Report Deadline Approaching

To be recognized at the 2013 Silver Award and Gold Award Ceremonies, girls must submit their final reports by March 1. Final reports submitted after March 1 will be recognized the following year. As a reminder, project proposals are accepted year-round.

Silver Award and Gold Award Workshops

Attend one of our upcoming award workshops and discover what it takes to earn the highest awards in Girl Scouting. Learn about the resources available to you through the council, review award information, brainstorm with other girls and identify possible project opportunities in the community.

Upcoming Workshops

• Going for Gold Webinar: March 19, April 17, May 16
• Gold Award at Here and Now: April 20–21, April 20 only
• Silver Award at the Cadette Getaway: March 8, March 9

She gathered a group of volunteers from The Rivers, a senior living facility in Burnsville, and engaged them in her project. Along with the seniors, Kjerstin and her friends cut and sewed patterns, and crocheted blankets.

“I chose this project because I have a soft spot for the elderly in my heart. My grandma loved to sew and this is a great way for me to honor her memory,” explained Kjerstin.

The group met weekly at The Rivers, contributing to the more than 100,000 annual donations collected on behalf of Bundles of Love. Everyone really enjoyed the project, especially the seniors. Some women from Kjerstin’s church are still meeting weekly to continue the project.

After graduating from Burnsville High School, Kjerstin plans to attend college at North Dakota State University. She also wants to continue helping people by using the leadership skills she gained from this project and her confidence in connecting people of all generations in her community.

When Lonsdale Girl Scout Stacey and her six-person family lost their home, they were grateful for the support they received to get through tough times.

Last year, Alexa traveled to Tanzania with her mom, Kelly Lynn, and spent a month teaching English, art through literature, math and science to kids ages three to 13.

Researching and planning her Gold Award project and trip took about two years. Prior to the trip, she gave presentations about poverty and education issues affecting Tanzania to schools and churches in her community. She asked kids to clean out their desks at the end of the year and donate the school supplies they no longer needed. With these donations, Alexa and her mom brought four full suitcases (200 pounds) of school supplies and books with them to Tanzania.

Alexa connected a local element to everything she did abroad for her project. She worked with Minnesota school kids to create English-to-Swahili translation books that she gave to Tanzanian children. Each book had a personal message from a child in Minnesota.

In Tanzania, children take a national test at the end of their Class 7 year (equivalent to 8th grade in the U.S.) which determines if they can go on to high school. If they don’t score high enough or can’t afford high school, they can’t go. This is one of the issues that Alexa hoped to address with her project. She knew there might be only a few textbooks in the classroom in Tanzania, but once she and her mom were there, they discovered that the three- and four-year-olds they taught had never seen a story book. “Their teachers didn’t know why you would read a story book to them,” Kelly lynn added. And the middle-school-age kids had never had chapter books.

“By giving them tools to learn like books and art supplies,” Alexa said, “we are better preparing them for these national tests so that when the time comes, they can hopefully get into high school, to give them more opportunities to support themselves later in life.”

While in Tanzania, Alexa lived with a local family and had the opportunity to climb halfway up Mount Kilimanjaro, visit a Maasai village, swim with wild dolphins in the Indian Ocean, tour three national wildlife parks and experience many other new adventures.

Now that she’s back, she is planning to build a library for the school where she taught through continuing donation projects and presentations. Half of the books she collects will be donated locally to a Christmas sharing program. She hopes to inspire others to take action.

“I can see that this could become part of Alexa’s life work,” commented Kelly lynn. “I know it’s really shaped how I look at things. . . . We have kids who cut a pencil in half over there, or share a pencil because there’s not enough pencils to go around.”

For other Girl Scouts who might be starting their Gold Award project, Alexa shared some encouraging words, “Think big,” she said. “There’s nothing you can’t do. If you find an issue or a topic that you feel passionate about and you feel like you can help with it, go for it.”

UPDATE:

If you are interested in supporting Alexa’s work or sending supplies to Africa, submit your information below:

• You must be a current, registered member of River Valleys in order to be recognized as an award recipient. Make sure your membership is current; if it isn’t, register now and continue your membership.
• The final report deadline is quickly approaching. Those of you working on your Gold Award must submit your final report to River Valleys no later than September 30 after high school graduation. Those of you working on your Silver Award must submit your final report to River Valleys no later than September 30 after completion of grade 8.

We also invite you to check out this upcoming volunteer opportunity for older girls. This year, Girl Scouts River Valleys will have a booth and a parade float at the Minnesota State Fair August 25–26. The parade will start at 2 p.m. both days. Adult and girl opportunities are available and all volunteers will receive a complimentary ticket into the fair.

Interested in volunteering? Contact Sheila Her for more information at 800-845-0787.

Two Girl Scouts from Hudson, WI, recently marked a major milestone by earning Girl Scouts’ highest achievement, the Girl Scout Gold Award. To earn this award, a girl must dedicate herself to completing a Take Action project that addresses a need in her community and makes a lasting difference. She must fulfill requirements related to leadership, career exploration and community service. Before beginning their Girl Scout Gold Award project, girls must complete prerequisites that allow them to discover new skills, connect with others and take action to address a local or global issue or need, and brainstorm innovative ways to solve these problems. Each girl must take leadership in planning and implementing her project, and work with others in the community to act on her plan.

For her project, “Benches in the Woods,” Sarah focused on creating an area in an underutilized forest that could be used by classes and students. She designed sustainable benches using treated lumber and galvanized hardware, then led a team to build the benches. Her design will be used to create more benches. Girl Scouts, teachers and students are now able to fully enjoy and use the outdoor forest area for educational experiences.

Congratulations on earning your Girl Scout Gold Awards, Sarah and Haley!

This summer we’re featuring randomly selected Bronze, Silver and Gold Award recipients on our blog. Stay tuned for more stories about Girl Scouts who’ve made a difference in their community!

In researching of the needs of the hospital, Jessica and her troop member Amber discovered that while the hospital receives many donations for children, they don’t receive many donations for teenagers. They were interested in helping these young adults feel more comfortable during their stay in the hospital. To achieve this, they put together teen activity packs, which included magazines, games, craft items and toiletry items.

They worked with the hospital to determine what to include in the packages, and held garage sales and car washes to raise proceeds for the items and educate the public about the need. The girls were originally planning to make 100 packs for teens; however, their hard work and inspirational attitude paid off and they girls raised enough funds to make activity packs for 216 teenagers.

In order to continue their project, the girls provided their supply list and other resources to the hospital to pass on to other who want to help. They also worked with a Brownie troop to make their own care packages for children in the hospital.

Each of the girls is required to put 65 hours into their Gold Award Project and each must have an individual role. The Gold Award Project provided many new native plantings to enhance the building and landscape of Katherine Abbott Park, a historical display with artifacts on an indoor wall of the park building, and a new flag pole and flag. In addition, the girls directed volunteers in buckthorn removal, painting, raking and bird house cleaning.

The girls hope their project will remind the community of the park’s historical significance. The seventy-two acres of hardwood forest, prairie, and wetlands known today as Katherine Abbott Park, were the inspiration of Miss Katherine Abbott, the daughter of a prominent St. Paul physician. As an active adult volunteer, she dreamed of creating a troop camp for area Girl Scouts.  “Katie” died on Oct. 3, 1946 before her dream could be realized, but many friends worked in her memory to create the camp just a few years later. In 1952 the Girl Scout Camp was officially opened and dedicated to the memory of Katherine Abbott.

Its location along a busy streetcar line (extending from St. Paul to Wildwood Amusement Park) made the camp very accessible and allowed it to serve thousands of St. Paul girls for many years. In 1989 the City of Mahtomedi purchased the property and it became a community park. The Mahtomedi Girl Scouts sponsor a park cleanup twice a year as a public service and to supplement to the maintenance provided by the City of Mahtomedi.

Special thanks go to Timberline Tree Service of White Bear Lake, the White Bear American Legion, Hisdahl’s Trophies, Mahtomedi High School’s National Honor Society & Interact Club, the Ford and Catherine Nicholson Family, Rick Finn, Boy Scout Troops 89 and 433, Midge Andreas, Don Lee, and the City of Mahtomedi for providing generous and invaluable assistance. Funds for this project were provided through donations and a variety of fund raisers including cookie sales, selling homemade goods at the Mahtomedi Farmers’ Market, working at the St. Paul Farmers’ Market, and bagging at Cub Foods and Pine Tree Apple Orchard.

Saturday was a picture perfect day for a flag raising, brisk outdoor work and a walk in the park!

Lizy, Dana, Katie and Brianna worked with the South St. Paul Special School District #6 and the City of South St. Paul to improve an existing community space. The girls recruited volunteers and raised money from many individuals and local businesses to replace benches, resurface the blacktop, update the gardens and paint a mural that reflects community values. They were able to raise $7,800 to cover the costs of the renovation.

The girls represent Troops 50419 and 51677.

It was inspiring to see the commitment, leadership, and service demonstrated by this year’s award recipients. The hard work and dedication of these talented young women touched hundreds of people in and around their communities and we are proud to bestow upon them the highest awards a Girl Scout can earn.