestrians as a whole across kingdom lines.  However, the concept of
mentoring does not have to SCA wide to be valid.

I believe that if the archery community here in Ansteorra is to grow and
grow strong it must follow in the footsteps of our brother/sister
communities.  We must start our own traditions.  We do not have to wait for
some sort of OK from someone outside our community to begin doing things.
Recognition for archers and our community will come from the outside only
when they see that we on the inside are acting as a community.

This does not mean that we have to become a bunch of archer clones.   We
must continue to maintain open communication,  try to achieve consenses on
somethings and agree to disagree on others.

I believe that this archery list is one of the things that will help to bind
us into a community.  Look what we have accomplished with this list.  We
have archers from all over the kingdom (at least I hope from all over the
kingdom) talking to each other.  We can ask each other for help on anything
from determining  correct arrow length to where to buy things.  We can have
discussions on what is important to the members of the community and, I
hope, still remain friends when we don't agree.  We have  already help new
people find other archers and get them started.

I have also digressed way off my argument about formal mentors/students.  It
is  my belief that part of what will help us to grow strong is the
development of teacher/student  ties.   This does not mean that informal
teaching/mentoring should not exist.  But the strong bounds that can
develope through formally taking someone as a student should be encouraged.

Kights have their squires, Laurels have aprentices, Pelicans have proteges,
Dons  have cadets and Equestrians equerries.  Why should we be missing from
the list?

In service to Kingdom, the Dream and the Archery Community,

HL Darcy Evaline o Lasgwm
Lady of House Ursa Dormant













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