LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Boys Run Gets Kids Started on the Right Path
By ABIGAIL BLISS
Sentinel Staff Writer
With sexual harassment allegations dominating national headlines this fall, many Alaskans are examining their own communities for traces of the trend.
In the state capital, for example, the Legislature has formed a six-member subcommittee to evaluate and suggest updates to the Legislature’s harassment policies, and multiple elected officials have recently been accused of inappropriate behavior.
Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School boys, from left, Rowan Hayes, Tanner Steinson and Finneus Wentworth work on an exercise with coaches Becca Foster, back, and Alex Souza, right, in the school gym. (Sentinel Photo)
Closer to home, advocates at Sitkans Against Family Violence remain resolute in their promotion of healthy relationships, having recognized the issue of disrespect toward women long before the current national reckoning, and focus their efforts on preventative rather than punitive measures.
One such effort, a program called Boys Run I toowu klatseen, equips boys in third through fifth grades with the social skills necessary to contribute to a community of respect and nonviolence. Forged in partnership with Juneau-based Aiding Women in Abuse and Rape Emergencies, Boys Run began developing its focus and format six years ago and is now in the fourth season of its current curriculum. The Sitka program has counterparts in Juneau and Kake, with a total of 37 boys participating across the region last year.
Alaire Hughey, SAFV’s School Program Coordinator, said that the recent appearance of the subject of sexual assault and harassment in op-eds from major news outlets, late night talk show monologues, and conversations around the dinner table has not affected the way she goes about her work with Boys Run.
“What’s happening now isn’t new,” she said. “It’s been happening for a long time, and SAFV has been involved in that for a long time. We’ve just kind of continued to work in the prevention of violence through programs that teach kids how not to be violent members of their community, but how to be healthy and helpful members of the community.”
Each week, Hughey and a team of coaches lead two sessions for Boys Run participants, who practice, running, teamwork, and engaging in healthy relationships with the adults and peers in their community.
One such coach, Tyler Holt, echoed Hughey’s steadfast commitment to the program’s curriculum in the wake of high-profile sexual assault and harassment accusations, which he said have served to validate the program and highlight its necessity.
“As a coach, it doesn’t necessarily change what I’m trying to do, teach, and communicate with these boys,” he said. “If anything, it highlights the urgency for the needs of these types of programs. As a father to both a boy and a girl, equipping them with the tools, knowledge, and education, and doing it in a way that is age-appropriate – it just underscores the need for that that I feel as a father.”
Holt’s nine-year-old son, Owen, is participating in Boys Run for the second year in a row. Holt said his family became interested in Boys Run after discovering that the program offered lessons on “dealing with emotions in a positive manner” in addition to promoting regular exercise. Having lacked comparable skills at an early age, Holt said, he recognized their value and wanted his son to be better equipped to handle his emotions than he was as a kid.
“When I was a kid, I didn’t have them,” he said. “So anger was my primary emotion, and it took a while to work though that as an adult. Becoming a father, I wanted to pass that legacy on to my son.”
Boys Run practices typically contain both ample opportunity for exercise and a 20-minute lesson whose takeaways routinely spill over into the boys’ home life and interactions at school.
Holt pointed to the tool BOFT – which stands for breathe, observe, feel and talk – as a Boys Run trick that his family now uses at home.
“It’s a four-step process for them to take a moment when they’re feeling an emotion, a negative emotion,” he said. “I thought that was just such an awesome tool to teach anyone, especially young men, though I think it could be useful to anyone, even adults.”
The lessons often weave Native stories and values into the curriculum, Hughey explained. She recalled a recent lesson that conveyed the concept of teamwork through the image of a canoe, in which boys drew the connection between paddling together and moving forward.
Boys Run Regional Coordinator Rebecca Foster said that elements of Native culture had acted as guiding forces in the formation of the program, which was developed in consultation with members from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Native leaders in Juneau.
“Southeast Alaska cultural values have been woven through the curriculum and incorporated into each lesson, which gives kids cultural identity and teaches boys to respect people that are different from them,” she said. “We talk about origin studies. We talk about how the Raven stole the sun.”
One recent conversation, she said, centered on the differences in communication styles from culture to culture. The boys reflected on how “respectful communication messages might be different depending what culture you’re in - eye contact, or a firm handshake.”
Even the program’s name pays homage to Native heritage in the region: “I toowu klatseen” is Tlingit for “strengthen your spirit,” the message at the heart of the program’s mission.
“Bare bones, the program, in my head, is to teach boys to strengthen their spirit,” Foster said. “If who they are is compassionate, and empathetic, and emotional, and sensitive, then they should feel empowered to be that way and feel that they live in a community that accepts them for that. If who they are is not like that, then they should feel empowered to be that, as well.”
Hughey and Foster explained that societal pressures can prevent boys from “expressing their emotions” in a healthy manner – a trend that they have observed themselves and that experts have researched and documented.
“The socialization of boys is different from the socialization of girls,” Foster said. “We know that. It’s been studied.”
Holt explained that the program’s focus on emotions requires a level of strength from its participants that is often overlooked by those who denounce sensitivity as a departure from a traditional image of masculinity.
“It’s okay to be emotional, even though that’s not our society’s box for little boys,” he said. “Kindness and empathy are not weaknesses. I feel like that’s perceived as weakness a lot in our culture, especially for males at whatever age, and that’s not the case.”
It is this focused and intentional effort to provide participants with the tools they need to understand, handle, and express emotions that sets Boys Run apart from other youth programs, Foster said. Boys may be picking up comparable skills elsewhere, but Boys Run makes them a priority.
“The explicit life skills and emotional skills and culturally-relevant program – this program is explicitly doing that and spells out and lines it up for them,” she said.
One thing the program refrains from doing explicitly, however, is tackling the frank conversations about gender-based violence, a choice made out of respect for the young age of its participants,
“We’re laying the foundations for those conversations later,” Foster said. “Boys Run is a very positive program; we’re not telling these boys what not to do. We’re telling them, ‘Here are important values that you should live your life by,’ and giving them the skills to make those choices.’”
Foster appreciates the value of the honest conversations making their way into homes and headlines across the country, however, and expressed hope that they would motivate men in particular to engage with Boys Run.
“I hope that it has influenced the community and woken other people up to it, inspired more engagement from men in our community to stand with us as we move forward,” she said. “An increase would be vital for prevention.”
One immediate way community members can get involved is volunteering for the program’s culminating 5k event.
Over the past few months, participants have been working toward a 5k run and will get the chance to strut their stuff on Saturday morning. The event will showcase not only the boys’ skills, but the hard work of the community supporting them, namely Boys Run coaches Tyler Holt, Will Walker, Alex Souza, Sue Conrad, Lee House, and Steven Hutchinson.
Hughey is assembling a team of volunteers to act as running buddies and cheerleaders, mark the course, and clean up after the run. She’s created signs for cheerers to hold along the route and compiled goody bags for boys to pick up at the registration table. All that’s left are the helping hands. Those interested in volunteering for the event can contact Hughey at ahughey@safv.org or visit http://tinyurl.com/BoysRunFunRun.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.