“Father and Child,

Blazing New Trails Together”

The Capital Area YMCA, Inc.

Mission Statement:

To put Christian principles into practice

through programs that build

a healthy spirit, mind and body

for all.

ARAPAHOE NATION INDIAN PROGRAMS

The Capital Area Young Men’s Christian Association, Inc.

Raleigh, North Carolina

Editors: First Edition, 1993 Ken McCurdy, Jeff Simmons, and Betty Deese

Second Edition, 1999 Joe Peele, Mark Simmons, Betty Deese, Bill Adams,

Rex Todd, Barry Penland, John Linderman,

Frank Ragsdale, Ken Edwards

Portions of this handbook are reprinted with permission of the YMCA-USA. the Capital Area

publication may be reprinted or reproduced by any known means without written permission from the Capital Area YMCA Indian Programs

PO Box 10976

1601 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27605.

phone: (919) 832-9190

fax: (919) 833-0654

email: joe.peele@capitalareaymca.org

Internet: www.arapahoe-nation.org

Printed in the USA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Principles of the Program ................................................................................................ 3

A. Purpose

B. Pledge

C. Aims

D. Slogan

E. Emblem

F. Contrast with the Guides/Princess Program

II. Getting Organized .......................................................................................................... 5

A. Dads-Only Meeting

1. The Focus of Your Tribe...the Dad/Child Relationship

2. Electing Officers

B. Tribe Meetings

III. Father and Child Development ................................................................................... 7

A. Developmental Tasks of 9-to-12 Year Olds

B. A Word About the Teen Years

IV. Awards: Developing Spirit, Mind and Body ............................................................. 10

A. “PATCHES”: “Papas And Their Children Having Excitement Somewhere”

B. The “Eye of the Great Spirit” Awards: Spirit, Mind and Body as One

C. Wearing the Awards

V. The Awards ..................................................................................................…............ 13

Outdoors ............................................. Red Group ............................................... 14

Science, Nature and Animal ............... Orange Group ......................................... 15

History and Civic ................................ Green Group ....................................…... 17

Health and Safety ................................ Brown Group .......................................... 19

Special Interests ................................. Yellow Group .......................................... 21

Sports ................................................. Blue Group .............................................. 24

Appendix: Map of Camp Rockmont ........................................................................ 26

The Capital Area YMCA

Trail Blazers & Trail Mates Program

I. Principles.

A. Purpose.

Y-Trail Programs are a continuation of the Indian Guide and Princess Programs, designed to foster a healthy relationship between father and child built on trust, companionship, under- standing and communication. All Guide and Princess tribes are automatically enrolled in the Blazer and Mate program at the beginning of their fourth year. Your tribe may continue in the program as long as you like. Participants in the program experience the fun and excitement of exploring new worlds of interest in a spirit of adventure.

B. Pledge (continued from Indian Guides/Princess)

“We, father and son/daughter,

through friendly services to each other,

to our family, to this tribe, to our community and country,

seek a world pleasing to the eye of the Great spirit.”

C. Aims (continued from Indian Guides/Princess)

“To be clean in body and pure in heart;

to be ‘Pals Forever’/’Friends Always’ with my dad/son/daughter;

to love the sacred circle of my family;

to be attentive while others speak;

to love my neighbor as myself;

to seek and preserve the beauty of the Great spirit’s work in forest, field and stream.”

D. Slogan (building on Indian Guides/Princess)

“Father and child, blazing new trails together”

E. Emblem

The Y-Trail Program emblem uses the colors red and yellow to denote the warm understanding, vital sharing, and deep loyalty in the father/child relationship. The compass with the Y emblem at its center signifies the ideas and aims of the “Four Trails” toward which the

Dad/Child companionship experience is directed: Spiritual Growth, Wisdom, Physical Health, and Service. The border enveloping the compass portrays the power and bonds of family support that strengthen its individual members. The emblem patch is worn on the left front, near the heart, as was the emblem patch of the Indian Guides and Indian Princess programs.

F. Contrast with the Guides/Princess Program

Trail Blazers and Trail Mates take on new and different adventures, featuring the four major outings:

Fall: Camp Rockmont in the mountains of North Carolina, with an

optional white water rafting trip down the French Broad River

Winter: Downhill ski trip to Wintergreen in Virginia

Late Winter: Amtrak train trip to Washington, D.C.

Spring: Outing at Camp Sea Gull/Seafarer

At Sea Gull/Seafarer, you shoot .22 caliber rifles instead of BBs, and ride the Big Swing. At Rockmont, you climb The Wall and hike to the top of the mountain, if you like. The train ride to the nation’s capital is a main event, with hotel stay, swimming, sight seeing and all the history you can absorb.

Back home at the YMCA, there’s Pool Olympics, and your old favorites, Kite Day, Winter Inning, and Lady Wolfpack basketball and Tar Heel men’s exhibition basketball.

The menu of new, exciting and educational things to do together is endless, as suggested by the nearly sixty Y-Trail Awards in this manual. Each award may be earned independently as a Dad/Child pair, or your tribe may earn awards as a group.

For those who prefer to be less awards-oriented, you may just enjoy the major outings and create your own tribe activities in the spirit and fellowship of the Trail Blazers and Trail Mates Program.

This manual is designed to provide structure for interaction. However, you are invited to make the program what you want and let it help you enjoy these priceless years together.

And always let the YMCA Indian Programs Director know of any new ideas or activities you or your tribe find especially enjoyable or exciting. We want to continue making the Trail Blazers and Trial Mate Program better and better.

How-How!

II. Getting Organized.

A. Dads Only Meeting.

Like the Indian Guides/Princess Program, a “Dads Only” meeting is an essential starting point to a successful Trail Blazer/Trail Mate tribe. Two key items need to be decided upon:

1. The Focus of Your Tribe: the Dad/Child Relationship

Remember that the Dad/Child relationship is paramount. It is much more important than the activities and the awards, which are program tools to help you foster a strong family bond based on love and understanding, one that comes through spending quality time together.

Some tribes choose to be loosely banded together, attending the four major outings

and doing other, self-designed activities as a tribe. Other choose to take advantage of the Trail awards system to guide Dad/Child interaction.

Before, electing officers, the tribe should thoroughly discuss the focus it wants, and then, commit to that focus for the next year.

If your tribe chooses to focus on awards, the goal should be twelve (12) Trail awards per year. It may help to do a monthly schedule with each Dad/Child pair responsible for arranging an award-earning outing/activity for the entire tribe. Responsibilities include reserving facilities, identifying equipment needs, providing materials, and booking an expert leader/teacher if desired by the tribe, etc.

From experience, tribes that approach award earnings as a group, rather than in individual pairs, tend to be stronger tribes. However, earning by individual pairs is encouraged. In either case, having a schedule of regular meetings, at least once per month, is important.

2. Election of Officers.

Having decided on a focus, the tribe should elect a Chief, Sachem, Tally Keeper and Wampum Bearer who will commit to the tribe’s success.

Officers serve for one year from Spring Outing to the next Spring Outing. Officer’s patches may be worn by both the Dad and the Child, to emphasize their special relationship and to build pride in the program.

B. Tribe Meetings.

Tribes are encouraged to get together for either a meeting or an outing once per month. The Blazer/Mate program allows more flexibility than Guides and Princesses, so your tribe decides how your meetings are conducted.

Regular meetings may follow the familiar Guides/Princess format:

Opening Ceremony: Prayer to the Great Spirit, Pledge, Aims, Slogan

Tally Keeper’s Report, including Award Earnings

Wampum Bearer’s Report and Collection of Wampum

Main Event

Refreshments/Dad’s Organizational time

Closing Circle and Sign Language Prayer: “And now may the Great Spirit make the sun rise in your heart”.

Outings may focus on community service, awards, or simply fun and fellowship.

Tribes that commit to a calendar of meetings and meet regularly are more likely to enjoy the fellowship and experiences provided by the Trail Mates and Trail Blazers program.

III. Father and Child Development

With their deepening peer orientation, children ages 9 to 12 will often challenge leaders or make contradictory demands on adults. At times they want their parents to be skilled, knowledgeable, and proficient. More often, however, they want parents to stand back and let them develop and demonstrate their own abilities. The successful leader of a group of older children will be sensitive and secure enough to recognize when one response or the other is appropriate. Adults working with these children must learn to draw leadership from the group rather than attempt to provide it externally.

A. Developmental Tasks of 9-to-12 Year Olds.

When a child reaches the age of 9, he or she has reached a very special year. Age 9 is the beginning of a new stage of development, the pre-puberty period, which continues until adolescence. At this age the child begins to become independent of the parent, and opportunities to give service to others increase in importance. Adults can influence a child and make suggestions, but most children want to do things for themselves at this age.

Lessons in social justice, fairness, moral values, and standards of behavior can be taught with lasting impact at this time. This is an ideal age to capitalize on the self-motivation that is inherent to this stage of development, when children are able to make their own plans but still re ready to accept parents’ suggestions and approval. According to psychologist Erik H. Erickson (as cited in the 1982 YMCA publication School Age Child Care, “Programming with Children,”, p. 11), children who are elementary or junior high school age face two basic developmental tasks: acquiring a sense of industry and developing a sense of competency. Erickson claims that the child who does not gain sufficient feelings of productivity and capability during these years instead develops feelings of inferiority and inadequacy.

Following is an expanded list of developmental tasks children should take on at this time:

. Learning specific physical skills necessary for playing sports and games.

. Building wholesome attitudes toward oneself.

. Learning and accepting appropriate masculine or feminine roles, as well as

developing sensitivity to the needs of the opposite sex.

. Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing, and calculating.

. Developing concepts necessary for everyday living, including acquaintance

with the adult world.

. Developing conscience, morality, and a recognition of values with an

increasing interest in fair play, justice and a belief in the worth of all people.

. Developing decision-making skills, linking values to both decisions and

actions taken on those decisions.

. Achieving personal independence and becoming an autonomous person able

to plan and act independently of parents and other adults.

. Responding to one’s peer group but being able at the same time to rely on

family and parents.

. Developing attitudes toward social groups and community service, and

enjoying making others happy, with a growing response to God’s love.

. Formulating a personal faith, and using the strength found in that faith

to withstand challenges and trials.

In summary, children ages 9 to 12 move from deep initial attachment to their homes and families to strong new associations with their peers. They are in a growth stage that is often characterized by the following:

. Strong desire for live-away experiences.

. Desire to be with peers in groups, teams, and clubs.

. Long interest spans and the patience to work for short-term goals.

. Formations of cliques and friendships with their own sex and age groups.

. Desire to make, do and collect things.

. Seeking status through excellence in skills and knowledge of grown-up things.

. Competitiveness in team and individual activities.

. Mischievousness and daring.

. Concern with physical size and appearance.

. A developing interest in boys for girls at the upper age level.

. Ability to work and socialize in programs where responsibility for planning is shred.

Parents should remember that no child will precisely fit these general descriptions. Each is maturing in a unique way and at a unique pace.

B. A Word About the Teen Years.

May participants entering the teen years continue in Y-Trail Programs. They are experiencing a time in their lives that is flooded with various feelings. For many it is a time of real challenge. The pressure to be accepted, to do well in school and in other endeavors, to get along with parents, and to be attractive to the opposite sex creates a great deal of stress for a youth going through the early teen years. There are for teenagers, as there are for adults, times for great exhilaration and great depression; but some researchers suggest that teens often have higher highs and lower lows than adults do. The time spent in either of these, however, is less than adults might spend. Changes in anatomy and body chemistry further complicate the lives of teenagers.

Parents have an important, although different, role to play during the teen years. A challenge for adults trying to communicate with teens is to know when the teens want parent involvement an when they do not. Far more patience is required at this stage than at any other time in earlier years and parents need to avoid, as often as possible, causing feelings of insecurity and inadequacy in their child. It is important at this time for adults to be with other adults and to talk about parenting. Abundant information is also available through churches, social service agencies, and local libraries on issues that surface during the teen years. Parents should remember, above all, that parent support is a blessing for teens. While teens may not show appreciation, they desperately need to feel that they are loved for who they are, and not for what they do or don’t do. Teens, although many would not admit it, look to parents for guidance. Setting guidelines together with your teen, and then monitoring those guidelines appropriately, can ease tension and prevent misunderstandings. These years mean more opportunities for teens, but also more responsibility. The guidance and understanding of parents at this time is crucial.

IV. Developing Spirit, Mind and Body

A. “PATCHES”: “Papas And Their Children

Having Excitement Somewhere”

As in the Guides/Princess program, Dad/Child pairs often find that when there is a set of steps to do together resulting in an award, their time together has opportunities for interaction that would otherwise be missed. Some call it “learn while we earn”.

The Trail Blazer / Trail Mates Program provides nearly sixty Y-Trail Awards. It is recommended that twelve Awards per year be earned in pairs from six color groups. By doing so, six corresponding “hash bars” (or chevrons) are awarded forming a large triangle for your Trail Blazer / Trail Mates sash or jacket.

The goal is for the Dad/Child pair to develop spirit, mind and body in a balanced manner, consistent with the YMCA mission statement:

“To put Christian principles into practice through programs

that build a healthy spirit, mind and body for all.”

How-How!

B. The “Eye of the Great Spirit” Awards

Each triangle is designed to help the Dad/Child pair grow in a balanced manner, developing parts of spirit, mind and body along together. Until this point, these elements have been focused upon separately. In earning the “Eye of the Great Spirit Award”, we reflect upon the fact that spirit, mind, and body are not separate, but that they are aspects of the same being. Just as these are not separate, we are not separate and apart from God. We are individualized expressions of One Great Spirit, a spirit that dwells within us ... we are One with God.

On the traditional YMCA logo, in the fork of the “Y” is a Bible opened to John 17:21 which reads: “That they all may be one: as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

To reinforce this concept of Oneness, the “Eye of the Great Spirit” patch is offered to the Dad/Child pair. This award is not to provide recognition for having earned twelve merit badges and completed a chevron triangle, since the chevrons recognize that. The purpose of this award is to indicate that the Dad-Child pair has spent time seriously reflecting about how earning the triangle helped them develop over the past year, spiritually, mentally and physically, as one with the Great Spirit. Designed from the “Eye of the Great Spirit” on the Indian Princess headband, and the radiating compass on the Blazer/Mates emblem, this inverted triangular patch symbolically unifies the twelve chevrons into one patch, by filling their center.

Dad-Child pairs are eligible to earn an “Eye of the Great Spirit Award” upon completing each and every triangle. The objective is to earn a complete triangle each year, from one Blazer/Mate weekend at Camp Seafarer/Sea Gull to the next. Those Dad/Child pairs earning the “Eye of the Great Spirit Award” will be recognized at camp.

The Dad-Child pair must complete the following three steps for each “Great Spirit” patch. The steps remain the same, but responses differ. The Program Director must approve each award.

1. Statement: List the twelve spirit, mind, and body merit badges earned to achieve the complete chevron triangle. Provide documentation of activities, dates, places, photos, scrapbook materials, etc.

2. Reflection: From the sacred books of your religious faith, include in your report two or three verses, sayings, parables, etc. that teach the concept of Oneness as a spiritual principle. Reflect on what these verses mean and write a paragraph debating the concept of “Oneness with God” verses the concept of “being separate and apart from God”. Say which you personally believe and why.

3. Action: Undertake an activity as a Dad/Child pair that demonstrates your

understanding of the concept of Oneness. This could be something that requires

mental planning, physical action, and is done out of love (spirit) for someone other than ourselves. Describe how you think this activity demonstrates Oneness.

C. Wearing the Awards.

The official Trail Blazer / Trail Mate uniform is a jacket or sash for holding patches. Baseball caps are also popular, since the Guides/Princess headband and feathers have been retired.

While achieving Trail program identity, tribes are encouraged to create their own personality in their tribe uniform. A resource list of suppliers for various clothing and monogramming services is available at the YMCA Indian Program Office.

Awards should be worn in groups of twelve, supporting each triangle. Triangles should be worn with the point downward (since they represent the fork in the letter “Y” (as in YMCA)). The top of the triangle should have the red chevron on the left, and the orange on the right. The left side of the triangle should have green on the top left with brown on the bottom. The right side should have yellow on the top right with blue on the bottom. One example of triangle configuration and award placement is illustrated below:

V. The Awards.

The awards are grouped below, with requirements in the pages that follow.

TOP OF THE TRIANGLE

Red Group: Outdoor Awards 8 awards

Backpacking, Camping, Canoeing, Compass,

Firebuilding, Fishing, Hiking, Outdoor Cooking.

Orange Group: Science, Nature and Animal Awards 11 awards

Astronomy, Flower, Fossil, Geology, Insect, Pet,

Reptile, Tree, Weed, Wild Animal, Wild Bird

LEFT SIDE OF THE TRIANGLE

Green Group: History and Civic Awards 9 awards

Anti-Litter, Community Citizenship, Flag, Geography

Home Citizenship, Indian Lore, National Citizenship,

Annual D.C Trip Award, Natural Resources

Brown Group: Health and Safety Awards

Bicycle Safety, First Aid, Gun Safety, Home Safety 7 awards

Knife and Axe Safety, Physical Fitness,

Water and Ice Safety

RIGHT SIDE OF THE TRIANGLE

Yellow Group: Special Interest Awards 13 awards

Bicycle Care, Gardening, Home Repairs, Indoor Cooking,

Knot-Tying, Leathercraft, Metal Working, Music, Photo

Developing, Photography, Reading, Sewing, Woodworking

Blue Group: Sports Awards 10 awards

Beginner Swimming, Intermediate Swimming, Advanced

Swimming, Archery, Bicycling, Boating, Team Sports,

Water Skiing, Snow Skiing, Whitewater Rafting

CENTER OF THE TRIANGLE

The “Eye of the Great Spirit Awards” (described on page 7).

OUTDOOR AWARDS: RED GROUP

BACKPACKING AWARD

Purpose: To learn the proper way to prepare for an overnight hike.

Requirements: Plan and go on an overnight camp out with at least 2 miles

of hiking carrying your pack.

CAMPING AWARD

Purpose: To practice the skills of an all-around camper.

Requirements: Accumulate a minimum of 4 nights of camping (at least two

different locations) without electrical or battery-powered

conveniences (except flashlights).

CANOEING & RAFTING AWARD

Purpose: To learn to handle a canoe and raft with enough skill for day outings.

Requirements: 1. Plan and execute a Dad/Child canoe trip of at least 2 hours.

2. Plan and execute a Dad/Child rafting trip of at least 2 hours.

COMPASS AWARD

Purpose: To acquire a basic understanding of the compass and its use with maps.

Requirements: 1. List the 16 points of the compass in proper order starting with North.

2. Describe the difference between magnetic North as shown on the

compass and true North.

3. Describe how a compass works.

4. Use a map and a compass to follow an indicated route.

FIRE BUILDING AWARD

Purpose: To learn how to build, use, and put out a campfire.

Requirements: 1. Prepare an area before building a fire.

2. Build and maintain a fire properly with matches, tinder, knife, & axe.

3. Discuss how to extinguish a fire with and without water.

Recommended: The Knife and Axe Safety Award

FISHING AWARD

Purpose: To learn the basics of sport fishing.

Requirements: 1. Understand the fishing laws in your state (contact the North Carolina

Wildlife and Resources Commission at 733-3633).

2. Take two fishing trips.

HIKING AWARD

Purpose: To learn how to prepare for hiking.

Requirements: 1. Map out and take a hike of at least 8 miles

2. Report to the tribe on how your preparation helped.

OUTDOOR COOKING AWARD

Purpose: To learn how to plan and prepare outdoor meals.

Requirements: Plan, prepare, eat and clean up after three outdoor meals.

SCIENCE, NATURE & ANIMAL AWARDS ORANGE GROUP

ASTRONOMY AWARD

Purpose: To increase knowledge of the universe and learn how to use

the stars for location and direction.

Requirements: 1. Visit a planetarium (Charlotte 1-800-935-0553) or

Chapel Hill (Morehead, 549-6863 or 962-1236).

2. Discuss the difference between a planet and a star.

3. Locate and point out to the group the Big Dipper, Polaris, and

four other constellations or planets.

4. Demonstrate the ability to determine true North by use of the stars.

FLOWER AWARD

Purpose: To learn how to plant, raise, and display flowers.

Requirements: 1. Tour the NC State University Arboretum (515-7641).

2. Plant the seed or bulb of a flower of your choice.

3. Raise it to maturity.

FOSSIL AWARD

Purpose: To learn about fossils and their place in the evolution of the earth.

Requirements: 1. Take a field trip to collect fossils.

2. Make a display of the fossils you found. Describe to the group what

they are and if possible, the period from which they came.

GEOLOGY AWARD

Purpose: To gain a basic knowledge of geology, including rocks, minerals, and soil.

Requirements: 1. Go on a rock hunt and attempt to identify all the rocks you find.

2. Name the soil types in you home county, stating their main characteristics.

INSECT AWARD

Purpose: To learn about different kinds of insects and their impacts.

Requirements: 1. Make a display box collection of at least 10 local insects, identifying

by common and scientific name.

2. Report the benefits and the harm of each to humans and to the environment.

PET AWARD

Purpose: To learn how to care for a pet.

Requirements: 1. Visit the SPCA.

2. List the main steps in proper care for a pet.

3. If you own a pet, be primary caretaker of it for one month.

SCIENCE, NATURE & ANIMAL AWARDS ORANGE GROUP

(continued)

REPTILE AWARD

Purpose: To learn about different kinds of reptiles and their natural habitats.

Requirements: 1. Visit the NC Museum of Natural History Reptile Department.

2. Name the groups that make up the reptile family.

3. Report on three kinds of each: snakes, lizards, and turtles. Tell

where they are found, what they eat and whether or not they are poisonous.

TREE AWARD

Purpose: To learn about trees and the valuable part they play in the earth’s life cycle.

Requirements: 1. Find, identify and collect the leaves of any 5 trees, such as Pine, Oak, Fruit,

Hickory and Elm.

2. Write a paragraph about how trees fit into the earths natural life cycle.

WEED AWARD

Purpose: To learn about the different kinds of weeds, how to identify them, and what

harm they cause.

Requirements: 1. List and identify 10 different weeds. Collect specimens if you like.

2. Briefly write about: (a) how weeds are scattered; (b) general methods of

weed control; (c) the four parts of a weed specimen; (d) weed pollen problems;

and (e) skin irritation caused by weeds.

WILD ANIMAL AWARD

Purpose: To identify, know about, appreciate, and enjoy wild animals.

Requirements: 1. Visit a zoo.

2. List five wild animals native to North Carolina.

WILD BIRD AWARD

Purpose: To increase appreciation, enjoyment and knowledge of wild birds.

Requirements: 1. Visit a bird sanctuary or a bird exhibit at a zoo.

2. Build and install a birdhouse, birdbath, or a birdfeeder and observe how

the birds use it.

3. Go on a bird walk and keep a list of the birds you see.

HISTORY & CIVIC AWARDS GREEN GROUP

ANTI-LITTER AWARD

Purpose: To create awareness and personal concern about the environment.

Requirements: 1. Visit a recycling center.

2. Spend a minimum of two hours gathering litter on roadsides,

trails, campsites or public lands and dispose of it properly. The

annual park clean-up counts toward this award.

COMMUNITY CITIZENSHIP AWARD