Squires history

The Columbian Squires were begun in 1925.^[1] In December 2012, the Knights of Columbus was sued over supposed sexual abuse that had occurred in Brownsville, Texas by adult Columbian Squires leaders in the 1970s and 1980s.^[2] The Bishop of the Diocese of Bismarck in August 2015 recommended the Squires as a replacement, along with two other organizations, for the BSA, as he directed parishes to disassociate from the BSA due to their recent approval of gay adult leaders.^[5]

The Knights of Columbus in January 2016 moved to have the parish youth program dictate whether a Boy Scout troop or a Squire Circle fits and have the parish sponsor the troop. No new circle were to be formed and inactive circle be dissolved.^[6]

Squires program

Local groups are called Circles. The program's five advancement levels are:^{[is 1]}

• Page
• Shield Bearer
• Swordsman
• Lancer
• Squire of the Body of Christ

FNE history

Federation of North-American Explorers was founded in 1999 by current commissioner Paul Ritchi, who was a Scouts Canada volunteer but felt a lack of "the spiritual component to make it personally fulfilling." While doing research, he found information on the Federation of Scouts of Europe, an international organization of national Catholic Scouting associations. The first FNE group, the "Timber Wolves", was then started with Richi, another leader, and 10 boys, ages 8 to 12.^[7]

The Bishop of the Diocese of Bismarck in August 2015 recommended FNE as a replacement, along with two other organizations, for the BSA, as he directed parishes to disassociate from the BSA due to their recent move to allow gay adult leaders.^[5]

FNE program

In addition to the usual camping trips, explorers go on pilgrimages, receive the sacraments and get hands-on religious education.^[7]

The age level groups are:^[7][10]

• Otters, six- and seven-year-olds
• Timber Wolves, eight to 12
• Explorers, ages 12 to 15
• Wayfarers, Explorer "graduates" and senior leaders of other Explorer sections

Kepha program

The Kepha program had monthly retreats and shared daily prayers for brotherhood. Member have 2 AM two-hour Eucharistic adoration called "Yawns For Jesus". They go camping but required cold showers for discipline. The service work they do includes visiting nursing homes and hospitals.^[4]

TSG history

The formation of the Scouts of St. George was announced by Taylor Marshall in May 2013 in response to the BSA's changing its membership policies for same-sex attracted youth. The program was planned to be free, open-source, grassroots and a traditional Boy Scout program with no 501(c)3 non-profit status (so as to keep government interference to a minimum).^[4] By October, the Scouts of St. George was forced, due to the BSA's ownership of the "Scouts" trademark, to change its name to "Troops of St. George".^[13] The organization filed for 501(c)3 status around the same time.^[14]

TSG program

The program is under development with an expected parallel program to the BSA.^[4]

Their "Trinitarian Salute" is "three fingers of the right hand (index, middle, ring) out, and with the pinky and thumb joined signifying that the divine nature of Christ is joined to His human nature: fully God and fully man as taught at the Catholic Council of Chalcedon".^[11]

Awana history

Awana was founded in 1950 in Illinois. Originally, the organization would not affiliate a club with a church that belonged to the National Council of Churches, World Council of Churches, Pentecostal church or charismatic church.^[16] In 1995, AWANA lifted the restrictions.^[16]

Awana program

The program's age groups are:^{[about 1]}

• Puggles
• Cubbies (3–4 years old)
• Sparks (K-2nd grade)
• Truth & Training (3rd-5th grade)
• Trek (6th-8th grade)
• Journey 24-7 (9th-12th grade)

The AWANA holds various types of model racing events:^[18]

• AWANA Grand Prix is a wood car race, similar to a pinewood derby.
• AWANA Regatta or Sail On Night are boat races.
• Airplane Toss is held at Flying Higher Night, in which model airplanes are built with the participant's choice of material. Instead of a speed race there are awards for distance, aerobatics, and design.

Caravan history

One of Caravan's forerunners was started in the 1930s by LeRoy Haynes as Boy's Works. As it spread from church to church. the program was picked up in 1934 by Nazarene's Southern California district as its boys' program under Haynes direction. The next year, Girl's Works was started up under Jeanne Haynes. The Works programs spread past outside the district and were even promoted through a display at the 1936 General Assembly.^[20]

Rev. W. W. Clay, also in the 1930s, developed two Christian principles programs for kids: Bluebirds for young children and Pioneers for older children. With Rev. Milton Bunker, an Eagle Scout,^[21] Clay promoted these club programs and continued to develop them.^[22]

With inadequate materials and competing programs, the 1940 General Assembly formed a Commission on Boys' and Girls' Work that met from November 17–18 in Santa Cruz, California. The commission was composed of six western districts' representatives, three members of the commission on Boys' and Girls' Work, and two members of the Department of Church Schools. This Commission decided to replace the existing club programs with its own program. The Board of General Superintendents approved this commission's program, while a committee developed and wrote the books.^[22]

Caravan was started in 1946^[19] with the release of the first Caravan book, Trailmarker, for boys ages 12 and up. Books that followed were Pathmarker (girls ages 12+), Signals (boys ages 9 to 11), and Signs (girls ages 9 to 11). That fall, the first official Nazarene Caravan club in the United States was started by Millington Church of the Nazarene in Michigan,^[20] under Rev. Bunker. In 1948, Bunker was appointed the first general director of Caravan.^[21] Carol Wordsworth of Youngstown, Ohio in October 1949 at a district Caravan Round-up was the first person to be granted the Phineas F. Brezee award.^[20] In 2005, the program was revised with the addition of the Core Values badges and modified or added skill badges.^[22]

Caravan program

Caravan's grade level groups are:^[22]

• Searchers (1-2)
• Explorers (3-4)
• Adventurers (5-6)

Adults leaders of a group are called guides. Earning badges is an optional part of this program.^[22]

The Milton Bunker Award is granted to Searchers who complete the necessary two-year requirements.^[21] The Phineas F. Brezee award, named after the Church of the Nazarene's founding pastor, is the highest award in Caravan. A member earns the award upon completion of eight core values studies, 16 Articles of Faith, 32 skill badges, four ministry projects and four missionary books. Additional awards, the Esther Carson Winans and Haldor Lillenas awards, are achievable using the requirements from the Brezee award.^[20]

CSB history

Christian Service Brigade was established in 1937 by Joe Coughlin in Glen Ellyn, Illinois with a Methodist Sunday School sixth-grade boys' class in conjunction with Wheaton College's Christian Service Council.^[15][16] In 1939, an affiliated girls group was founded, Girls' Guild. Both groups received backing from Herbert J. Taylor's Christian Workers' Foundation starting in 1943.^[16] The Guild became Pioneer Girls in 1940 and remained a division of CSB until 1944.^[25]

CSB program

The Brigade is split into four age levels:

• Tadpoles (ages 4–5)
• Tree Climbers (ages 6–7)
• Stockade (ages 8–11)
• Battalion (ages 12–18)

The organization uses uniforms similar to the BSA. CSB runs a few shape and race events: the Shape N Race Derby wood car race for the Stockade level,^{[is 1]} and the Shape N Sail Derby boat race and Shape N Sled Derby, model sleds raced in a rain gutter packed with snow with a depression as a trail.^[18] The equivalent rank to the Boy Scouts' Eagle Scout is the rank of "Herald of Christ".^[23]

The CSB runs 11 camps:

• Stony Glen Camp, Madison, Ohio
• Wilderness Ridge Brigade Camp, Bastrop, Texas
• Camp Teepee Pole, Sundra, Alberta, Canada
• Sequoia Brigade Camp, Concord, California
• New England Frontier Camp, Lovell, Maine
• Camp Kaskitowa, Michigan
• Camp Nathanael, Minnesota
• Northern Frontier Camp, New York
• Hickory Hill Brigade Camp, New York
• Haycock Camping Ministries, Pennsylvania
• Hemlock Wilderness Brigade Camp, Wardensville, West Virginia^[15]

Calvinist Cadet Corps

Calvinist Cadet Corps is an independent non-denominational Christian boys' Scouting organization usually affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church.^[1] Currently, the Corps has about 440 US clubs with weekly meetings including a Bible lesson. Members range from first grade to high school.^[19] Merit badges are tied into Scripture.^[23]

Frontier Girls history

Frontier Girls was founded in 2007 by Kerry Cordy as she felt that GSUSA had moved away from skills and badges.

Frontier Girls program

Belief in God (any higher power) and living by the Frontier promise are membership requirements.^{[about 2]} Frontier Girls wear red, white and blue uniforms.^[29] The red vest is available through the program, but the white shirts and blue slacks and skirts are not.^{[about 2]}

Girls can work on over a thousand badges^[29] in nine Areas of Discovery: Art, Home, Technology, Character, the World, Health & Fitness, Outdoors, Agriculture and Knowledge. Frontier Girls has a set of Character badges with the requirement of earning one such badge a year. There are four badges (Emergency Preparedness, Etiquette, and either the Patriotism or Our Flag Badge) that all troops must earn once every three years; thus a girl would earn these badges at each level.^{[about 2]}

The girls can earn the same award, some with variant names, at the different age levels:

• Servant's Heart Award, community service hours
• Life Skills Achievement Award, show proficiency at several life skills
• Make a Difference Award, community service project leadership
• Reaching for the Stars Award, available at the Butterfly and Eagle levels, majoring in an Area of Discovery
• Gem Awards, the highest award at each level^{[about 3]}

A troop may consist of all age levels as the meeting time is split between age level activities and joint activities.^{[about 2]} Quest Club is a coed affiliate of Frontier Girls.

Pathfinders History

• Missionary Volunteer Society

In 1907, the forerunner Missionary Volunteer Society was founded.^{[is 1]} Seventh-day Adventist boys could not join the Boy Scouts when they started in 1910, due to events happening on the Sabbath, among other reasons. Local Seventh-day Adventist church leaders began, in 1911, various similar groups under names like Pals, Woodland Clans and Takoma Clan.

In 1919, the Mission Scouts of Madison, Tennessee were started by Arthur W. Spalding, who wrote a pledge and law for the group. The Missionary Volunteer Department of the General Conference began a class style award earning program in the 1920s. The Department's associate secretary received permission from the BSA to incorporate into a MV honors program parts from Merit Badges in 1928. In 1926, the denomination held its first summer camp in Michigan. In Santa Ana, California around 1929 to 1930, local Adventist clubs using the name Pathfinder were started by John McKim and Dr. Theron Johnston. A JMV summer camp was found in 1930 by the Southeastern California Conference was called Pathfinder Camp mostly likely due to the existence of the Santa Ana Pathfinder. The Santa Ana Pathfinders ended in 1936. A year later in Glendale, California, a new Pathfinder group was founded which also added military drills from the Adventist affiliated Medical Cadet Corps. There was a general opposition to these clubs by the denomination's leaders as they did not want the focus to be on missionary work as opposed to more secular pursuits. Despite this, Pathfinder Clubs were sprouting up all over California and the Pacific Northwest in the 1940s. The Southeastern California Conference youth director John Hancock started the first conference sponsored Pathfinder Club in Riverside in 1946.^{[hd7a 1]}

• Pathfinder

With the action of the Southeastern California Conference, discussion regarding these clubs moved to the denomination's General Conference (GC), which in the 1950s recognized the program. The GC then adopted a program and guidelines while adopting a pledge and law similar to the Mission Scouts' version. The next year, the Oregon Conference held the first Pathfinder Fair and the GC issued the Pathfinder Staff Training Course publication.^{[hd7a 1]}

Pathfinders program

The organization uses uniforms similar to Scouting. The members follow a Law and Pledge, go on campouts, and earn honor patches.^{[is 1]}

PC history

Girls' Guild was founded in 1939 as an affiliated girls' group of the Christian Service Brigade by Joe Coughlin and Betty Whitaker, 1st program director, on the request of Harriet Brehm, a sister of a Brigade member. In 1940, the Guild held its first summer camp at Fish Lake, Volo, Illinois. A new director took over in 1940, Viola Waterhouse, and another in 1941, Carol Erickson.^[16]

The Girls' Guild in 1941 was revamped and renamed by Erickson to the Pioneer Girls (PG). In 1943, Erickson approached Herbert J. Taylor who through his Christian Workers' Foundation funded the PG, gave advice, free administrative support and gave them office space in Chicago's Civic Opera Building. Taylor also had the organization form its first board of directors and had them incorporate by the end of 1943. The PG also started buying camps, all called Camp Cherith. From 1939 to 1950, the main source of church club sponsors were Baptist, although there was a range of different denomination also sponsoring. In 1953, PG's headquarters was moved. In 1959, a mystery book series featuring two Pioneer Girls, called the Pioneer Girls Adventure Series, releasing at least three books.^[16]

With the camping program and camp expansion in 1971, the camps were placed in a separate corporation, and then a licensing agreement tied them back to Pioneer Girls.^[33]

In 1979, boys were allowed membership and had their own Pioneer Boys clubs in 1981. The Pioneer Girls in 1981 was renamed Pioneer Ministries, but known as Pioneer Clubs.^[16][32] In 1945, clubs were started in Canada. By 1976, the organization owned 19 camps in the US and 6 in Canada. Also, while dropping the pioneer theme, sister organizations were set up in 16 other countries including France, Italy, Korea, and Pakistan, with more in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. In Thailand, where its branch was founded by Pioneer alumni and missionary Joan Killilea, the branch was called the Friendship Club.^[16]

Pioneer Clubs programs

Clubs can be operated under three formats based on the number and ages of the kids: Pioneer (for churches with 3-12 children per age group), Discovery (for a total of 3-12 kids from K-6) and Exploring (many kids, grades 1–6). Pioneer program is split into five age levels:^[34]

• Skipper – ages 2 & 3
• Scooter – ages 4 & 5
• Voyager – grades 1 – 2
• Pathfinder – grades 3 – 4
• Trailblazer – grades 5 – 7

Pioneer Clubs hold wood car races called Pine Car Derby.^[18]

External links

• Pioneer Girls at Vintagekidstuff.com

History

Royal Rangers was established by the Assemblies of God in 1962.^[19] In 2012, Camporama had a high-ropes course, two zip lines, a water slide, and a lumberjack show.^[1]

Program

The organization uses uniforms similar to Scouting and parallel terms:^{[is 1]}

• outpost (troop)
• Ranger Code (Scout Law)
• Ranger Pledge (Scout Promise)
• Commander (Scoutmaster)
• merits (merit badges)
• Gold Medal of Achievement (Eagle Scout)

Their four program levels are divided by school grade:^{[is 1]}

• Ranger Kids (K-2nd grade)
• Discovery Rangers (3-5)
• Adventure Rangers (6-8)
• Expedition Rangers (9-12)

A Camporama is scheduled in the summer every four years at the organization's Eagle Rock, Missouri campground.^[1] The Rangers hold small car races called Pinewood Derby.^[18]

History

The Adventure Corps was established in January 1983.^[38]

Program

The program core is based on Christian fellowship, teamwork and leadership.^[19] The Corps is split into two levels: Explorers (grades 1 to 4), and Rangers (5 to 8).^[37]

RA history

The Royal Ambassadors was founded in 1908 for elementary school aged boys^[1] after the WMU Annual Meeting in Hot Springs, Arkansas.^[41]

As the RA continued to grow, a convention-wide full-time RA secretary was needed in 1943. The Brotherhood Commission took over the program in 1954. In 1997 that Memphis-based SBC agency was discontinued through a merger forming the North American Mission Board. With a shift in strategy, the board turned over regular operation of the RA in 2011.^[40]

The programs' age groups are Lads (grades 1–3), and Crusaders (4-6). The RA wooden mini-car race is called RA Racers. There is no uniform but they generally wear a T-shirt and own a vest to display their earned badges. Members can earn six "campcraft" patches: Discover 1/2/3, Hiker, Camper, Woodsman. The program is for missionary training and development.^{[is 1]} Thus, merit patches are earned for mission work and Bible verse memorization.^[39]