Awards

HEAT Program (Crew-specific awards)

The High Energy Adventure Trek program is Crew 1779's internal recognition program for youth and adult participation. It is modeled after a similar program developed by Boy Scout Troop 662 of Shaker Heights, Ohio. These awards are earned primarily by accumulating miles and elevation change on hikes. The primary presentation of these awards is in the form of beads, that may be worn on the Crew uniform. Beads are awarded as follows:

• Orange, Red, and Yellow: Colors are used in alternating years. A bead is award to each participant of a Tier II trek involving at least one night of camping and 10 miles of horizontal distance.
• Green: One bead awarded for each 25 miles of horizontal distance covered in Crew activities, including Tier I treks.
• Brown: One bead awarded for each 1 miles of vertical distance ascended, including Tier I treks.
• Blue: One bead awarded for each trek involving an ascent to more than 5,000 feet in elevation.
• Blue and White: One bead awarded for each trek involving an ascent to more than 10,000 feet in elevation.
• Gray (swamp bead): One bead awarded for each trek involving more than 1 inch of rain.
• White (snow bead): One bead awarded for each trek in which snow falls.
• Purple (trip leader): One bead awarded to a youth participant for each trip in which he or she is the trip leader.
• Black (trip mentor): One bead awarded to a youth participant for each trip in which he or she mentors the trip leader.
• Gold: One bead awarded to for the accumulation of 500 youth miles. Youth miles are counted by adding the total number of miles gained by all youth participants on a trip the youth has led or mentored (for youth); or on which an adult has participated (for adults).
• Silver: One bead awarded for each accumulation of 1000 youth miles after obtaining the gold bead.

Crew Milestone Awards

In addition to the beads awarded for the HEAT program, Crew 1779 presents participants who obtain certain distance milestones with special awards to commemorate their participation. Youth participants count their own and their youth miles toward these awards, while adults count their own miles and youth miles accumulated on Tier III treks toward these awards.

The milestones for these awards form the inspiration for selecting 1779 as the Crew number, and are drawn from distances traveled by Frodo in the Lord of the Rings books.